Innovation

According to Planet Bean’s vision statement, the company uses “an innovative business model that is fair, sustainable and passionate”. Their entire business model is an innovation because it allows them to operate in a sustainable way to better people, places, and the planet. They do so by providing fair trade coffee, a respectful and an equal opportunity environment for their employees, as well as by striving to decrease their ecological footprint by using reusable shipping containers, purchasing energy from Bullfrog power, and providing used coffee grinds for consumers' compost piles. One of their biggest goals as a company is to respect the environment. They often host workshops to inform customers about environmental issues and possible solutions such as household energy efficiency, water conservation, and alternative gardening. Planet Bean sources its organic milk from local dairy farmers in their shops which helps advocate fair treatment towards animals, as well as to raise questions about industrial agriculture practices. They also encourage customers to use reusable mugs by offering a discount and promote support for local business.

In 1997, when Planet Bean first started roasting coffee in downtown Guelph, with a focus on certified fair trade and organic coffee. It was the first roastery in the city for half a century, and they now have three cafes in Guelph and run a wholesale business. The innovative business model emerged with the opening of Planet Bean.

Bill Barrett is the founder of Planet Bean and was responsible for starting one of Canada’s first fair trade coffee companies. Both the mission statement and vision statement were written by the people of Planet Bean as all employees are very engaged and passionate about the company. Planet Bean has always operated with sustainable business practices, promoting the environment and fair work.

Planet Bean’s mission is to create the best tasting coffee through fair trade and link producers and consumers in a meaningful way. Their innovative business model strongly relates to their mission for sustainability because they serve organic coffee and ensure fair working conditions for both suppliers and employees. They also strive to make sure suppliers, consumers, and the company, are responsible toward the environment.

Inspiration

During the 1990’s, coffee became a very sought after commodity. With the increase in demand, many companies started producing large quantities in order to supply the market, but in doing so violated many of today’s CSR guidelines. The idea of Planet Bean was inspired by Bill Barrett, the co-owner, who is an eco-friendly individual and avid cyclist. His belief is that “cars impact the global ecology" and cause damage to human lives, far outweighs the advantages of driving” (http://gcat.ca/bill­barrett­co­owner­of­planet­bean­and­cycle­commuter/). With Barrett’s strong beliefs in the environment, Planet Bean’s business strategy mirrors this philosophy. His ideals are what also contributed to the creation of their other business practices. Barrett decided that the coffee market was heading toward a technocentric view point and needed a change in values. He thus was inspired to create the idea of a free trade, organic coffee shop that benefits all.

Planet Bean was highly motivated to create a sustainable business model based on their strong moral values. Since day one, they strived on reducing their ecological footprint by sourcing certified organic foods while still focusing on the small producers through fair trade. Planet Bean has an interesting approach to the concept of fair trade believing “fair trade does not just mean a better price. A better price certainly improves the home economy of the farmer families we work with, but the power of fair trade lies in its ability to create social infrastructure and community initiatives” (http://www.planetbeancoffee.com/earth/fair­trade ). They are not solely focused on generating huge profits while harming everything in their path to success but rather are geared towards a sustainable business model that benefits everyone in their value chain

Overall impact

By being fair, sustainable, and passionate, Planet Bean has the opportunity to compete at the same level as their competitors. Planet Bean has successfully run their business for 19 years, through the use of this business model. As their innovation is the backbone to the company itself, it is difficult to state how the innovation has impacted Planet Bean. However, their business has been successful as they are still in operation, running three locations in Guelph, as well as providing wholesale goods to universities, businesses, grocers, and churches.

Planet Bean is passionate about their coffee and positioned itself for fair trade. Fair trade helps society by ensuring farmers are paid fairly, allowing for better working condition as well as to enable them to maintain a better livelihood. It is to improve the society economically and socially. As the objective of Planet Bean’s coffee is fair trade, this means all the farmers (and their families) are part of a cooperative. These co-ops have the ability create a better society by develop communities with infrastructure such as health centres, roads, and credit unions. The power of the co-ops are incredible and lead the community to a higher standard of living.

A part of the Planet Bean’s innovation is being sustainable. They believe that the measurement of success is not only by profit but also the ability to reduce their ecological footprint. As a fair trade business, they are keeping the environment sustainable by protecting the environment where their coffee is grown and improving their waste management. Their coffee is certificated organic, which means that they have better management of the soil they use, promoting wildlife diversity, and maintaining ecological diversity. The beans are also shipped using reusable containers, preventing thousands of the non-recyclable foil bags from being added to landfills. Furthermore, at their cafes, they encourage the use of reusable mugs, offering washable plates and cups for in-cafe use, and providing used coffee grinds for compost for the public. Planet Bean has done a good job protecting the environment and reducing their footprint and those around them.

