How this local coffee shop fuels Vancouverites, one cup at a time

Dec 16 2017, 5:13 am

Coffee – could you imagine starting your morning with anything else?

The answer for many Vancouverites is likely no. And since the city has a coffee shop around almost every corner, it’s easy to see why. They’re where you want to work, hang out, and get your fresh roast fix.

But there’s one coffee shop that does something different – JJ Bean.

As an environmentally-conscious company, each location donates their extra food so it doesn’t get thrown out.

“We donate a lot of coffee to different organizations on an ongoing basis. Plus, every night we give our food out to organizations throughout the community,” said John Neate, president and founder of JJ Bean.

JJ Bean is a company committed to purchasing the best-tasting coffee and paying well above Fair Trade prices on every coffee they purchase. Three out of four of their blends are certified organic by the Fraser Valley Organic Producers Association (FVOPA), too.

But, when you pay for a coffee at JJ Bean, chances are you don’t think about where your money is going.

Well, if you’re a Vancity member, you’re actually part of the reason JJ Bean is where it’s at today.

When you deposit money into your Vancity account, it’s pooled with other members’ money to provide loans to local retail and business members. The interest earned on those loans pays back the interest on member deposits. Vancity cares how those profits are made and distributed: in your community, for your community. 

So when your money is with Vancity, you’re actually making money and improving your community at the same.

Neate explains that there are two things about Vancity that really align with JJ Bean; their credit union’s business model and their values.

“We hope that within a year to a year and a half we’ll have all of our packaging recyclable.  We’re moving away from plastics and have recycling bins to separate everything, and we’re doing composting which is over and above what the city mandates. ”

“If they [Vancity] didn’t work with us, we wouldn’t have the money to do the things that we do with our customers and with our suppliers. And the fact that they stay in Vancouver, we’re mostly in Vancouver, we can all put the money back into the communities that we serve.”

To help show where their money goes, Vancity wanted to surprise and delight their members with a free coffee at JJ Bean. For one day only, on December 15 they teamed up with the coffee roaster to make that happen.

We kid you not.

So, thanks, Vancity members! Without you, maybe there wouldn’t be a JJ Bean after all.

If you want to know what your money’s doing, visit Vancity now.

#WhatsYourMoneyDoing

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