The world’s two largest specialty coffee associations agree to become one. In the New Year a new era begins.
By Jenny Neill and Dan Bolton
In August members of the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) voted 62% to 38% in favor of merging with the Specialty Coffee Association of Europe (SCAE).
The decision follows a May vote of approval by SCAE members and begins a process of planning and preparations toward unification in the New Year.
In an open letter SCAA’s board thanked members: “Ultimately, it is you, the members, who have ushered in the next phase of specialty coffee advocacy and innovation. Thank you for your passion, your dedication, your questions, and your time... participating in all the important conversations that have taken place over the last year.”
SCAA reported that 56% of its 2,067 voting members cast 1,162 ballots making the vote in favor 725 to 437.
What’s next?
“We will continue to be two separate organizations through the remainder of the year as much focus is put on infrastructure and planning for a shared future,” writes the SCAA board which spelled out the following immediate goals:
- Combine the education programs into a single, harmonious, global education program.
- New research to better understand coffee science and consumer preferences.
- Advancements in sustainability efforts.
- New opportunities for member engagement.
- Multi-cultural leadership and opportunities for development.
- Updates to structure to deliver better value.
The same suite of SCAA Events will continue with opportunities for innovation, partnership, and networking across the US and beyond.
Before the vote
In discussions at SCAA’s April convention in Atlanta board members and key staff were confident the unification proposal would be approved.
But SCAE had yet to vote in favor of unification, the citizens of the United Kingdom had not yet voted in favor of leaving the European Union, and 10 of SCAA’s past presidents had yet to sign their names to a letter opposing unification. Each of these events set the stage for the final vote.
Letters, emails, and online comments urging a “no” vote began circulating days before the Aug. 8 voting deadline.
Opponents cited several concerns including the simple fact that with unification SCAA’s voting members number only half that of SCAE.
There were fears that the late-breaking campaign against unification could change what in May seemed be the inevitable outcome of the SCAA vote.
As of June, SCAA had 4,142 total dues-paying members which includes SCAA members and BGA and Roasters Guild individual members. However, of those, only 2,067 are members with voting privileges. Slightly more than half fall into non-voting member categories that include 1,349 Barista Guild of America and 726 Roasters Guild members.
The fact that more about half of dues-paying members are not able to vote under the current bylaws and membership rules is one of the concerns raised by the “No” campaign. Now that unification is approved, non-voting members will have voting rights under the new unified organization.
Why was there not already a “one member, one vote” rule at SCAA? The bylaws have for many years limited balloting to association members that hold “primary memberships.” Primary (voting) members include “producers/exporters; importers/green; brokers; roasters; roaster/retailers; retailers; and allied.”
Along with the Roasters Guild and the Baristas Guild of America members, associate members were not permitted to participate in elections. (“Associate” is a catch-all-the-rest-in-the-trade category that permits press, trade, and non-profit associations to become members of SCAA.)
Signs pointed toward “Yes”
Survey responses solicited from all members of SCAA and SCAE reflected a mainly positive attitude towards unification. Only 8% of the SCAA respondents were pessimistic and an even fewer (6%) of SCAE respondents felt the same. That’s why it was no real surprise that the SCAE voted in favor of proceeding with unification. It was a clear and decisive vote with 86% of those in favor of unification and a transfer of membership to the Association of Specialty Coffee. Only 1% voted against becoming members of the newly combined organization.
With the positive results of the survey and the approval from SCAE membership to unify, the SCAA board moved forward to present the business case for unification to its members.
SCAA conducted in-person meetings, sent emails, and hosted webinars to present their vision of the new association. A business plan, financial projections, and prospectus were published in advance of the formal vote.
The 11-member board led by Ben Pitts and immediate past-president Tracy Allen conducted an upbeat campaign using social media platforms, along with video and hash tags, all of which was intended to remind voting members to review the materials and to vote.
Colleen Anunu, elected to SCAA’s board as part of the 2015/16 class of directors, was one of many who participated in the process that led to the board’s decision to move forward with exploring unification. Anunu said, “We didn’t find negative feedback in the member survey. This led to a conclusion to move forward, but it may have been based on a false assumption that we had received all of the information necessary to do so because there was obvious push back.”
