Sierra in the community

Sierra for Good

At a Sierra-wide level and at a local café level, Sierra gives back or pitches in for both big causes and small, and for nationwide campaigns and local needs. With an enviable blueprint of 33 cafes and foot traffic serving 20,000 customers a week, we know we can make a difference both in our community and to the environment, both with the causes we support and the steps we make each day to do a bit better. Even in small ways every day in each cafe, our collective positive impact adds up. To talk to us about support in your local community talk to your local Sierra owner-operator or contact us here.

This year Sierra Coffee is working with CanTeen New Zealand to #THUMPCANCER.

This year Sierra have partnered with CanTeen to spread awareness about the 5 signs of youth cancer. Alongside in-café collections, posters and teeshirts Sierra have manufactured travel cups which are available in all Sierra Cafes during the month of September. With 50% of the proceeds going back to CanTeen these cups are sure to be a great success. These resources help drive awareness and conversations around CanTeen and the 5 signs of youth cancer throughout the community. The CanTeen THUMP cancer campaign is about recognising these symptoms and knowing when to seek medical attention, and not to give up if the answer doesn't feel right. 
 

Recycling used vegetable oil for green uses.

Our friends at Waste Tallow Care help us recycle our used vegetable oils. Used vegetable oil is collected from our Sierra cafes and goes to approved facilities to be processed. Then the waste is put to green uses like biodiesel and other environmentally friendly industrial applications.

Sierra proudly supporting the New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation Pink Ribbon Breakfast each May.

From 2014-2016 Sierra cafes have helped raise over $50,000 for Breast Cancer Research. Alongside in-café collections, Sierra purchase and use over 90,000 branded New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation takeout coffee cups during May. This in turn helps drive immeasurable awareness and conversations around Pink Ribbon Research throughout the Sierra community. As part of the Pink Ribbon Breakfast drive, Sierra cafes create specific fundraising menu items, with proceeds going directly to the New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation.

Growing moustaches for charity.

Sierra have been involved in Movember – a charity event that calls on men folk to grow a moustache to raise funds and awareness for prostate cancer. To support and showcase Sierra’s support, along with growing mo’s and the in-café collections, we stencilled our infamous “Cappuccinos” so they became “CappuciMOs” thereby reminding our customers to give to this great cause.

We use sustainable and recyclable coffee cups.

Our paper hot cups and lids are manufactured by Huhtamaki Henderson, New Zealand’s only large-scale manufacturer of hot cups. They are manufactured to ISO standards, which means the product consistently meets stringent requirements that they are manufactured with reduced environmental impact. Along with being food safe and people safe while producing them, the Sierra cups come from a PEFC certified site that allows Huhtamaki to trace their paper products from the tree to you. The trees used in the manufacturing of our cups are part of the sustainable forestry management program. The lids are made from polystyrene that can be processed in the kerbside recycling system.