Bryn Frere-Smith: Establishing Blue Bear Coffee Co. to help fight human trafficking

6 Aug

Bryn is the founder of Blue Bear Coffee Co. After an experience working as a security guard for a charity in the Dominican Republic investigating human trafficking, he started raising funds to fight against some of the explotation he witnessed.

We spoke to him ahout how life experiences inspired the creation of Blue Bear Coffee and how he uses social media, a website, and podcast to raise awareness of the vital work that’s needed across the world.

Where did it all begin for Blue Bear Coffee Co.?

I originally planned to call the business Justice Coffee. I had this comic book style logo for the product but after seeing it on the bag, it just didn’t work. So, after some hesitancy, I chose to use Blue Bear as our brand name. I was hesitant because the name holds some personal significance for me. The concept of the coffee business came about after a period of time I spent working for a charity in the Dominican Republic investigating human trafficking, specifically the exploitation of children. After one particularly poignant intervention, we removed a young girl from a situation of abuse, and after doing so, she asked us to collect her Blue teddy bear for her. It was the one item of value she chose to take with her into a new and unknown future. A tatty, smelly, dog-eared stuffed toy. After this experience, I tried to raise money to buy some clean, white, fluffy teddy bears, so the next child we removed from such a situation would have something to hold that was emblematic of a new start and came from a place of love. A small response, that in turn led to a larger pot of money which allowed us to support children with longer-term needs. Blue Bear Coffee Co. became the commercial embodiment of this teddy bear fund.

We decided to launch the project as an online coffee company. This gave us the opportunity to work with businesses and customers up and down the country, rather than in one specific region. The company has grown organically over the last few years, largely through word of mouth. Very occasionally, we will sponsor a social media post by £15 or £20, but besides this, we haven’t invested any money in online marketing. It’s important to us that we maximise our end of year giving and we want to attract committed supporters of our cause, rather than quick-clickers from a paid google ad. Our podcast has also helped to develop a community of supporters.

What was your biggest learning curve in promoting in the digital world?

I am most certainly not a natural at self-promotion. My background in the Police and the private security industry has conditioned me to keep a low profile. I was always reluctant to express my opinion publicly, in fear of it reflecting badly on the Police or the client I was working for. By calling the company Blue Bear, I knew however that it would be necessary, at least in the early days, to front the business and take every opportunity to promote it far and wide. I think I would struggle to do this, if it wasn’t linked to an issue that I care so deeply about. The more interviews I have given, the easier and more enjoyable it’s been. I love to see people respond and get excited about affecting positive change in the world.

I’ve learned to go easy on myself, to forgive mistakes and to push through my own insecurities in order to focus on the story, the cause and the potential of our vision.

What has been the "I can't believe that just happened" moment so far?

It almost happened before we launched. A friend who runs a coffee shop in central London put his faith in us and left his long-time coffee supplier to switch to using Blue Bear. We had barely decided on the logo but before we knew it, Blue Bear coffee was being drank at business meetings and amongst friends having their weekly catch up by paying customers. It was amazing to see the speed at which an idea had become a reality.

How straightforward did you find it setting up shop online?

I have been really fortunate to have the support of a number of friends with skills in web building and graphic design. Our first website was built on the Shopify platform, which has its restrictions, but is fabulously accessible and all came together rather easily. We connected the back end of our site to our coffee roasting partner and removed as many links as possible to avoid human error. It has also allowed us to trade with low operating costs and relatively low financial risk. I get to choose the coffees that are engaged in positive social action at source, our roasting partner processes the order and ships to their door. It’s an efficient process that has helped us retain a loyal customer base.

Why did you also launch a podcast?

I have always loved podcasts. I really enjoy longform conversations between people in a one-on-one setting. I hadn’t, however, thought of starting our own podcast, until we received a message from a customer who made the suggestion. I feel privileged to have met some incredibly inspiring people and I knew that sharing their stories and causes with our audience would be consistent with Blue Bear’s mission, so we went for it. Originally, we recorded the podcast at the Soho Radio studios in central London but since Covid, we’ve been forced to go online. The skype interview will never have the same audio quality of a recording studio but it’s so much easier to organise and virtually cost free. It’s also allowed us to have chats with people all over the world.

I have enjoyed talking with every one of our guests but the episodes we recorded with Jen and Claire, who bravely shared their stories of prison life, drug addiction and the experience of being trafficked, were particularly special for me.

What do you find is working well in growing your audience?

Our growth on social media has been gradual but our retention has been great. We try to be consistent with our content and look for opportunities to keep our posts engaging, with the occasional live interview and coffee tutorial on Instagram.

In the early days, we looked for the support of social media influencers, but we found it wasn’t particularly effective, and in all honesty, it felt a bit cheap and disingenuous. I’ve since found it far more effective to re-share the posts and mission with their networks of friends and co-workers.

Where can people find out more about fight human trafficking?

We support three amazing organisations fighting human trafficking and caring for survivors, in the UK and all over the world. I would highly recommend people visit their websites and explore further ways of supporting their cause. (www.ijm.org / www.justiceandcare.org / www.unseenuk.org )