Risk & Business Magazine California Fall 2017 | Page 28

URTH CAFFÉ
Urth Caffé:
A Lesson In Sustainability
H
ow does a self-described
coffee-hater go from
avoiding the stuff
judiciously to owning a
growing business that
not only promotes coffee but praises
its virtues? It all comes down to true
love and a dream to own his own
business for entrepreneur Shallom
Berkman. He met his wife, Jilla, early
in his retail career while working at
an electronics store where she was
his manager. A coffee fanatic, Jilla
would consume about ten cups per
day, and Shallom quickly figured out
that buying unique coffees for her
to try was the key to her heart. Jilla
shared Shallom’s passion for starting a
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business—for her, in the form of a café.
Gradually, Shallom began tasting the
coffees he brought her and quickly
became a coffee connoisseur himself.
They fell in love and eventually married,
all the while exploring options for
starting a business together. As fate
would have it, the couple met a Peruvian
coffee farmer at a convention who
would change their lives forever. This
farmer was one of the only ones in
the world growing organic coffee—a
dramatic departure from the industry
mainstream, which relies on the heavy
use of chemicals and GMOs (genetically
modified organisms) for coffee growing,
processing, and pest prevention. While
“industry” coffee is not dangerous to
consume—with 500-degree roasting
temperatures, the chemicals are burned
off the beans—the debris does end
up in local waterways, polluting the
freshwater resources of underprivileged
communities. “They simply don’t have
the regulations in place to protect them
the way we have here,” says Shallom.
The Berkmans decided to open a café
using organically grown coffee grown
on so-called heirloom trees, which have
never been genetically modified. The
Berkmans opened their first café in
1991 in Manhattan Beach, naming it
Urth Caffé, which comes from the old
Welsh spelling of the word “earth.” A