Social Responsibility
Included among JJ Bean's core values is the following statement: We will make a positive difference in the world, our community and within each one of us. We live this out every day as a company and in our cafés. Our efforts to make a difference fall under two broad categories: our Social Responsibility, and something we call Over & Above, which is described a bit further down the page.
We fulfil our social responsibility by being good stewards of our coffee, our people, and our environment. For more information, click on one of the following sections:
We love organic coffee. Out of our seven blends, six are 100% Certified Organic. On top of that, many of our seasonal Special Reserve coffees are also Certified Organic.
Coffee is one of the most heavily-sprayed crops worldwide; however, organic coffee is cultivated without the use of synthetic chemicals. As a result, organic coffee farms tend to rely on more natural ways of keeping the crops alive. This often includes taller trees and more diverse plant life, which in turn become home to birds and other fauna. This ecosystem keeps the soil healthy and the crops thriving, and more trees means more oxygen for us to breathe - not to mention the reduced level of harmful chemicals, which can taint the water tables of coffee-growing communities.
Our organic coffee and our roasting facility are certified by the Fraser Valley Organic Producers Association (FVOPA).
While coffee is a thriving industry, coffee farmers are among the poorest people in the world. We recognize that this is not fair. Part of our social responsibility is to help those who grow our coffee, and we believe that certification systems like Fair Trade are part of the solution. Fair Trade certification is designed to identify coffee and other products that meet specific labour and developmental standards. Many of our blend components and seasonal Special Reserve coffees are Fair Trade Certified. Beyond that, we also directly support humanitarian efforts in coffee-growing communities through our Over & Above initiative (see below).
JJ Bean is committed to paying well above the industry standard price for every single coffee we purchase, regardless of its certification. We are very picky about the coffee we purchase — only the best tasting coffee is chosen. The way we see it, coffee farmers deserve the best price for their best coffee. Furthermore, if a quality coffee fetches a good price for the farmer, that farmer has more incentive to continue using the best farming practices, which will keep the good coffee growing, year after year. In this way, we believe that fair prices for good coffee is a sustainable practice.
Our decaf beans are processed by Vancouver's own Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee Company. While other decaffeination processes use chemicals such as benzene or dichloromethane to remove the caffeine from the coffee beans, the Swiss Water® Process is 100% chemical-free. We also happen to love the way our decaf coffee tastes, which is equally important to us.
On average, coffee shop employees are among the lowest paid workers in Canada. However, we believe that everyone who takes part in the journey of coffee - from farmers to baristas - deserves to be fairly rewarded for their work.
At JJ Bean we are committed to paying all staff who have completed training at least $2 above the minimum wage. In addition to this, our "levels" system gives all of our café staff the opportunity to increase their wages as they improve their barista skills and coffee knowledge.
On top of an hourly wage we offer quarterly and yearly bonuses to all of our staff, plus additional benefits such as medical coverage for staff over 32 hours a week. JJ Bean staff are also entitled to coffee drinks while working, whole bean coffee to take home, and generous staff discounts on all products.
If you are interested in working for JJ Bean, visit our Jobs page, or bring your résumé in to one of our cafés.
We recycle whenever we can. Our kraft coffee bags are biodegradable and recyclable. We use only recycled paper in our office, and we have an in-house recycling program for cardboard, plastics, metal and glass. When we deliver our coffee, we transport it in reusable plastic totes rather than cardboard. In our cafés we use biodegradable cutlery, stir sticks, cups and napkins.
To reduce the amount of paper used on take-away cups we offer a discount to customers who bring their own travel mugs. We don't care whose logo is on your mug, but we do have some nice JJ Bean travel mugs available at any of our cafés, in case you don't already have one.
We are committed to being an environmentally friendly coffee roaster. In 2009 we completely redesigned our roasting facility for optimum emissions control. Our roastery is now equipped with a variety of roasters, all different sizes and shapes, which allows us to roast only as much coffee as we need.
To eliminate smoke, each roaster now has its own individual emissions control unit, which converts the smoke into thermal energy. However, our crowning achievement is a computerized control system which we developed in partnership with an emissions control manufacturer. This system controls our afterburners so their level of activity precisely matches the quantity of smoke produced by each roaster at any given time. This means that our emissions control system uses no more energy than it requires for its task. Because of this, we are proud to report thermal energy savings of about 30% per pound roasted, ever since we made these upgrades to our facility.
Over & Above
The coffee we enjoy would not exist without the hard work of the farmers who grow it. These farmers, who produce the best coffee in the world, also happen to live in some of the poorest areas of the world. While we are committed to always paying those farmers a good price for their coffee, we feel that there is much more that we can do to make a positive difference in the coffee growing communities, over and above our basic responsibility as coffee roasters. That is why we created the Over & Above initiative.
The purpose of Over & Above is to make a positive difference in coffee growing communities, through specific projects that meet the particular needs of each community.
- We will donate a minimum seed of $16,000 per year towards our Over & Above projects.
- Our cafés will be selling 1lb bags of coffee bearing the Over & Above logo (shown above), from which $0.50 per pound sold will go towards the Over & Above fund. Customers are also welcome to make individual donations toward the Over & Above fund.
- We will match total annual customer donations up to $5,000.
- There will be no administrative costs; 100% of the Over & Above fund will go towards projects of significance in coffee growing communities.
- We are committed to complete financial transparency. We will post a financial update for Over & Above on this website every quarter.
The Canadian Harambee Education Society (CHES) exists to provide high school fees for promising young girls in Kenya and Tanzania, two countries which also happen to produce some of the world's most treasured coffee.
In partnership with Habitat for Humanity, JJ Bean is bringing smokeless stoves to the West-Highland area of Huehuetenango, Guatemala. These wood stoves are a relatively cheap and practical solution to many problems caused by the smoke from indoor fires.