Mickey McLeod on Being Better
We shared a cup of Byron’s Maracaturra with Salt Spring Coffee founder Mickey McLeod while he talked about values before the bottom line. And how they built a wildly successful company on naivety, youthful optimism and a whole lotta love.
Salt Spring Coffee believes in being better and is committed to their island roots: Forming partnerships with farmers who grow quality coffee sustainably, pioneering environmentally-friendly standards and techniques, and fostering a team of expert roasters and baristas who get the most out of every bean. Year by year, cup by cup, they are cultivating a world-wide coffee community devoted to change.
institute B: Why are you so passionate about coffee?
Mickey McLeod: As a young family, Robbyn and I were inspired by our years together in the coffee cultures of California, Oregon and Washington. Robbyn had grown up in California and brought with her some urban savvy combined with a thirst for freshly roasted coffee. In the 1970s, we spent a lot of time drinking classic Italian coffee together at Caffe Trieste in San Francisco. Before we knew it, we were roasting and grinding organic coffee beans at home on Salt Spring Island, brewing them on the homestead’s old woodstove. With a history of producing and selling our own locally grown, organic goods – because not using pesticides or artificial fertilizers just seemed like the right thing to do – at the farmer’s market in Ganges in the 1980’s, we opened the doors to their first roasting café on Salt Spring Island in 1996 serving freshly roasted, organic coffee.
At a time when specialty coffee was just starting to gain momentum, we were often challenged with the question, “why organic?”, but we never gave up raising awareness about its importance. Ultimately, Salt Spring Coffee is the product of our mission to “do good things along the journey of life and business”.
We eventually decided to marry our passion for great coffee and positive sustainable change to form Salt Spring Coffee. We opened the doors to our first roasting café on Salt Spring Island, and we witnessed the incredible demand for freshly roasted organic coffee (the long lineups were proof!)
Salt Spring Coffee has always been about great coffee that doesn’t compromise the earth. How has this affected your mission throughout the years?
At Salt Spring Coffee, sustainability is not a buzzword. It’s simply a way of life. It’s in our roots, our culture, and our everyday actions. We believe in showing our stakeholders complete supply chain transparency.
We have a deep commitment to social initiatives through our Fair to Farmer program. We are leaders in North America, certifying that we source the right way, from seed to cup, and that our operations are as close to zero waste as possible.
How does being Fair for Life Certified impact your business?
In 2006, we moved beyond the traditional relationship with coffee co-ops and farmers — dealing with brokers — and established a direct-trade model. Our commitment goes far beyond buying coffee. We encourage long-term purchasing contracts, which give farmers greater income security and access to credit. We visit our partner farmers around the world and communicate with them regularly, sharing expertise and knowledge to help each other grow, as we did with those three new chippers in Nicaragua.
We have moved away from TransFair and are now certified through The Institute for Marketecology, or IMO, in Switzerland. Other companies certified by IMO include Guayaki Sustainable Rainforest Products, Zazubean Organic Chocolate, Theo Chocolate, Dr. Bonner’s Soaps, and Discovery Organics (a wholesale produce importer in Vancouver, BC).
IMO’s Fair for Life certification goes beyond traditional fair trade by applying fair trade principles also to relevant domestic or regional trade and by requiring ethical working conditions along the entire trade chain. Fair for Life certified products are only handled by companies that demonstrate decent working conditions for all their staff. Fair for Life brand holder companies commit to fair sourcing practices and responsibilities towards their primary producers down the commodity chain. Fair for Life certification of products also confirms traceability of all certified products from production to sales.
The majority of coffees we buy are also registered through Fairtrade International (FLO), at the co-op level. FLO is the organization that coordinates Fairtrade labelling at an international level. From their offices, in Bonn, Germany, they set international Fairtrade standards, organize support for producers around the world, develop global Fairtrade strategy, and promote trade justice internationally.
Salt Spring Coffee is one of the world’s first coffee companies to offer its customers a carbon neutral cup of coffee. What has been the reaction from your customers?
As pioneers, we are always striving to push the envelope and find new ways to become more sustainable. Customers have expressed appreciation and respect for these efforts, which move beyond becoming carbon neutral:
2007
• Became the first coffee roaster in Canada to become carbon neutral.
2010
• Became a B Corporation, meeting rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency.
• City of Vancouver named us one of the top 10 Corporate Climate Leaders.
• Offsetters helped us determine our carbon footprint, originating in Nicaragua so we can continue working on carbon neutrality for each of our coffees from a product life-cycle perspective.
2012
• Our ongoing efforts to source a better paper cup.
• B Corp selects us for sustainability and community-building programs in their Best for the World list.
• Became a member of 1% For The Planet.
• Improved traceability and accountability in our push to become zero waste in partnership with LOCO BC.
