Jenais Zarlin
(Director of Business Development)
Posted about 1 month ago
Our business model is built on a concept of justice not charity, it's right there in our motto "Not just a cup, but a just cup" we say. But is that what the broad Fair Trade conversation is about? The majority of our coffees are Fair Trade certified, but our conversation about it as a model for change often highlights poverty and barriers to access of basic needs and resources - like clean water, mosquito...
Joan and I started out as two Hippie migrants running from the urban fast lanes of the East Coast. I was 34 and Joan was 23 when we started Thanksgiving Coffee Company in 1972. We met in Mendocino and together we came to the conclusion that roasting coffee was a better way to support ourselves than stringing beads, making leather items or candles. The newly emerging "alternative" culture of the early 70’s supported this urban...