Sustainability

B Corp

As a certified B Corp we are committed to purpose beyond profit meeting the B Lab's high standard of social and environmental performance. B Corp's rigorous Impact Assessment covers five key impact areas of Governance, Workers, Environment, Community and Customers. This assessment helps us benchmark our performance and give us the tools to improve in the future. As well as reaching a score of at least 80 points, businesses are required to make a legal commitment by incorporating social and environmental decision making into their articles of association and publish an annual Impact Report. Click below to read our latest Impact Report.

“The purpose of the company is to provide a sustainable platform to work towards the benefit of people and planet through and an ethical approach to achieving profit and prosperity.”

People

The people behind Atkinsons are what makes us who we are. From the farmers at origin to our workforce and customers here in Lancaster, we are all interconnected through our passion for great coffee. That's why we are conscious to always look for ways to create a positive impact for all those involved. We always aim to be transparent about our social impact for all our stakeholders. Whether it's social initiatives at origin, our staff wellbeing or our involvement in the local community we endeavour to report on all the good things we're doing as well as the things we want to improve upon.

GLOBAL COMMUNITY

As a small independent roastery we look for like-minded producers at origin who share our passion for producing great coffee. Wherever possible we aim to build lasting relationships with producers by committing to pay a premium for their coffee on forward contracts year after year. By travelling to origin we can see first hand the social and environmental initiatives these producers are implementing and tell the story about the good work they are doing.

LOCAL COMMUNITY

Generations of customers have supported us since 1837 so we are an intrinsic part of the local community. We are eager to give back where when we can by offering educational volunteer work to the local University, supporting Music and Literary festivals and charity donations and offering free use of our cafe spaces for community events.

Planet

“As a family business it’s our mentality to take the long view. For us that means doing our part to protect the environment today so that we can still be around for years to come, sourcing, roasting and serving great coffee.”

ROASTERY

- Our Loring Roaster uses 80% less energy compared to conventional roasters and reduces CO2 emissions with the use of a single burner which roasts coffee and incinerates particulates.

- Our Roastery, Shop and Hall cafe use renewable energy.

- All our coffee and tea packaging is recyclable and carbon neutral. These bags come from Dutchcoffeepak, company that invests in the cookstove project which supplies clean cookstoves in coffee producing countries.

- Our local van run delivers to coffee to customers in reusable 6kg tubs reducing the number of bags ending up in landfill.

CAFE LOCATIONS

- We offer a discount on any coffee in a reusable takeaway cup and we've teamed up with Terracycle to collect customers' used bags for recycling.

- We incentivise a refill culture in our shop by offering 20p off each time they refill a container with coffee beans or loose leaf tea.

- Two of our three cafes use energy efficient espresso machines, Vicatoria Arduino Eagle One and the San Remo Racer.

- All our dairy milk served in our cafes comes from local free range dairy farm Stephensons, making sure cows enjoy life in the fields for at least 6 months of the year with certified
Pasture Promise.