Our vision, mission and core values are established by our members and guide everything that we do as a business.

Vision

To be a leader-business in Atlantic Canada demonstrating a sustainable worker-owned model, while providing leadership, locally and globally, to create a better world.

Mission

People and the Planet before Profits ®

The Essence of Just Us! Our Brand Values The values help get a handle on the personality of the Just Us! brand, how it talks and behaves. They should be used both as an inspiration for what to say and a ‘sense check’ to make sure what is being considered is ‘on brand’.

Radical

“Right from the beginning we were set up to challenge the status quo” Just Us! is radical to the bone. We successfully created a fundamental and genuine alternative to capitalist business practices and it remains the operating system today. This value needs to be given enough daylight to provide inspiration, direction and guidance for the next generation of Just Us! co-workers.

Leading

“To be a shining example of business—doing good for workers, farmers and the world” We did not start Just Us! because market research told us there was market demand for fair trade coffee. We are in the business of market creation and have been leading ever since. Initially blazing the trail of the pioneer and now in more subtle but equally significant ways.

Instinctive

“Just Us!” just came immediately to Jeff and that was it. There was no question.” Instinct is hard to put your finger on. It just feels right; it feels like the right thing to do. As with the name, the formation of the business as a co-op right through to the Acadia Cinema partnership, Just Us! has a great deal of instinct running through it and it needs to be recognized in how the brand is presented. The process will give the team the confidence to use their instincts and the safety of having a brand strategy structure to sanity check that instinct.

Authentic

“Our commitment goes way beyond just selling stuff” You cannot be a pioneer and take the level of risks that we have without being 100% behind the mission. The worker ownership, the fair trade premiums, the commitment to serve the community are all evidence that we are the “real deal.” However this authenticity cannot be tucked away in a web site or only in the spirit of the way we do things. For the vehicle for change to work, it needs to be delivered, demonstrated and consumed.

Family

“(Just Us) is my home, my place, with people around I trust, so that I can take risks, it’s my family” It’s said that family can represent our initial source of unconditional love and acceptance. It provides nurture, commitment, protection, encouragement and a place of safety. It’s driven by love, not the wishy washy stuff, but the tenacious, opinionated, instinctive, hard-edged ‘we can do this’ kind of love. Having family as a value for Just Us! is unusual, but we want to acknowledge the depth of community Just Us! strives to deliver to all its partners.