1% for the Planet is a global movement of companies donating at least one per cent of their annual revenue to environmental organizations worldwide. Fast Company has called 1% for the Planet the “gold standard of corporate responsibility.” We are proud and excited to be part of this network of like-minded leaders, as it enables us to do together what cannot be done alone.
We also work directly with growers and co-ops through a program we pioneered called Fair to Farmer. It’s a fair trade program that combines IMO Fair for Life certified fair trade practices and direct trade relationships but as an added component, the prices we pay are above the fair trade price, which is especially important in tough trading times.
At Salt Spring Coffee, sustainability impacts and influences everything we do.
How would you characterize your company’s culture?
We are doers, pioneers, and passionate believers in being better in all areas of our business. We’ve always been about values before the bottom line. We founded Salt Spring Coffee because we wanted to create a successful business that makes a positive difference in people’s lives. It was built on a little bit of early naivety mixed with a healthy dose of youthful optimism and a whole lot of love.
Salt Spring Coffee has seen many changes and has grown a great deal since those early days. We’ve relocated our headquarters to the mainland and are now certified organic, certified direct fair trade and operationally carbon neutral. But Salt Spring Coffee is still all about what it’s always been about - great coffee that doesn’t compromise the earth.
Do you consciously focus on your organizational culture and if so, what elements are important to reinforce your culture?
Our mission and vision are essential to our organizational culture. Our mission is to roast to inspire change for all our stakeholders. Our vision is to be the leading edge of coffee, in quality, sustainability, pioneering, origin, and founded in people and the community.
How have your entrepreneurial motivations changed since you started this company?
I was born and raised in small rural areas around BC, and I learned from a young age how important it was to do good things for people and the planet. In the 40 years since the launch of my first business, Deluxe Contracting, my entrepreneurial journey has taken me throughout Canada, South and Central America, Africa and Indonesia, from delivering fresh fruit to treeplanting, custom sawmilling and more. Now, at Salt Spring Coffee, Robbyn and I continue to find new ways to improve the lives of coffee farmers and increase quality standards, and we’ve been inspired by the passion and dedication of farming partners such as Byron Corrales and Dagoberto Marin.
Throughout my entrepreneurial career, I’ve seen lots of growth and change but one thing has remained constant: putting people and the planet first. This pioneering spirit lives on in myself, Robbyn, and our dedicated team, who are each committed to making a positive impact on the world.
Salt Spring Coffee was recognized in B Lab’s ‘Best for the World’ list. How has being a B-Corporation affected your business?
In 2010, we became a B-Corporation, meeting rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. We find there’s a lot of fatigue around green labeling. Wherever possible, we’re looking to find certifications that really resonate — and that can cover a lot of different aspects — instead of having multiple certifications. B Corp covers a lot of territory.
Corporate social responsibility integrates into Salt Spring’s philosophy as a business. It drives every business decision we make. We’re a business, so we have to be profitable, but we also measure our decision making in terms of how we’re affecting the planet and people all along the way.
We’re seeing increased awareness and demand for organic, more recognition of fair trade, and more people talking about buying local and fresh as being important. But there’s also a contradictory support for products that cater more towards convenience and fast-paced lifestyles—a self-centred perspective that isn’t so concerned with people or the environment.
It’s very important that consumers recognize the importance of their purchasing decisions. Their actions actually have big impact. There needs to be an increasing awareness of what sustainability means, and being able to quantify it is really important so that consumers can understand it.
Being a B Corporation means working to improve the lives of our partners at origin. In 2006, we moved beyond the traditional trade relationship with coffee growers and established a direct trade model. This evolved into the Fair to Farmer program in 2012. Our relationships with trade partners at coffee origin are transparent and communication is frequent; our commitment goes beyond buying coffee. We pay above-market rates to farmer-owned coffee cooperatives. The organic production methods that our coffee partners use don’t harm the environment, which is also very important to us.
It’s also very important for us to extend that consciousness to our work here, in Richmond and on Salt Spring Island. In March of 2012, we became a member of 1% for the Planet, which is a global movement of companies donating at least one per cent of their annual revenues to environmental organizations worldwide. We’re the first coffee company in Canada to make this commitment, and we’re proud of that. We’re also a member of LOCO BC, and with them in 2012, we pioneered a Zero Hero Waste Program. The goal is to help other businesses and our own reduce waste (and associated carbon emissions) from the average business rate of 56% to less than 25%. We’ve also been working with LOCO BC to improve our waste management system, and we currently send only 9% of material to the landfill or incinerator. Ultimately, our desire to keep doing things better is what drives (and will continue to drive) many of our social and environmental initiatives.
How would you like people to remember you and your company? What will your legacy be?
We work with farmers, who grow quality coffee sustainably, and expert roasters and baristas who get the most out of every bean. We are committed to making a positive impact on people’s lives, one delicious organic cup at a time.