Our Values

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Our Co-op

As an employee-owned cooperative we operate with a universal set of 7 Cooperative Principles that are adopted by most incorporated cooperatives worldwide:

  1. Open and Voluntary Membership
  2. Democratic Member Control
  3. Members’ Economic Participation
  4. Autonomy and Independence
  5. Education, Training and Information
  6. Cooperation Among Cooperatives
  7. Concern for Community
What's a Co-op?

In addition to these, we also live by our self-defined Mission, Vision and Values statements that guide our strategic and everyday decisions and actions.

Our Mission

is to cultivate economic prosperity and collectivity for our employees, partners and communities by providing stable, dignified and safe employment,  engaging cooperatively with mutual trust, and continuously learning about and sharing passion for our craft. 

Our Vision

is elevating the experience of hospitality and production workers to create a higher standard of meaningful work in which coffee systems thrive.

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Our Values

We / Us / Our 

We  serve  ourselves  and  each  other  best  when  we  work  together  toward  common  or  co-created  goals  and  ensure  that  everyone’s  voice  will  be  heard.  We  see  Gimme!  Coffee  as  a  community  of  communities  that  (both  individually  and  collectively)  will  contribute  to  our  self-determined  and  mutual  successes.  We also have a lot of fun together. 

Resource Stewardship

We  pursue  the  health  and  growth  of  our  cooperative  by  taking  care  of  the  spaces  we  inhabit  and  being  mindful  of  the  tools  that  are  available  for  our use.  We take ownership over our position in the waste stream and strive to decrease negative impacts where possible.

Safe Environment

We  believe  everyone  should  feel  safe  working  at  or  visiting  Gimme!  Coffee.  We  endeavor  to  provide  an-racist,  discrimina on-free  and  harassment-free spaces for personal advancement and professional collaboration.  We  foster  a  culture  of  food  safety  by  identifying  hazards  with  the  manufacture  and  execution  of  our  food  products,  and  by  mitigating  health  risks  through training, self-assessment and corrective action. 

Betterment

We  exist  for  the  well-being  of  people.  We  recognize  that  individual  and  collective  well-being  includes  physical,  emotional,  intellectual,  environmental,  financial,  occupational,  social,  and  spiritual  health,  and  that  the  achievement  of  well-being  differs  depending  on  identity,  (race,  gender, age, nationality, sexual orientation, as well as in intersections of these identities), background, privilege, and access to resources.  We  commit  to  the  continued  development,  empowerment,  and  retention  of  our  staff  to  engage  our  internal  and  external  communities  by  fostering an informative, inclusive, rewarding, and mutually supportive environment. 

Ethical Operation

We  demonstrate  integrity  of  business  practice  and  cooperative  governance  by  complying  with  all  regulatory  requirements  and  also  acting  with  unyielding dedication to our self-defined commitments.  We  inspire  trust  through  transparent  communication  and  acknowledgement  of  accountability,  and  improve  performance  through  aspiration,  self-monitoring, and member engagement. 

Shared Value

We create various forms of economic and societal value through our work at Gimme! Coffee and believe that our concern for community must  be matched by an equitable distribution of value.  We can and should enhance the benefit to the people we serve by creating and distributing value at scale; developing strategies, practices and  culture to achieve our greater purpose of thriving communities, economies and environments.

Our Sourcing Model

True to the vision of our cooperative, our sourcing model works to rethink the value of coffee so that coffee systems can thrive. While we only source Speciality grade coffee, we understand that the majority of commercial grade coffee requires sustainable pricing and rebalancing power between producers and corporations. This is why we source certified coffee, to elevate the best in class standards for all coffee systems to thrive. 

In addition to this foundation we require that the majority of the coffee we source (95%) is certified Fairtrade under the Fairtrade International production and trade standards.

We source certified organic coffee whenever possible. We also participate with additional standards including Smithsonian Migratory Bird Certified (Bird Friendly), International Women’s Coffee Alliance and Cafe Femenino. We do not participate with Fair Trade USA or the Rainforest Alliance. 

Food Safety

Our coffee roasting operation is certified with Safe Quality Food (SQF) Institute, one of the most rigorous safety standards for food manufacturing. Our multi-stakeholder food safety team systematically reviews and verifies our plan for hazard analysis and critical control points, and receives ongoing training to ensure we are continuously improving our good manufacturing practices. 

Living Wage

Gimme is a certified living wage employer with Living Wage for Us, the country’s only national living wage certification program.Â