Sustainability | J.J. Darboven

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For more than 150 years, our entrepreneurial success has been based on first-class products and personalised
service. Good, long-term relationships with our employees, suppliers, and business partners are equally important
for our company. So too is resource- and environment-friendly management. I am therefore very proud of our first
sustainability report: A sustainable family business.

With the help of texts and pictures as well as with a lot of interesting data, it illustrates what we understand under social and ecological responsibility and how we are developing in terms of sustainability. I hope you enjoy reading it - of course with a good cup of coffee in hand.

Your Albert Darboven

A tradition of responsibility

Founded in 1866 in a small office in Hamburg's old town, our company is managed by Albert Darboven, the family’s fourth generation. As a family business, J.J. Darboven has always felt obliged to practice and preserve values. Fairness and social responsibility are therefore part of our corporate identity. We are currently active in ten European countries with 14 subsidiaries.

For quality with foresight

As a hot beverage specialist, we manage a wide range of coffee, tea, and cocoa. We always pay attention to a consistently high quality with our products and our service. In order to constantly meet our high quality standards, we implemented a certified quality management system in accordance with DIN ISO 9001 as early as 1999. However, we are convinced that entrepreneurship also includes socially and ecologically sustainable action - the basic prerequisite for the successful development of our company and the world we live in.

Our path to sustainability

Taking responsibility has been one of J.J. Darboven's most important principles from the very beginning. But that's not enough for us: In 2017, we formed an interdisciplinary sustainability project group and appointed a sustainability officer. This nine-member working group meets every six weeks to work continuously on the sustainable improvement of all areas of the company. Together they determine key figures, explore new opportunities, and improve our processes so that we can make a contribution to a sustainable future through resource-saving economic management and long-term fair partnerships.

PROJECT GROUP SUSTAINABILITY left to right:

Benjamin Gamm, Kerstin Wannicke, Bernhard Ternka, Claudia Korb, Petra Lahmann, Natalie Futh, Lukas Werner, Wilfried Zwerg, Axel Meuser.

In this sustainability report you will learn more about what drives J.J. Darboven. We report on our products, our social and ecological commitment in the countries of origin, the provisions at our two production facilities in Hamburg and Sauerlach, and our multifaceted social commitment.

By the time our high-quality coffee assortment reaches our customers, it has come a long way. Grown and harvested around the equator, in the so-called coffee belt, the still unroasted coffee beans are sent by ship to Germany, where they are roasted, packaged, and shipped to our customers. We always treat people and nature with special appreciation. For "good" coffee in the truest sense of the word.

From Peru to Hamburg

The Arabica beans for Café Intención come from Fairtrade cooperatives in Peru and Honduras, depending on the harvest time. In 2017, we purchased around 2,400 tonnes of Fairtrade-certified coffee from Peru alone. First each cherry is hand-picked by our coffee farmers, then the pulp is removed, washed and laid out to dry, peeled, and sorted. Before the coffee has even been bought, we receive a sample of the harvest, which is roasted for testing. Only after this quality and taste test has been passed and 4 weeks of transport by ship to our locations does the green coffee receive the final touch to its taste by being gently roasted to develop the flavours, packaged and delivered to our customers.

Sustainable work is important to us

A sustainable family business

A tradition of responsibility

For quality with foresight

Our path to sustainability

PROJECT GROUP SUSTAINABILITY left to right:

Appreciation from plant to cup

From Peru to Hamburg

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