"We don't want an exit, we want impact."

Bean United not only wants to offer high-quality coffee, but also improve the world at the same time. Founder Thomas Greulich explains in an interview how this is to be achieved.

Selling fair coffee and donating money is not enough for the brothers and founders of Bean United Thomas and Philipp Greulich. They want to do more and get involved in the projects on site. With their start-up, they support educational projects to give people a chance at a self-determined life.

Why did you found your start-up?

Greulich: We wanted to combine entrepreneurship with social impact. That's why we wanted to create a start-up that is based on a social purpose and can create an impact through an everyday product. Our start-up is based on a "1-to-1" approach, i.e. with every kilogram of coffee sold, a social impact is created that is directly shown to the customer.

How do you choose the sustainable projects you support?

Greulich: We do a lot of research in advance. Currently, we are active in Burundi; the research for this took half a year. We don't just want to transfer money, we want to talk to the local people personally. We also need the opportunity to create emotional content on site. To do this, we look at what NGOs are actually doing there. In Burundi, for example, we are working together with Welthungerhilfe to provide a warm midday meal for the children. A social levy of 2.50 euros per kilo of coffee paid by corporate customers enables us to finance ten meals. So for two weeks a child can get a warm and nutritious meal. Since the start of the project, we have made 885,000 school meals possible.

What can you tell us about the collaboration with Redi School?

Greulich: Over the years, many corporate clients have asked us whether it would also be possible to create a social impact in Germany. We were looking for a project that was designed for the long term and that we thought made sense. We want to help people sustainably and give them opportunities. Here we see a large part in education. With a good education, you have the opportunity to create your own, better future. In Germany, we have a lot of refugees who would like to work but are not sufficiently qualified for the open positions. In addition, there is a shortage of IT specialists in this country. That's where the Redi School comes in. Here, women with an immigrant or refugee background can learn digital skills in one year. For 2,500 euros a year, we can offer a woman this opportunity, making her fit for the job market. That's possible with an annual coffee consumption of one ton.

Can your customers decide for themselves whether they would rather support the project in Burundi or the Redi School?

Greulich: Our main project in Burundi is supported by our private customers, and here you will find background information about Burundi on the packaging. Larger customers can choose whether they want to support Burundi or the Redi School with their purchase. In the future, we plan to offer this selection option in the online store to both private and corporate customers.

You state that you are a gemeinwohlökonomie-balancing company. What exactly does that mean?

Greulich: Basically, there is a questionnaire with 80 to 100 questions in various categories, such as supplier relations, employees in terms of handling and flexibility. The questions score different amounts of points. At the end, you get a balance sheet and a score, which is how sustainability and fairness are measured. Companies can then use these scores to identify potential for improvement. There is a new survey every two years. For us, it's a good basis on which to analyze our status quo and define new goals

You give part of your sales to projects like Burundi, but you still want to sell the coffee at market prices. Why not make it more expensive?

Greulich: We have to find a price that is both attractive to customers and still does good. For the private customer segment, we have based our prices on those of the coffee roasters, and some of ours are even lower than that. In the B2B segment, prices depend on volume and here we still have a lower margin of perhaps two to-three euros per kilo. According to our approach, the coffee farmers get a fair price, well above the Fairtrade prices, and we or the consumers in return get a correspondingly good quality.

Does the business model work so that you can finance yourself? The coffee you buy already costs you 5€/kilo.

Greulich: My brother and I share the company 50 percent. Currently, we are investing a lot so that we can hire new employees and do more marketing. We need more attention. Currently we are putting in more than is coming out, but see it as pre-funding our brand building. So far we've been able to hold on via bootstrapping, but staying power is very important when you're not working with investors.

So you're more concerned with making a difference in a philanthropic sense than building a profitable company?

Greulich: Bean United is about enabling the maximum possible social impact through a social business model and as a social enterprise. Since we are not a charity or NGO and operate without philosophical donors or investors, our existence and success depends 100% on the profitability of the business. Bean United has been profitable from the beginning, which of course initially involved bootstrapping. After two difficult years of the pandemic, a bigger growth step is planned in 2022/23 by investing in new staff and resources. In addition, the biggest annual goal in 2022 is to have enabled the 1 millionth school meal in Burundi.

Where do you want to be with Bean United in three years?

Greulich: We want to establish the impact product "social coffee" in three years so that everyone knows it and Bean United is socially acceptable, both in the key account and private customer segments. We want to double our impact every year so that in three years we are at 100 tons of coffee and can fund a quarter of a million in impact. We currently employ 15 people, mainly in our café in Munich. We want to increase our core team there as well. Another idea is that we hire people on the ground at the growing and project areas.

What was your biggest challenge in setting up?

Greulich: Price sensitivity is a challenge, as many business customers are used to very low coffee prices. We meet this challenge with a great mission, a value-based quality product and innovative extras, such as our popular "Impact Certificate," which accurately reflects and allows sharing of each customer's social contribution, in number of school meals financed.

About the person:

Thomas Greulich founded the social impact start-up "Bean United" together with his brother Philipp in 2018. Both brothers started their careers at Red Bull and are realizing a dream with their own company.