Six years ago today - on February 21st, 2018 - twin brothers Philipp and Thomas Greulich shook hands and founded the social business Bean United. Their goal: To change the world with Social Coffee by donating €2.50 to a social project for every kilo of their high-quality coffee beans. What started as an idea quickly grew into a social mission - let's look back on the past six years together.
The early days
Bean United began as a two-man business: The two founders acquired their first customers, packed the coffee beans themselves and delivered the orders. They visited the coffee farmers at regular intervals to get to know the people behind the beans and help with the harvest. They also got to know and love Welthungerhilfe's school meal program in Northern Burundi. The trips to Burundi in particular show the social impact and purpose of Bean United's work and make it clear what a difference education and adequate nutrition make.
The challenge of 2020 and new milestones
The year 2020 brought a general drop in business and other challenges due to the pandemic. Still, all corporate customers remained loyal to Bean United and continued to support the social mission - even without contracts.
During the pandemic, Bean United opened Germany's first Social Café, which was a great success: A place to come together, a place of exchange and creativity - and (above all) a place of positive change, as every coffee drink directly enabled a school meal in Burundi.
At the beginning of 2023, Bean United reached 1,000,000 school meals in Burundi, a milestone that was celebrated with the second jump into the Deininger Weiher - after its foundation in 2018.
The evolution of Bean United and further goals
To this day, Bean United is constantly evolving: with a team of 6 employees and up to 10 baristas, Bean United now supplies over 150 companies and hundreds of private customers. The social business also offers barista services for companies, trade fairs and other events as well as barista workshops.
There is also a lot in store this year and next: new collaborations, a company catering location, a new online shop and a market test in the USA.
But today we are celebrating the past six years because they show that both corporate and private customers back our social mission and that it is possible to act transparently and sustainably in the coffee sector and make the world a little better with coffee.