Ecological Sustainability

This business has a very low c footprint. By sourcing locally, we cut the carbon food miles to almost nothing. By doing delivery instead of a storefront, less fossil fuels are used than if everyone was using cars and transportation to go to a set location. Sourcing all food as locally as possible, means no large fossil fuel use bringing food from other regions. We will use reusable delivery bags and our packaging will be made from biodegradable, recycled, and recyclable material whenever possible. Also one of our core team is an environmental scientist who will be regularly evaluating the business for ways to be more ecologically sustainable.

Economic Sustainability

The next century on this planet is going to be one of the most challenging in human history. With climate change, humans approaching another species bottleneck and a fluctuating unstable globalized economy with no consideration for the needs of people, how do we best prepare ourselves, our children, our communities, and our region, to continue growing, changing, and evolving in the face of so much devastation? How do we adapt? What is it about us, collectively and individually, that needs to be preserved? How do we build new systems that are structured to support the lives we want without creating deplorable conditions for others?? How do we move away from surviving the systems we were born into and create systems that support, sustain, and empower all of us? And most importantly, how do we make it accessible for everyone in our community to structure thier own personal economic daily lives on these principles.

“Build new models that make the old models irrelevant” -Buckminster Fuller

 We are structuring a business that is first and foremost economically viable and sustainable long-term. We accomplish this by:

Creating jobs that are careers with comfortable wages for all, contributing and networking heavily in the local economy, andis on a model that can withstand a global economic collapse and still function and provide basic needs within the local economy. Our lifetime economic goal is to see local sustainably produced products regain at least 30% of the overall market for us to be economically and food secure in the Pacific Northwest. This industry holds the potential to deeply contribute to our regional economic and political stability over the next century. Local food has already shown itself to be an industry of steady increase over the last 20 years when many other industries have gone up and down or decreased, and combining it with emerging delivery models and foundational tech ensures the continued growth of the industry.

Socially Sustainable

Workplace Community Focus

The key to our business is in the relationship: with the farmers, with our drivers, and with each other. It starts with each other and expands out to every area of our business.

Our main goal as a company is to practice the values we preach.  In all areas of  business, we are striving to live out our mission statement as well as our core-values.One of these values is caring about the people we work with. What does that mean exactly? In the abstract, it means rather than valuing employees as assets who add monetary value to the company, we value them as people with complex lives and ideas; who work with us rather than simply for us. On the day-to-day, this looks like checking in with one another to see how each person is doing; both in their work and personal lives. It means getting to know each other on a deeper level than is usually experienced at work.

One of our goals is to foster an environment of community within the workplace. To us, that means showing up for the other people in the company, having hard discussions, and creating a community atmosphere through dinners, events, and individuals being involved in the decision make process of the company.

Instead of decisions being made at the top and implemented at the bottom, we are creating a more horizontal structure where employees are encouraged to share their ideas and speak up if they have any issues. Think a co-op approach to decision making, discussions, and day-to-day business. Everyone’s opinions and views are valued and respected.

FamilyFocus

Part of the people-first approach is recognizing that people have lives outside of their jobs. As such, we are incorporating a family-focused approach into the business.

We started with the question: What would it look like to structure a work environment and business around family and children?

Exploring the answers to this question revealed a few key pieces of information: first, parents want to spend time as much time as possible with their children; second, they want to be in close proximity to their children, specifically if those children are young. To address the first concern, we’ve structure the business to operate on a four day work week. This gives individuals more time to spend with their families outside of work. To address the second concern, we’ve created a voluntary rotating position that functions cooperatively among the parents. Parents will take turns filling the childcare job while getting paid the same amount during their time doing childcare as they are when performing their other duties.

Greater Community Focus

The business exists as a for-profit/non-profit hybrid, filling several areas of community need. We are offering a small business consultation and grant/loan program for our producers to ensure we are providing economic viability for everyone. We are operating an Urban farm and garden program which purchases produce from small city producers and provides consultation, education, and loans/grants to our urban producers. We are implementing Low income discount programs including EBT dollar matching. We are making wise and ethical food decisions highly accessible in the city of Seattle.