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The primary innovation is the cafés distribution of fair trade organic coffee. When making the decision to switch suppliers, Scott realized that there were no added costs associated with switching to fair trade organic coffee beans. Scott stated that consumers enjoyed the use of fair trade coffee as this positively impacts society.
The Copper Kettle Café focuses on providing a comfortable atmosphere to socialize, while offering mouth-watering food, tasty sweets and treats, as well as fair-trade coffee, and specialty coffee. The primary innovation is the cafés distribution of fair trade organic coffee. In addition, Scott acknowledged that consumers enjoyed the fact that the coffee is fair trade because they know that they are purchasing products that are ethical. This café differentiates themselves from competitors because they target a different market through specialized and customized goods and services. The Copper Kettle also involves the community in applying corporate social responsibility strategies to business involvement with local organizations. Scott chose to incorporate sustainable practices and theories into his business to offer a wide range of goods, while supporting local communities.
Scott Drummond previously owned a franchise and later on opened the Copper Kettle Café after the franchise went bankrupt. He opened the café with a certain mindset and focus, one particularly being the use of organic and fair trade ingredients in order to serve ethical, high-quality products. Opening a new business is difficult; however, as Scott stated in the interview, “they have never looked back,” for many reasons such as the minimal/low-cost adjustment. The inspiration to use local ingredients derived from a “marketing and logistics perspective.” In regards to their famous apple fritters, it takes a matter of four minutes to receive the apples used to prepare their specialty treat. Sustaining a farm is challenging, therefore it is beneficial to support other small business. Scott was motivated to advertise farms through purchasing local ingredients to make local suppliers happy and satisfied, as well to help connect them to the community.
The Copper Kettle Café gives consumers a feeling of satisfaction about giving back to smaller communities who produce the ethical, organic, and fair-trade products. Consumer value can be outlined as being equal to benefits less price. The café is working with Habitat for Humanity by accepting donations in-store, creating a direct view of the business’ mission, as well as their social and environmental morals. In the case of the Copper Kettle Cafe, regular customers see the benefits from purchasing fair trade coffee and organic apples, which leads to a higher perceived value in their products. This is becoming very common in many independent coffee shops nowadays due to such value perceptions. The impact that fair trade organic coffee beans has on the environment is the limited use of chemicals and pesticides. There are strict environmental standards that prohibit farmers from using potentially harmful chemicals on fair trade products. This innovation does not currently have any short-term effects, however, long-term effects include customer retention, awareness of local businesses, and the overall reduction of harmful environmental effects. These implementations allow for a positive view within the community as well as long-lasting customers that are always curious to see what the business will do next.
Located in the small town of Waterdown, a small business can create strong and lasting relationships with members of the community, and the Copper Kettle Cafe has done just that. The primary business benefit received from supplying fair trade coffee is there are no added costs to distribute ethically produced coffee. Moreover, by connecting to the community through farmers markets and fundraising, they have been able to build their customer base more and more every year while exhibiting a strong, diverse community, striving to help make the world a better place. The value that this adds to their products and overall customer experience is immense, which has played a huge factor in the business’ prosperity.
The Copper Kettle Café has societal and environmental benefits as result of selling fair trade organic coffee. As previously mentioned, the societal benefit received from using fair trade coffee is that “consumers feel good about purchasing it.” The success of the business has enabled the Copper Kettle Café to support many local events within Waterdown and surrounding communities. Recently, they have demonstrated social responsibility initiatives by supporting Habitat for Humanity in Hamilton to help rebuild town-homes that were damaged in the community. Additionally, Scott and other team members will be participating in the Coldest Night of the Year in support of the Drummond House. An environmental benefit of supplying fair trade coffee is that it is eliminating and reducing the use of environmentally harmful chemicals and pesticides.
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Scott Drummond, Owner
The Copper Kettle Café is located in Waterdown, Ontario. Scott Drummond opened the café in 2015 with the mindset of providing a comfortable atmosphere to socialize, while offering mouth watering food, tasty sweets and treats. The business welcomes everyone of all ages to enjoy the drinks, food, and entertainment. The cafe provides organic, fair-trade coffee and specialty drinks, as well as their famous apple fritters.