To ensure Planet Bean stays consistent both in the short-term and long-term with its goals, the company implemented a variety of strategies with immediate effect, and some over a longer period of time.

First, the ownership of Planet Bean was transferred to the Sumac Community Worker Co-operative. This was in an effort to provide employees with a living wage and other benefits. Another short-term effect of transferring ownership to the Sumac Community Worker Co-operative is that after one year with Planet Bean, employees have the opportunity to become owners by buying into the company. This ensures the company remains self-sustaining, self-governed, and refreshes the ownership every so often. Employees who hold a vested interest within the Worker Co-operative vote for a board of directors and are able to share in any profits, furthering Planet Bean’s goal of providing employees with living compensation. To ensure no inequalities, all employees who have become vested receive one vote when the company holds its shareholder meetings. As Bill Barrett (Planet Bean founder) was quoted saying in a 2012 Troy Bridgeman’s article in the Guelph Mercury entitled “Planet Bean stays true to its roots”, “There is no fat-cat capitalist who is going to sell this business and see a big return, it is structured in a way that that can’t happen. If there is any return it is split evenly among all the worker owners”.

For the long term, Planet Bean is promoting ethical and sustainable business through the growth of fair trade coffee markets. All products offered at Planet Bean are certified organic and fair trade, often locally sourced. The products that have not been locally sourced are acquired from suppliers with whom Planet Bean has built a lasting and sustainable relationship. These suppliers often form farming co-ops which have provide additional benefits to the farmers. As Bridgeman writes “by forming farming co-ops, the farmers are able to pool their resources and negotiate fair prices. They are also eligible to receive extra money in the form of a fair trade premium, which they pool and put toward improving community infrastructure”. Planet Bean supports this lifestyle and helps to improve their suppliers' local communities by purchasing fair trade coffee and helping to promote their ideology.

As a means to further propagate ethical, fairly traded, and organic coffee, Planet Bean has moved into wholesaling.This is a long term endeavor to cultivate business relationships and grow the brand. Bridgeman writes that Planet Bean “sell[s] beans to retail customers and about 200 wholesale customers, including restaurants, supermarkets, specialty stores and even other cafes. Customers can choose from more than a dozen fresh roasted gourmet coffees”.

Planet Bean has had such success with their business model that they have been able to grow from one store in 1998 to a total of three in 2016. Competing against corporate franchises like Tim Horton’s, McDonald’s, and Starbucks has not stopped Planet Bean from growing at a sustainable rate and becoming well known in their local community. Planet Bean has been able to grow their wholesaling efforts, all the while increasing consumer awareness of sustainably sourced coffee. One has only to Google search “Planet Bean wholesale” to see the impact Planet Bean has had on the fair trade coffee market.

“We tend to see ourselves as leaders. That may sound strange from a tiny little company in Guelph, but we don’t aspire to taking over the world. Before Planet Bean opened in Guelph there was no fair trade coffee and now pretty much everyone is selling fair trade. That’s a market I believe we created. Our coffee is hard to beat.” - Bill Barrett. (as quoted to Troy Bridgeman in his 2012 Guelph Mercury article)

Business benefit

Through the use of their business model, Planet Bean has successfully run their business for 19 years, whilst expanding across the city. Since the innovation is the foundation of the business, it is difficult to say how the innovation itself has benefited the company without comparing it to other cafes not using this business model. However, their success is a valuable example of how other businesses can incorporate sustainability initiatives and still have a profitable business.

Social and environmental benefit

Planet Bean helps improve society and the environment. They have supported coffee bean farms in various part of the world by providing a fair income through fair trade. This in turn improves the standard of living on the farmer and everyone around them. This is accomplished through the farmer’s ability to purchase goods and services in their community, allowing the sharing of wealth. Additionally, they encourage sustainable agricultural practices in those countries, resulting in less environmental damage which could have resulted in future losses of income.

The company also improves society and the environment closer to Guelph with various initiatives. Since their employees receive a higher income through the Sumac Community Worker Co-operative, it allows for those workers to spend more within the community, resulting in more business for others (similar to the coffee farmers). Planet Bean also helps reduce their ecological footprint by producing less waste, allowing people to use used coffee grinds for compost, as well as by sourcing locally. By supporting local, more people benefit as roughly 85% of Canada’s economy is run through small to medium sized business (both by employment and economic value). Additionally, there is less transportation involved, resulting in few emissions.

Interview

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