Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share Episode 18 – David Gaines
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
Episode 18 – David Gaines
Today's guest is David Gaines, head of La Terza Coffee. David has had firsthand experience testing and exploring the vast possibilities of Social Enterprise. On a global scale, coffee is one of the worst industries for workers, many of whom are paid unfairly or are forced to work without wages. David and his team at La Terza have made a concentrated effort to reject this system by buying coffee through sources that guarantee a living wage for their employees. What he has come to realize is that changing the working conditions of your average coffee farmer is only the first step toward fixing some of the negative narratives that plague our current economic system.
We can improve the working conditions of coffee growers around the world. How can we do the same in other industries? David sees a new type of business model. In that model we can not only better the lives of people we source from, but also the lives of our employees, customers, and even our competition.
David is passionate about creatively challenging the traditional business status quo and incorporating life-bringing ideas into everyday business practices. And it doesn't just stop with our work; it also continues as we engage with our purchases. Every dollar we spend is a vote for something. There’s a story behind every product we buy, and we should support businesses that have a positive impact on the world. As awareness grows among consumers, how do we do our part to buy better stories? This is the message David hopes to spread in all of his business endeavors.
La Terza is based in the metropolitan area of Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.
Quotes
"We have to work together with our competitors. (...) There's plenty of other things that separate us as businesses. Ethical trade of coffee is not one of them"
"We are going to see in the next 10 to 15 years that corporate responsibility is going to evolve from just 'hey we're gonna give a million dollars to this charity'. It is going to evolve
"The orphanages that exist now, can be directly linked to the wages that a farmer receives. So, if we were to just simply buy coffee the right way from the beginning, it wouldn't eliminate orphanages, but the amount of them would be a lot less."
"We forget that the small steps are absolutely critical to make these big movements"
"Most of us think of this one big pie that we're all fighting after. Versus the philosophy of 'how do we work together to grow the pie'"
Links
www.daviddgaines.com
www.laterzacofee.com
www.instagram.com/laterzacoffee/
www.facebook.com/LaTerzaCoffee
www.yelp.com/biz/la-terza-artisan-coffee-roasterie-cincinnati-3
View all episodes
Today's guest is David Gaines, head of La Terza Coffee. David has had firsthand experience testing and exploring the vast possibilities of Social Enterprise. On a global scale, coffee is one of the worst industries for workers, many of whom are paid unfairly or are forced to work without wages. David and his team at La Terza have made a concentrated effort to reject this system by buying coffee through sources that guarantee a living wage for their employees. What he has come to realize is that changing the working conditions of your average coffee farmer is only the first step toward fixing some of the negative narratives that plague our current economic system.
We can improve the working conditions of coffee growers around the world. How can we do the same in other industries? David sees a new type of business model. In that model we can not only better the lives of people we source from, but also the lives of our employees, customers, and even our competition.
David is passionate about creatively challenging the traditional business status quo and incorporating life-bringing ideas into everyday business practices. And it doesn't just stop with our work; it also continues as we engage with our purchases. Every dollar we spend is a vote for something. There’s a story behind every product we buy, and we should support businesses that have a positive impact on the world. As awareness grows among consumers, how do we do our part to buy better stories? This is the message David hopes to spread in all of his business endeavors.
La Terza is based in the metropolitan area of Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.
Quotes
"We have to work together with our competitors. (...) There's plenty of other things that separate us as businesses. Ethical trade of coffee is not one of them"
"We are going to see in the next 10 to 15 years that corporate responsibility is going to evolve from just 'hey we're gonna give a million dollars to this charity'. It is going to evolve
"The orphanages that exist now, can be directly linked to the wages that a farmer receives. So, if we were to just simply buy coffee the right way from the beginning, it wouldn't eliminate orphanages, but the amount of them would be a lot less."
"We forget that the small steps are absolutely critical to make these big movements"
"Most of us think of this one big pie that we're all fighting after. Versus the philosophy of 'how do we work together to grow the pie'"
Links
www.daviddgaines.com
www.laterzacofee.com
www.instagram.com/laterzacoffee/
www.facebook.com/LaTerzaCoffee
www.yelp.com/biz/la-terza-artisan-coffee-roasterie-cincinnati-3