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Dominion Trading Co. hopes quality of coffee draws buyers with a conscience
12/3/2008 12:11:32 PM
By Josh Johnson
Splash Staff Writer
When Post Falls mega-church Real Life Ministries decided to switch from serving standard-fare, store-bought coffee to offering premium Ethiopian coffee purchased from Dominion Trading Co., the church knew it would have to up its budget.
What church leaders didn't realize is that they would also start going through twice as much coffee.
"The volume doubled after we began providing the coffee," said Mike Stemm, who runs Dominion Trading Co. out of his Liberty Lake home. "Individuals can also buy the coffee in 12-ounce bags at their Resource Café at the church."
The investment is worth it for the church, whose head pastor, Jim Putman, visited Ethiopia in 2007 with a group organized by Stemm. Dominion Trading Co. uses funds generated from the coffee to help bring sustainability and self-sufficiency to the Ethiopian communities through a nonprofit organization called the New Covenant Foundation.
"Here's an opportunity through the coffee to have great coffee and generate income to support your own church's mission program," Stemm said. "We're taking your profit and sending it back to Ethiopia and everyone wins." Advertisement
Craig Meredith, who partners with Stemm to run Dominion Trading Co., said he didn't realize at first how good Dominion Trading's product is.
"The reputation for Yirgacheffe coffee was already there," Meredith said.
Even in the birthplace of coffee, Ethiopia, Dominion Trading Co.'s coffee has fared well in competitions. The company received second place in a "Taste of Ethiopia" competition and fourth place in the "All African Competition" held by the East Africa Fine Coffee Association.
Stemm said Dominion Trading Co. has been experiencing growth each year, "but we want to take it from an incremental growth to exponential."
Meredith and Stemm hope the combination of great coffee and a social conscience will draw coffee lovers to Dominion Trading Co.
"Many companies feel good because they have money to give to an organization - coffee farmers in Ethiopia, for example," Stemm said. "For us, it's far more than giving money. We are committed long term to empowering these people and becoming self-sufficient."
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