OUR STORY
Addington Coffee Co-op is part of a larger organisation called Liminal, formed around strong values of fair and ethical ways of doing business. We exist solely for others, as we strive to create a place of belonging for our customers, employees, and our producers in the far reaches of the globe.
In 2008, we started a business to give consumers, producers and their communities a vehicle to make the changes in their lives that they want to see in the world. Our aim was to bring those worlds closer so that we could learn from one another, not only through trade and the exchange of products, but also through sharing life together and living in the same communities.
For some years as a business, we committed to redistributing 70% of our profits back to the local community and to some of the producers and communities overseas that create the products we sell. This has helped build buildings and fund extra staff at our local school, build teachers’ accommodation in Ethiopia, help fund coffee replanting programmes in Central America, and help a fair trade apparel manufacturer in Kolkata to expand. We saw this not a matter of generosity, but as the profits of our business going back to the producers and communities to whom they really belonged.
We began this journey by making coffee and providing ethically sourced and crafted T-shirts and bags. Over 1 million coffees and 10,000’s of tee’s and bags later, we were ready for the next step. So we moved to Kolkata. Making a life alongside our producers so that together we can work towards making good more common for us all.
How? Initially we're looking at an enterprise designed to help community transformation through commerce - initially apparel and promotional product manufacturing.
With this pivot, the profits we generate are largely now destined to help grow this business. The vision is to create as many good, stable and healthy jobs, in an area where poverty has previously taken a heavy toll on the community.
This money will go towards helping buy buildings to house workers, purchase machinery, fund training and grow sales globally.
We have the same goal we've always had - and now a new way of realising it, by reinvesting our profit to help create good jobs, good choices and good communities around the world.