She reiterated that approval of motions by the SCAA board of directors in the months leading up to the unification vote were unanimous.
SCAA-SCAE Merge
In May SCAE members (above) voted overwhelmingly (86%) in favor of merging with SCAA.
Late-breaking naysayers
Then, in the final days of June just as voting was about to begin, came the letter “10 Reasons 10 SCAA Presidents VOTE NO On Consolidation” written by Don Schoenholt, president of Gillies Coffee Company and a former SCAA president, and signed by nine other past SCAA presidents. It was published to Schoenholt’s Coffeeman’s Diary blog and has also appeared in slightly differing variations on the social media platforms of others, in trade publications, and in individual email inboxes.
That letter was not the first signal from Schoenholt of his concerns. His first public note included a copy of a private letter he sent to two other past presidents whose names appear in the pre-vote statement.
Most of those who opposed unification seem not to be saying, “no, never” but rather “why now? why not wait?” They complained that the SCAA unification website has uniformly presented opinions of those who favor the merger with no dissenting opinions.
They also complained that many members who pay dues to the organization were unable to vote directly on this question given the current bylaws. Delaying the vote would allow the bylaws to be changed to enable more dues-payers to participate directly in the vote.
Ten different past presidents of SCAA published a response to Schoenholt’s “past presidents for No” messages urging voting members to vote Yes in a letter which can be seen on Coffee Curmudgeon. In introducing it, Timothy Castle wrote, “I am now moved to say something when, ironically, I feel my voice, un-voiced for so long, was being misappropriated.”
The rhetoric of point and counterpoint taking place in public view about this trade association vote echoed that seen in three other recently decided political contests: Brexit and the two US presidential primaries.
What effect Brexit?
Aside from cries for “one member, one vote,” another key concern of the No camp has been the effect of the UK leaving the European Union. There was an immediate currency devaluation in response to the vote (SCAE’s expenses are in pounds sterling) that could adversely impact the finances of a merged organization.
In response the SCAA board revised its presentations and public responses in answer to these and other questions. Responding to the “Brexit effect” question, they noted that if anything the currency market dynamics appear to be an overall benefit. Ric Rhinehart, SCAA executive director, in the July 20 webinar said of SCAE’s financial position, “The immediate effect of Brexit has been to make the business more profitable. As [SCAE] makes the conversion from euro to pound, they’ve benefited somewhere on the order of 15%.”
Most of SCAE’s revenues are received in euros. Most expenses, such as salaries for the UK-based organization, are in pounds. In the July 20 webinar, Andrew Hetzel, coffee value chain consultant and member of the SCAA board of directors, noted that the “…vast majority of SCAE assets are stored in euros, unaffected by the devaluation of the pound.”
The vote for the UK to leave the EU coming so close to the opening of the SCAA unification vote did, however, trigger a slight delay in opening the poll. Originally slated to begin on June 30, the SCAA voting period was delayed until July 5.
Balloting ended Aug. 5, but not before a last minute round of rhetoric from both sides that played itself out online. Schoenholt again published a message on his company’s online platforms. The message was largely the same as before with a visual design that to some looked like it came from SCAA. Whether that was the intent or not, it attracted interaction from both those for and against unification, a rehashing of much of the same rhetoric that began appearing when the No campaign went public.
Reflecting on the No campaign and commentary related to it, Anunu said, “There is a deep level of sadness about this.”
Was the process leading up to the unification vote as transparent as it could have been? Were those who had reservations allowed to air those concerns and make their case? With the vote now closed and a decision in hand, it is too late to undo.
Anunu said, “I’ve done as much as I can as a ‘junior senator’ - that is being in my first term and not yet sitting on any committees. Whatever the outcome of the vote, I look forward to learning from the SCAE board of directors on communication strategies within the board room and beyond to our membership.”
In closing their letter to members, the SCAA board writes that, “We can’t tell you how excited we are to share this moment in our association’s history with each of you. Thank you for supporting this vision of a better future for all people in the specialty coffee industry.”