Thanksgiving Coffee Company Values in Action

Values in Action

Paul Katzeff, the CEO for Thanksgiving, has established a strong track record for the company in conducting it's business with the welfare of people and the planet in mind. After landing in Mendocino at the end of a westward journey from the Bronx in a truck outfitted with a waterbed and woodstove in back, Paul established Thanksgiving Coffee in 1972. With hippie roots planted deep into the Earth, a master's degree in social work under his belt, and armed with a strong mind for business, Paul didn't combine these typically divergent philosophies into the entity that is Thanksgiving Coffee until 1985, after a visit to a Nicaraguan coffee finca, or farm.

He directly witnessed the conditions in which coffee growers live. He learned that though a pound of gourmet coffee retails from $10-$15 in the United States, those actually growing the coffee only received 30-50 cents of that. But in addition to the poverty of the people he saw there, he was also struck by their sense of hope. This was shortly after the Sandinistas had overthrown the country's U.S.-backed military dictator, and young volunteers were flocking to the country from all over the world to help pick coffee, work as teachers and nurses, or build houses as a means of supporting the young revolution.

With that spirit in mind, Paul returned to the U.S. and launched Thanksgiving's "Coffee for Peace" program. This involved buying coffee directly from the farmers - thereby cutting out the middlemen who were taking most of the profits - and becoming the first U.S. company to add a surcharge to the price of a product to benefit its producers. The surcharge enabled Thanksgiving to "rebate" 50 cents from every pound of Nicaraguan coffee it sold to the Union Nacional de Agricultures y Ganaderos (UNAG), which represents the country's small farmers and ranchers. The Coffee for Peace program made it possible for the farmers to earn extra money to plant a garden or buy livestock to feed themselves.

Several social and environmental initiatives within the company ensued in subsequent years, which you can read about in the following pages. The responsibilities one has as a CEO are too numerous to count, as recognized by my predecessor, April Pojman. With firsthand experience working on coffee fincas in Bolivia and Ecuador, and a heart committed to social and environmental justice, she approached Paul and informed him that he needed someone working full-time on these facets of Thanksgiving, and she was the woman to do it.

Thanks to Paul's receptivity to the idea, April established what has come to be known as "the Office of Environmental and Social Policy" here at Thanksgiving -- where all kinds of ideas gestate and manifest, and networking and outreach opportunities abound. Think about how different the world would be if every business had an Office of Environmental and Social Policy! And I'm not talking about your typical corporate greenwashing departments, but a division of individuals deeply committed to making change happen in the world. April moved to Nicaragua this year and is currently working with our longtime friends at the coffee grower's cooperative, CafeNica.

And here I am, with big shoes to fill, trying to do the best I can to integrate my idealism into the world of coffee and general business community. I passionately believe that business has the potential to restore damage the corporate paradigm has inflicted upon the planet and her inhabitants, and can actually achieve results that are profitable to both the bottom lines of the company AND of the Earth. I'm grateful to Paul for allowing me to use Thanksgiving Coffee company as a model!

So sit back, relax, grab a cup of coffee or tea, and read all about the good stuff we're doing here at Thanksgiving.

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