About The Good Coffee Cartel
The Good Coffee Cartel is a Scottish roastery, recognised worldwide for their iconic coffee cans and their ecological approach to the workings of the roastery. Their whole company can be summed up in one word: GOOD.
Cartel is another example of a company that was created from the question: "what if we could do things differently?". The founders Courtney Brennan and Todd Whiteford worked together in a cafe in Glasgow, and they found themselves often saying things like "wouldn't it be nice if there was a roastery which..." or "what if there was a roastery which would...". It took a couple of nights sat over a couple of pints of beer for them to come to the final question "what's actually stopping us from creating that roastery ourselves?". Quite obviously, the answer was only money, so Courtney and Todd put together all their savings, took on a bank loan and they were able to buy a car parts store in Kinning Park. It only took them 3 months to refurbish the building and then they dove headfirst into creating their dream roastery. They opened their gates in 2017 and were able to finally see their dream become reality. They have joined the wave of newly opened businesses in southern Glasgow, which is pulling this part of the city into a new wave of innovation and novelty.
Cartel was able to maintain its concept and aspiration. Their mission is to fulfil responsibility towards everyone else who was and will be involved in coffee. Cartel sees coffee roasting as the axis on which everything else depends on. Therefore, they take it as their duty to do the best work they can and to honour the hard work of the people at the beginning of the chain and the work of the baristas at the end. Cartel's goal is to create new paths in the world of fine coffee, with respect for the environment and with the intention of doing GOOD things GOOD. As they say themselves: "We just want to do GOOD. We want to roast, brew and serve GOOD coffee. We want to make GOOD products. We want to have a GOOD impact on our environment. We want to be GOOD to our people. We want to collaborate on GOOD projects. The Good Coffee Cartel is the vehicle that we use to achieve this."
They are inspired by the founder of the English clothing design brand Mamnick, Thom Barnett. Thom sells clothes of the highest quality and refuses to adapt to what others should be, doing what he wants to do and saying what he wants to say. Courtney and Todd are impressed by people who stick to their principles and retain their unique voice and personality. They also look out over the Round Hill Roastery. As they themselves pointed out, in the years 2015 - 2018, the most delicious coffees they had were from them. In addition, they appreciate their own distinctive approach to roasting management and catchy marketing.
Cartel is one of the leading roasteries and cafés in terms of environmental protection. Their coffee distribution is completely zero-waste. They supply coffee locally in containers, which they then take back and pack the coffee in tin containers, which can either be reused (keep the coffee fresh for a very long time) or recycled (this material can be recycled in full). In their café, they do not use disposable coffee cups with them, on the contrary, they have a system for exchanging reusable cups (similarly to our Otoč cup).
They source their green coffee from suppliers who ensure the sustainability of farms and farmers. This means sufficient financial compensation, improvement and innovation of processing, two-way communication. In addition, long-term and strong cooperation that leads to the improvement of coffee every year.
Cartel also relies on equality and a bit of madness among their employees. They humorously claim to employ "coffee ninjas", diverse people who work hard, but at the same time have fun, think and find fulfilment in their work.
Over the next 5 years, they see themselves continuing to create their bold innovations and meaningfully influencing the coffee industry. They don't want to pull money from people to the last penny at all costs, they want to achieve a better life by helping others, inspiring and lifting. The result will hopefully be that when it comes time to leave, people will remember them as good ones.
