Let’s rethink the way we do business
Do you know where your coffee comes from? Many of us love our coffee, whether in the morning to wake us up, or during the day for an energy boost, or simply for pleasure. That said, who really knows the journey of their coffee? Who can say where the money goes when they buy a cup? Would your coffee still taste the same, if you knew that the coffee farmer barely earns enough to live on? Our model, called Equal Profit, enables us to solve this imbalance by equitably distributing the profit generated by each supply chain actor. Here’s how it works: each supply chain actor chain bears costs to produce, transform, transport or market a product. Each of these costs represents a percentage of the total cost. Thanks to our model, each actor will receive a profit that is proportional to his/her costs: the percentage of profit of each actor is strictly equal to the percentage of his/her total cost. The remuneration of each of these actors is calculated so that on the one hand, it allows them to cover their costs and pay their labour, and on the other hand, to generate enough profit to ensure the continuation of their activity. By supporting this model, you are contributing to poverty alleviation and to breaking current power dynamics in supply chains, making them more equitable and entirely transparent, thereby building the base for a truly sustainable economy.
When equity rhymes with quality
What a better way to show the effectiveness of a model than to implement it for real? Today, we are looking to apply this equitable way of distributing profits to a coffee supply chain. We have partnered with Ensambles Cafés Mexicanos and a cooperative called Citlatl Café, which brings together 20 producers of coffee from native communities – Nahuatl – situated in Ixpaluca, Zongolica, Veracruz, Mexico. Their specialty coffee is cultivated between 1200 and 1700 metres of altitude in a beautiful environment, rich in biodiversity and protected from all pollution. Farming this coffee is done using agroecology principles, meaning that local biodiversity is respected. It is grown amid different trees providing the right shade and in using solely organic fertilizer, without herbicides, fungicides or pesticides. Producers farm 100% arabica coffee mainly from the Bourbon and Typica varieties but also beans from Geisha and Costa Rica. Soft and balanced, this coffee has delicious notes of praline. The producers of this cooperative are supported in their production, processing and logistical activities by the company Ensambles. Ensambles works solely with communities who produce coffee on plantations that protect biodiversity, the environment, water streams and preserve the soil. Once harvested, sorted, washed and dried, the coffee is then packed in bags to be sent to Switzerland. Michael Wurzner, the founder of Xalala, then meticulously roasts the coffee in his workshop in the scenic Chamoson vineyards of Valais, in order to highlight its specific notes. If our crowdfunding campaign is successful, we will be able to import the beans of the new harvest by spring next year, and have them roasted and ready by summer! Then, you can get your coffee in one of two ways: delivered by post, or collected in person at one of our events in Switzerland. Just let us know your choice in the comment box, or we’ll contact you in a few months when the coffee is ready! If you prefer a quicker and more immersive experience, Michael would be happy to welcome you and your plus-one for a guided tour of his roasting workshop in Chamoson, paired with a tasting of the best of his specialty coffees. The perfect Christmas gift for all coffee lovers!
L'atelier de Michaël au milieu des vignes 
Michaël, notre torréfacteur 
A coffee, for starters
The 27,000 Swiss Francs that we are looking to raise via this campaign will allow us to apply our model for real, by ordering a 600 kg palette of green coffee from Mexico and by equitably and transparently remunerating each of the actors who contributes to the production our coffee. The total costs and renumerations of each actor will be revealed to you as soon as the coffee has finally been roasted. If you take us one step further and we raise 60,000 Swiss Francs, we can order two palettes simultaneously, bringing you more coffee, and ensuring the perennial success of our model. By contributing to this crowdfunding campaign, you are supporting a unique and innovative project, and a new way of thinking about how truly equitable and sustainable business should be done. We want to build on this first experience and apply Equal Profit to other products as well. The Ixpaluca project is just the beginning of a long story. Thank you so much for your support!
