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From: Josie Xiao, Research and Development [About Josie]

To: Clark Hansen, CEO

Subject: Urth Caffé, Inc.: Qualified for AMDP Investment?

Date: March 4th, 2013

 

You asked me to recommend a green business worthy of an investment from Anima Mundi Development Partners. After extensive research, I highly recommend Urth Caffé, a Los Angeles local organic coffee company. We at AMDP look for a company that meets our criteria: socially responsible, environmental-friendly and profitable. Urth Caffé is such a company with environmental consciousness and global responsibility. Through its green operation, Urth Caffé shares its love and care to people and the planet on the road to a sustainable growth.

 

Before I go into details about Urth Caffé, I want to briefly state our standards: triple bottom line, corporate social responsibility, social enterprise and carbon footprint.

 

AMDP Standards

Triple Bottom Line

Triple Bottom Line consists of three Ps

  • People: a fair and beneficial practice directed toward everyone involved in the business operation: customers, suppliers, employees and the community.

  • Planet: a green and environmental-friendly practice that imposes minimum harm to Mother Nature.

  • Profit: a sustainable growth that brings internal financial profit to the company without hurting society and planet.

 

Corporate Social Responsibility

A process in which a company considers the interests of all stakeholders: investors, customers, employees, the community and the environment. Such concern must be implemented into and reflected in company’s policies and actions such as philanthropy or community givebacks.

 

Social Enterprise

An organization that applies commercial strategies to achieve its social objectives. It aims to improve environmental and/or societal wellbeing with a motto “doing charity by doing trade.”

 

Carbon Footprint

Carbon Footprint is defined as the total amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission caused by the operation of a company. Carbon Footprint is usually calculated in Carbon Dioxide equivalent using 100-year global warming potential. Namely, it represents how much heat is trapped in the atmosphere in a 100-year time spam. An organization can undertake a GHG assessment or Carbon Accounting to measure its carbon footprint. AMDP includes low carbon footprint as one of our criteria to fight against global warming and to support a sustainable habitat for the human race.

 

Urth Caffé

Established in 1989, Urth Caffé is the first exclusive organic coffee company in the U.S. Company founder, Shallom and Jilla Berkman, started out with a mail-delivery organic coffee company. In 1991, they opened the first retail store in Manhattan Beach, Los Angeles. With increasing popularity, in 1995, Urth merged the retail store with specialty food and drink service and opened their first café on Melrose Ave, West Hollywood. As of today, Urth Caffé has five chains in the Los Angeles area. The Los Angeles Times gave Urth Caffé with the “Best Caffé Latte in all of LA” award. The prestigious Coffee and Cuisine Magazine awarded Urth “Best Environmental Coffee House”(UrthCaffé1).

 

To ensure its organic quality, Urth Caffé sticks to a strict and specific standard: from selecting suppliers and roasting its own coffee, to distributing in its own channels and developing its signature organic pastry. According to the company’s organic standard statement: “all coffees must be certified as being 100% organically grown; all source farms must practice sustainable agriculture, biodynamic agriculture, or other environmentally friendly growing methods; all source farms must be shade grown; source farms must pay their coffee workers a fair wage in order to improve the workers' quality of life” (UrthCaffé2).

 

People: Consumers and Suppliers

Urth Caffé’s organic coffee standards are unmatched nationwide. Only a handful of the world’s premiere, certified organically grown coffee beans can produce the flavor, richness, and aroma that make Urth Caffé’s organic coffees stand out from traditionally grown coffees (GreenMaven). Urth Caffé only selects coffee grown in completely chemical free manner in the high altitudes. This practice allows the company to provide healthier coffee with a sweeter taste. Urth Caffé doesn’t just offer a delightful cup of coffee; it provides a peace of mind because the name Urth Caffé is a guarantee for healthy, chemical free, certified organic coffee.

 

Urth Caffé also cares about coffee growers through fair trade. The company offers a price three times more than conventional commercial market price. In Uganda, Urth Caffé formed Mountain Gorilla Organic Farm Association. Farmers under the association earn $5 (about Ush10,000) per kg of the produced coffee. Ngabirano, the head of the Uganda Coffee Development Authority, stated that Urth Caffé is supporting farmers with Friesian cows, hand pulpers, solar panel systems and water tanks in the successful implementation of the project (iKnowUganda).

 

Planet

Urth Caffé places great emphasis on Planet Earth in its business operation. Solar panels are installed for Urth Caffé stores. Each chain café enforces a specific policy of recycling and water preservation.

 

Urth Caffé’s shade grown coffee is cultivated under the natural canopy of rain forest trees in Uganda. These forests are the natural habitat of the mountain gorilla, an endangered specie. Urth Caffé initiated the Mountain Gorilla Coffee Project working with Ugandan coffee farmers to preserve the fragile habitat of the last mountain gorillas. Because of this project, Shallom and Jilla Berkman, the founders of Urth Caffé received the first-ever Arts District Community Luminary Award, one of the several for their universal effort and contribution through sustainable business practice (Mozaic).

 

Financial Track

The company has been continuously growing since first café opened in West Hollywood. Additional locations opened in Beverly Hills in 2003 and in Santa Monica in 2005.According to a recent interview with Santa Monica store manager Marcos Z., Urth Caffé plans to a new chain in Pasadena, California in 2013. The company is also in the launching process of its first international store in Japan in the near future.

 

My Recommendation

The coffee industry in the US is currently dominated by Starbucks. However, the organic coffee market is still an infant with great potential to grow. As the first exclusive organic coffee company, Urth Caffé needs AMDP’s support to continue its commitment to consumers, suppliers and Mother Nature. I highly recommend investing in Urth Caffé.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Work Cited

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