We became a certified B Corporation.
This is something we’ve aspired to ever since we opened Market Lane and, in September, we finally achieved it! This certification means that Market Lane can measurably prove, with full transparency and accountability, that we use business as a force for good. It also means we’ve joined a growing international movement of companies engaging in care, advocacy and action for the benefit of people and the planet, not just for profit. It’s a single letter, but it’s a really big deal!
We opened a new shop, our 7th.
It’s no secret that we love the Queen Victoria Market. We have a shop in the Dairy Hall, and one on Victoria St, so when a space opened up in the historic Mercat Cross Building on Queen St, we jumped at the opportunity to brew and share coffees in this special pocket of the market, around the corner from where we used to have a shop on Therry St.
For the design of our Queen St space, we worked with the talented David Goss and his team at Studio Goss to celebrate and preserve the heritage façade of the building, while creating a warm and welcoming interior space where James and the shop team can serve coffees and recommend delicious beans for home.
We roasted and shared 43 beautiful and diverse coffees from 7 different countries.
Many of these coffees came from dedicated and quality-focused producers with whom we’ve been working for years. Others were new coffees to us, from producers, cooperatives and farmers' groups we loved introducing to our customers.
For every coffee we purchased and shared, we made a contribution to World Coffee Research (WCR) via their Check Off Program. WCR is an important organisation that uses advanced science to combat and mitigate the impact of climate change on the coffee supply chain.
We also contributed funds and data to the Specialty Coffee Transaction Guide, which aims to create new pricing benchmarks for specialty coffee, moving away from the commodity market towards a more relevant, equitable and transparent model.
We travelled again!
Our Wholesale & Partnerships team were able to start travelling around Australia to visit our partners in other states. And our coffee buyers began travelling overseas to visit our producing partners once more – to check in with them in-person and learn more about the challenges they’ve faced and the changes and improvements they’ve made over these last few years. And, of course, to taste coffees and select our favourites to roast and share with our customers.
We continued our partnership with Children’s Ground.
In 2022, we continued to admire and support the incredible and crucial work that Children’s Ground does in collaboration and support of First Nations children, families and communities. We ‘Wore it Yellow’ during Reconciliation Week and we donated $1 for every bag of beans sold during NAIDOC Week. We also donated all proceeds from our gift-wrapping service, with stunning paper designed by artist Rachael Sarra. Through these initiatives, we raised and donated over $4000 to Children’s Ground.
In October, our team participated in a Truth Telling Workshop with the team from Children’s Ground. The workshop encouraged us to recognise and reflect on all that colonial powers have stolen from First Nations people over the last two and a half centuries, and the ways in which First Nations people have actively resisted and worked tirelessly for rights, recognition and much-needed structural change. The workshop was a powerful, eye-opening, educational, and moving experience, and we’re so grateful to the Children’s Ground team for running it and engaging with our team members on these issues.
…As well as other incredible organisations.
In addition to our partnership with Children’s Ground, we were also proud to support other important local organisations, including Scarf, StreetSmart and Food Bank. Altogether, we donated over $7000 to these organisations, as well as hundreds of kilos of coffee to Food Bank.
After the devastating floods in NSW and QLD in March, we teamed up with the amazing team at Attica to serve and sell our coffee along with their beautiful cheesecakes. In one day, we raised over $7000 for Bundjalung Community Flood Relief.
We also supported important social initiatives in coffee-producing countries, including donating over $2000 to the Santa Clara Scholarship Fund, a fantastic program we’ve supported since 2014.
We are still carbon neutral!
As a proudly carbon neutral business, we continued to measure, reduce and offset our emissions. We saved 17,000 coffee bags from landfill, collecting them from customers and recycling them with TerraCycle. This year we also purchased our first electric van! (With another one on the way.)
We partnered with wonderful businesses.
2022 marks nine years that we’ve been sharing our coffees with the amazing team at Exchange Coffee in Adelaide, and eight years supplying coffee to the brilliant Shortstop Coffee & Donuts team in Melbourne and Sydney. We also have some exciting new partners, including Hardware Société, who share our coffee with their customers in chic cafes in Melbourne, Barcelona and Paris, as well as LeTAO, who serve Market Lane coffee with their incredible cheesecakes in Melbourne.
In October, we hosted our inaugural Leadership in Hospitality panel, featuring Clare Scott from Bellroy, Huw Murdoch from Wild Life Bakery, Campbell Burton from Public Wine Shop and Jenni Bryant from Market Lane in a wide-ranging discussion about the importance of fostering a healthy workplace culture that gives team members opportunities to learn, thrive and flourish. It was a fascinating event attended by our wholesale partners and other small business owners, and we can’t wait to host more in the coming year.
And that’s a wrap!
Thanks to our wonderful community of producers, team members, industry peers and partners, and customers for sharing our passion for quality coffee and for all of your support, enthusiasm and friendship this year.
We can’t wait to see you for a delicious coffee soon. …Maybe at our new Brunswick shop location, opening in January 2023!
