The Big Idea Grant

The Big Idea Grant for Coffee is Oatly’s annual grant program made just for small businesses in the amazing coffee community to help them pursue strategies, projects and innovative ideas — all with the intention that what they learn in the process can be shared to build a more sustainable future for the industry and the planet.

Look! It’s the new 2022 BIG winners!

From over 150 applications, the 7 Big Idea Grant for Coffee winners below will receive funding for their projects in 2023. Congrats!

Playground Coffee Brooklyn, NY

Inspired by the idea that taking a book and leaving one can be an act of care to share resources and stories of marginalized voices, Playground Coffee is creating the only bookstore in Bed-Stuy to feature free, thoughtful and radical books for all ages by BIPOC and LGBTQI+ authors.

Visit their Instagram >

Gilly Brewing Company Stone Mountain, GA

A new LEED-certified roastery and commissary kitchen partially funded by their BIG grant will allow Gilly Brewing Company to create sustainable economic career pathways for their employees and contribute to furthering the presence of Black and Brown leadership in the coffee industry.

Visit their Instagram >

Finca Otoao Utuado Puerto Rico

As coffee producers, Finca Otoado is all about processing coffee in the most effective, clean and green way. They’ll use their grant to integrate both solar energy and a biodigester into their coffee processing to make it as efficient and sustainable as possible.

Visit their Instagram >

Boycott Coffee Memphis, TN Boycott

Coffee will be using their grant to help bring composting to their community, understand consumer behaviors around waste, and create a replicable approach to composting that other small businesses can follow in a city where there is little to no composting infrastructure.

Visit their Instagram >

A social justice café Philadelphia, PA

This unique student-led and operated café in the heart of West Philadelphia will start an onsite herb and vegetable ingredient garden including more than 20 different plants for everyday use in their menu items, while providing local students opportunities to learn about horticulture, botany and community food sourcing.

Visit their Instagram >

Rising Tide Roast Collaborative AUSTIN, TX

This sustainably minded roastery will use their grant to purchase a zero- emission, fully electric transit van for their growing co-roastery space which exists to support diversity in the coffee industry by giving folks an accessible starting point in the business.

Visit their Instagram >

Prosperity Market Los Angeles, CA

This fully solar and electric-powered mobile café and farmer’s market that features Black farmers and producers will host workshops on topics like sourcing programs, waste reduction and licensing, plus they’ll fund other initiatives focused on access and education.

Visit their Instagram >

THE 2021 GRANTEES ONE-YEAR CHECK-IN

Was it a bumpy year with more than a few failures along the way? Or was it 365-ish days packed with real-world learnings that also happen to make a pretty good web video?

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Meet the awesome 2021 BIG Grantees!

Here’s the part where they share actual real-world learnings with you. Amazing.

Family with three kids standing in front of a building

THREE KEYS COFFEE

Houston, TX
TIO & KENZEL FALLEN

Creating a path to sustainability for themselves and any other startups looking for a blueprint, Three Keys Coffee is going solar, as well as upcycling chaff for local farms.

Happy people standing in front of a coffee shop

BUILD COFFEE

Chicago, IL
HANNAH NYHART, BRIGID MANIATES, MAIRA KHWAJA and MARA HENEGHAN

Build Coffee has launched Market Box, a free grocery delivery service that includes produce from local farms, delivered by neighborhood volunteers to residents in their community.

DON CARVAJAL CAFE

Bronx, NY
HECTOR CASTILLO CARVAJAL and GECILE FOJAS

After a challenging year, Hector’s determination to bring sustainable practices and education to the community he loves—is proving to be unstoppable.

ACADEMIC COFFEE

San Jose, CA
FRANK NGUYEN

Frank and his team at Academic Coffee have a huge heart for San Jose. They’ve converted their parking spaces to host pop-ups that feature and help sustain local small businesses.

Mike Nelson and Carol Tessitore holding a plant

JUNIOR'S ROASTED COFFEE

Portland, OR
CARYN NELSON, MIKE NELSON and CAROL TESSITORE

Junior’s Roasted Coffee is dedicated to making the coffee supply chain more sustainable, and that means fair pay for farmers, as well as every other person behind your iced latte.

321 COFFEE

Raleigh, NC
MICHAEL EVANS and LINDSAY WREGE

321 Coffee is all about empowering a sustainable workforce — creating employment opportunities, as well as an environment where workers with disabilities can grow and succeed.

Woman sitting and forming glasses with her hands

1A COFFEE

Wilmington, VT
CHRYSTAL and BRIAN HOLT

Master tacticians of sustainability, 1A Coffee has gone fully solar, even selling power back to the grid. They meticulously track air quality and anything else that shrinks their footprint.

STAY IN THE BIG LOOP!

Seriously, they approved this part. Just email us at bigideagrant@oatly.com and we can connect you with these amazing entrepreneurs so you can ask all about how to get going on similar sustainable projects of your own. Because sustainability info should be free and shareable for all, of course!