Sustainable Business: Moka Origins Activates Social Change with Print

Coffee, chocolate and a side of social change? That’s what you get with a sustainable business like Moka Origins, a bean-to-bar social enterprise with roots running from a sustainable farm in Africa to a roastery and chocolate factory in Pennsylvania. Operations Manager Mark Larson says to “spread our mission and create awareness around who we are,” print goes hand in hand with producing superior products and making a serious impact. (Hint: Use code “SmartpressMoka” on Moka Origins’ website and they’ll give you 25% off your first purchase!)

Offering bars of chocolate and bags of coffee and tea, plus bundles of all three, Moka Origins operates with a singularly focused mission that benefits all parties involved.

“Our mission is to empower farmers and restore the environment,” said Larson. “We do this by ethically sourcing coffee and cacao, creating jobs on our farm in Cameroon and planting a tree for every product sold.”

To bring that inspiring (and delicious) movement to the masses, Larson leveraged print marketing to achieve his sustainable business goals. Knowing the quality of print materials is a “huge factor in the experience someone has of your brand, especially when they’re meeting you for the first time,” Larson took a big-picture approach to messaging.

“We want [people] to experience an elevated design that also reflects our original mission on the farm and the ‘handmade’ nature of our products,” he said. “Our designs frequently contain foliage, natural backgrounds and hand-drawn graphics.”

For Larson and the Moka Origins team, following a passion for hand-crafted chocolate and coffee was more than a career – it was a calling. And they knew doing it ethically was the only path to take for their sustainable business.

“We love crafting delicious products that meet a social mission,” said Larson. “It feels great building a company around social impact metrics and ensuring everyone involved grows with us.” And that includes highlighting those partners and collaborators in after-purchase promotions.

Designing custom booklets and utilizing brochure printing gave the brand more real estate to build connections with customers. “We wanted a small booklet that told our whole story, from farm to bar,” said Larson. “[It] has a section on our social mission, impact, farm, products, the entire craft process and where you can find us.”

Distributed through retail, shipments and sample kits for wholesalers, these custom brochures and booklets go beyond traditional messaging and provide an inside look at the people and places behind the process.

“We want people to find us because of our coffee and chocolate but leave with the experience of social empowerment and human connection,” said Larson.

With pages stapled through the fold line, Saddle Stitch Booklets were the right format to present every caffeinated component. “We chose [them] because it was a simple and clean design that allowed us more space to go into the details we were looking to emphasize,” said Larson.

Those marketing materials also make their way into Moka Origins’ subscription boxes. Offering chocolate, coffee or a blend of the two, the boxes ship monthly and feature custom Postcards that explain the service and the brand’s approach to sustainable business.

“We love the postcards for their simple and effective usage,” said Larson. “[They] were designed to fit in every shipment, quickly explain the mission and easily lay out what comes in each subscription box, how to sign up and what to expect.”

Online printing with Smartpress means Larson found an uncoated stock for the elegant look he was aiming for. And with Soft Touch and UV coating options, our print services offer tempting finishing touches for any project. Moka Origins even rounded out their Smartpress collaboration with personalized Business Cards featuring the brand’s custom bean logo.