Part II: Designing a Product That Lasts
Team Members: Mihika Bansal, Amrita Khoshoo, Eliza Pratt, Ian Shei, Catherine Yochum
In spite of a culture of sustainability amongst many coffee retailers, roasted grounds are almost always packaged in non-recyclable materials designed to be thrown out after a single-use. We decided to redesign the system around coffee packaging in an effort to deepen the connection with consumers and highlight the hidden labor stories behind this extensive process. Wanting to push “sustainable packaging” beyond just recyclable or biodegradable materials, we found the growth of the product and its relationship with the user over time to be an equally important factor in our design. We built our service as an integration with Commonplace Coffee, a local Pittsburgh business, that reflects our vision of both sentimental and environmental sustainability.
Our Intervention: Solid Ground by Commonplace
We developed Solid Ground, a sustainable refill coffee service for local Pittsburgh coffee business Commonplace Coffee. The service’s name comes from the coffeeshop’s motto: Commonplace aims to be solid ground for all. We felt this fit well with the longer-lasting design and connections we aimed to create.
Included in this service are:
- A reusable tin, specifically designed with recycled stainless steel to keep coffee beans fresh.
- A refill sticker and loyalty program to deepen the connection between coffee consumers and the invisible narratives behind coffee’s cultivation.
This intervention fits into the consumer end of coffee’s global story. It aims to create a more sustainable way of consuming coffee and a deeper connection to coffee’s extensive global, historical, and cultural narratives.
How it works
First-Time Purchase
At any Commonplace Coffee location, customers can purchase the sustainable tin with their choice of coffee beans. Because the tin is meant to be reused, the Barista will add a small printed label to the tin with blend details.
Take Tin Home
The customer can take the tin home and enjoy their coffee beans.
Refill Tin
When a customer is running low on beans, the tin will let them know. They can head back to any Commonplace location with their tin for a refill. The Commonplace Barista refills the tin’s beans, gives the customer a new label with blend details to add to the tin’s slot (if the beans are different from those consumed previously), and a refill sticker to be placed on the tin.
See Tin Evolve
Over time, the tin and the stickers will reflect a customer’s personal journey with coffee and the people that put it in their home.
End Tin Refills
At any point in time, if a customer tells a Barista that they would like to stop bean refills, the Barista will give the customer some DIY ideas for upcycling the tin, such as a planting seeds in soil enriched with used coffee grounds.
The Tin
The Solid Ground tin is made from durable deep-drawn stainless steel, manufactured in a similar manner as aluminum cans and fire extinguishers. Stainless steel is a great material because it’s food safe, can be sourced sustainably and is incredibly recyclable, and can stand up to what life throws at it. It’s sized to fit one pound of coffee and is compact enough to fit in a bag or backpack. A wide opening makes fitting nearly any scoop a breeze, and the curved corners ensure every last ground or bean can be scooped. A line inside the container demarcating the last couple scoops of coffee let the customer know when it’s time for a refill.
The Stickers
We also created a sticker system designed to fit the Common Place Coffee look and to educate the user about hidden aspects of the coffee in their cup. The stickers circulate monthly, with 3 stickers available each month for the user to collect. The stickers highlight the entire journey of the coffee grounds from growing to grinding the beans. They also highlight individual farmers, harvesters, and roasters so that the invisible forces behind the grounds are made visible. Further series of stickers might also highlight Commonplace Coffee locations, brew method, and more. “Milestone” stickers (such as a “Globetrotter” badge for users who have tried brews from each source country offered at Commonplace) encourage a sense of accomplishment for prolonged use.
Each time the user goes to refill their tin, they will be given that month’s sticker. The tin itself has a tight paper overwrap upon which the user can place their sticker, so they do not permanently alter the tin. (This also provides a way to preserve their sticker journey if they want to remove a full overwrap and start fresh without buying a new tin). As the user continues to collect the stickers, they will build up on the tin over time, creating a visual record of their journey with Common Place coffee. This customization process will allow the user to create a deeper connection with the tin itself.
Loyalty rewards
As an added incentive for participating in the service, we reward our dedicated patrons with loyalty gifts and specialty badges. Using the stickers on the tin like a punch card system, we offer thoughtful gifts as a reward for reaching refill milestones. After 10 refills (equating to about 1 year of the service), customers receive an exclusive coffee scoop to use with their tin.
In addition, patrons who “explore” our coffee varieties receive a “globe trotter” sticker badge after trying roasts from every country we source from.
Over time, customers can collect these special rewards as their relationship with the service continues to grow.
Business Cost
A customer opts-in to the program with a one-time purchase of the tin filled with freshly ground coffee of their choosing, priced at $30. The $30 buy-in covers:
- $20 retail price of 1lb of ground coffee
- $5 cost of tin production + overwrap
- $3 towards future sticker design and production
- $2 donated to supporting coffee growers
Each time a customer returns for a refill, they pay the standard retail price of a 1lb bag of grounds ($20-$25). We save ~$0.50 per refill by cutting down on disposable packaging, which funds the design and production of new stickers and loyalty gifts. In addition to the loyalty incentives, we can anticipate the buy-in cost of the service will result in a higher retention rate of customers who would otherwise purchase bagged coffee grounds. The more customers who opt-in to the program, the more designs and rewards we can offer.
Conclusion
We believe the service will appeal to our loyal Commonplace patrons as well as coffee-lovers with a passion for zero-waste living. The tin could also make for a thoughtful gift — whether the receiver chooses to take advantage of the refill service or simply enjoy the product as-is, they are likely to retain the attractive tin for any number of household purposes for years to come.
