In a marriage of two of our favorite things, coffee and gays, it was just announced that our own Equator Coffee & Tea is the first LGBT-owned business to be named California’s Small Business of the Year, by the U.S. Small Business Administration.
It all began in a small Marin county garage back in 1995, when cofounders Helen Russell and Brooke McDonnell set out to build a better coffee business. In fact, Equator was the first Bay Area coffee company to become a certified B Corporation, a designation that recognizes the company for its best practices in areas as diverse as sustainable roasting methods, energy consumption, and environmental impact to minority hiring, eco-friendly worker housing, employee voluntourism.
