Sustainability
We all know that we, as inhabitants of the earth, are facing a huge, often overwhelming challenge. Global warming concerns us all. While people in the «third world» are hit much harder by the consequences, we in the so called «developed world» bear most of the blame. Greenhouse gases caused by all of us are an imminent threat for life on our planet. Politics and the world's biggest corporations play a big role, but we cannot just hand over the responsibility. Through our behavior in everyday life we influence politics and corporations and we can contribute our own, small part to saving the world.
But even a considerably more sustainable day-to-day life is not enough to stop global warming – it's much too late for that. Throughout the last century, our society has caused huge damage and we have been living in luxury at future generations' cost. New approaches to solutions are needed: innovative ideas and technologies, to protect the world – and thus ourselves, too.
Sustainability, to us, means that today, we do not live on our descendants costs and that we begin to slowly fix the damage caused by our ancestors and ourselves.
To do business as sustainable as possible, we have developed a range of measures.
At least 1% of our annual turnover is invested in sustainable or charitable projects.
We created a list of specific requirements regarding sustainable, transparent and fair business practices that we require all our coffee suppliers to comply with.
We know exactly where our coffee is grown and we have full price transparency.
We want to make sure the producers are able to run their farms in a sustainable and fair way and live by a decent standard of living. We therefore pay high prices when purchasing coffee (much more than the Fairtrade label's minimum).
We maintain personal and long-term relationships with our suppliers, but we only visit them as much as needed in order to keep our flight activity as low as possible.
Wherever possible, we use materials that are a) completely reusable, b) partly recyclable, c) compostable or d) biodegradable.
Wherever possible, we use materials that harm the environment as little as possible. We only use plastics resp. synthetic materials where no viable alternatives are available or if the things made of plastics are second-hand or already in possession of the company.
We use resources sparingly, especially electricity, water, coffee and all food items.
We avoid food waste as good as possible by planning ahead, using food items that can't be sold any longer privately, and giving them away, as well as composting of coffee and food leftovers.
We give away leftovers and remnants at reduced prices or for free to non-profit organizations such as Caritas or the food bank.
We use milk from organic farms, which we buy as directly from the farmer as possible.
We offer high-quality vegan alternatives to milk (oat and soy) without any surcharge.
Our food menu usually does not contain any meat or animal products. We always (while supplies last) offer vegetarian and vegan food items.
The beverages we sell, apart from beverages with milk, are usually vegan.
The beverages we sell are usually delivered, stored and sold in bottles other than plastic.
The beverages we sell, except for coffee, tea and some wines, are produced in Switzerland or its neighboring countries – the vast majority being from the region of Bern.
The wines we sell are usually from Europe – mostly from Switzerland or its neighboring countries.
We buy our coffees as directly as possible and compensate the CO2 emissions caused by the delivery.
We plan business trips reasonably and foresighted and only fly when needed. We travel by train or bus for shorter distances whenever reasonably and economically possible.
When booking business trips including air travel, we compensate the CO2 emissions caused by the flights. We connect our personal vacation with business trips, when possible, to make the most of each flight we're on.
We compensate CO2 emissions for shipping of all orders shipped through the Swiss Post through their proclima program.
As an alternative to shipping by mail, we offer delivery by bicycle messenger within a certain radius.
We use all packaging of incoming deliveries to pack outgoing shipments.
These measures are neither complete, nor sufficient. We are constantly trying to make our company more sustainable. Your ideas are always welcome.