The frog in the logo.

The frog in the logo...

A frog is an indicator species, if you have a healthy environment there are frogs, the healthier the environment the higher the frog count...

At MondayMonday and The Beanery we believe one builds a healthy environment, encouraging “frogs”. This is much more than an ecological process; our outlook involves our entire environment. Instead of spending money on advertising we invest; time, money and effort in affecting change in our environment. We invest in our staff, some of these are becoming our biggest competitors… We invest in schools and barista training programs, introducing young people to the coffee industry and the opportunities this brings. A coffee program at a school, produces income for the school and some funds to augment pocket money for the pupils involved as well as a skill set for future employment. Also, the entrepreneurial opportunities, these micro enterprises can bring. This initiative has brought a few people to coffee, with one pop up café and a few taking their skill with them in travel and study to augment their income.  Supporting environmental issues i.e. plastic reduction initiatives, paper cup elimination programs, through incentivised keep cup programs, these have their own benefits. The almost total elimination of paper cups at our local country market has produced a saving and created 4 part time work opportunities. We handprint our own bags. This program will create local work opportunities, into the future. It is definitely not easy. Supporting the Lighthouse to Lighthouse for the past almost 7 years has cost us many hours and many Rands, but has produced many hundreds of thousands of Rands being ploughed into projects that have effected local change…

Looking for opportunities to affect change is a mindset, that also requires determination. It is impossible to talk about every initiative we are involved in, but our environment has returned many frogs and enormous goodwill.

Written by Michael Bayer