Quality, consistency and passion

 

The owners of a Windsor coffee shop are ensuring every step of their coffee production is fair and ethical by maintaining a unique relationship with their suppliers.

Kyle and Rachel Bondy, founders of Anchor Coffee House on Huron Church Rd., take fair trade to a new level by purchasing beans directly from their roasters and maintain relationships with the farmers themselves. As opposed to fair trade, they call it direct trade.

A long time dream for the Bondys, Anchor started in 2014 and has grown into something they did not expect. They currently employ seven baristas and will be hiring two more. The Bondys created a three-word phrase that sums up their business model: “quality, consistency and passion.”

Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines fair trade as a movement whose goal is to help producers in developing countries to get a fair price for their products so as to reduce poverty, provide for the ethical treatment of workers and farmers, and promote environmentally sustainable practices. In contrast, direct trade has a different definition to each business. The Bondys define it as maintaining a relationship with their producers, which enables them to better satisfy their needs.

“All of the coffees we feature are direct trade,” said Kyle Bondy. “Fair trade basically negotiates market prices with the people that are selling their coffee, whereas direct trade creates a relationship between the people buying the coffee and the roasters themselves.”

One of the coffee roasters the Bondys buy from is Transcend Coffee and Roastery in Edmonton, Alberta. Founder and CEO Poul Mark prefers to use the term “relationship coffee” but says all terms can be confusing.

“The challenge with all of this jargon is that the consumer doesn’t know what any of it means, just like most consumers don’t understand what fair trade means either,” said Mark. “When we talk about direct trade or relationship coffee, we are referring to the relationships we have with coffee producers in countries of origin (the place where coffee grows). For example, we have been working with many of the same coffee producers in Costa Rica now for six years.”

Working directly with the farmers allows them to get to know their needs and gives them a better idea of what quality to expect.

After the coffee is roasted at Transcend, it is sent to Anchor where it is sold to thousands of local Windsor residents.

“Coffee is roasted in Edmonton to order and then shipped via FedEx to Windsor,” said Mark. It typically is roasted on Monday and shipped the same day to coffee shops like Anchor.

The Bondys provide variety and ensure the beans on their shelf are of the finest quality by rotating coffees and roasters.

“We keep enough in stock for one week and that enables us to sell the freshest quality beans,” said Bondy.
Anchor Coffee House is the only coffee shop in Windsor that maintains a direct trade coffee business.