About the Coop

Bellingen Co-operative

Coffee Is Just the Beginning

Rooted in Bellingen for twenty years. Built on ethical trade, women's empowerment, and the belief that a co-operative can nourish a whole community, from the first sip to the last harvest.

Our Story

From a Five-Kilo Roaster to a Community Co-operative

Bello Co-op grew out of nearly two decades of roasting coffee in Bellingen, NSW, a small town on Gumbaynggirr Country where the Bellinger River meets lush hinterland, and where community still means something tangible.

What began as a self-taught roasting operation and a commitment to fair trade has evolved into something bigger: a community co-operative with coffee as its anchor product. We source organic beans directly from women-led farming communities in Papua New Guinea, Nicaragua, and across the coffee belt, always paying above fair trade prices and using 100% home-compostable packaging.

Today, Bello Co-op is building a new kind of local economy, one where buying your morning coffee also supports professional barista training for young people, shared community food infrastructure, and a monthly catalogue of ethical goods modelled on simplicity and accessibility.

What We Stand For

01 Organic, women-farmed coffee sourced with direct trade relationships
02 Above fair trade pricing - always
03 Home-compostable packaging, zero compromise
04 Five decades of combined coffee roasting experience
05 Co-operative structure: member-owned, community-led
06 Profits reinvested into local community projects

Our Home Ground

Northbank Community Gardens

Bello Co-op is a proud sponsor of Northbank Community Gardens, a five-acre permaculture paradise on Gumbaynggirr Country that has been at the heart of Bellingen since 2008. With its food forest, communal kitchen, gathering spaces, and sweeping views over the Bellinger Valley, Northbank is where the co-op's wider vision comes to life.

We are working with the Bellingen community to develop shared food infrastructure, including a commercial kitchen and community food spaces, that will serve as a launchpad for local enterprise, food resilience workshops, and co-operative activities well beyond coffee. This is where members gather, where barista training takes place, and where the monthly pantry catalogue is brought to life.

Co-Founders

The People Behind the Co-op

Co-Founder

Amelia Franklin

Amelia has called Bellingen home for twenty years. She entered the coffee industry through importing, sourcing products directly from ethical producers, before importing her first roaster and teaching herself the craft at a time when there were no books, mentors, or weekend courses for it.

She founded Amelia Franklin Coffee Roasters in 2007, growing it into a values-driven social enterprise that won a Silver medal at the Golden Bean Roaster Awards and earned recognition from industry and community alike. In 2018, she transitioned the business to People of Coffee, a not-for-profit structure, to better reflect its community mission.

Beyond roasting, Amelia served as President of the Australian Chapter of the International Women's Coffee Alliance, was awarded a UN Women National Committee Australia scholarship to study a Global Executive MBA at the University of Sydney, and co-founded BeanLedger, a blockchain-based traceability platform developed with Griffith University to bring transparency and research funding to the global coffee supply chain.

With Bello Co-op, Amelia brings all of these threads together: ethical sourcing, women's empowerment, community enterprise, and the deep conviction that business should never come at the cost of another person's wellbeing.

20 years in Bellingen Multi Award Winning Coffee Roaster UN Women Scholar IWCA Australia President BeanLedger Co-Founder

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Co-Founder

Sharma

Bio coming soon.

The Bigger Picture

More Than Coffee - A Co-operative for Bellingen

Coffee is our anchor, but the co-op's ambitions stretch far wider. We're building a member-owned enterprise that puts accessible, ethical goods into the hands of our community, and reinvests the returns right back into the place we call home.

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Monthly Pantry Catalogue

An accessible, ALDI-style catalogue of curated ethical goods, organic coffee, cacao, tea, and beyond, delivered to members and the wider community on a simple, regular cycle.

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Buyers Groups & Wholesale

Whether you're a café owner, a workplace, or a group of neighbours who want to order together, our wholesale and buyers group programs make exceptional coffee accessible at every scale.

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Community Infrastructure

From barista training for young people to shared commercial kitchen facilities in Bellingen community, we're investing in the infrastructure that lets a whole community thrive, not just a single business.

Work With Us

Bring Bellingen Coffee Co-op to Your Café, Workplace, or Community

Our wholesale program offers organic, ethically sourced coffee backed by five decades of roasting experience, with flexible ordering, equipment supply and leasing, and professional barista training. We'd love to hear from you.

Apply for Wholesale Join a Buyers Group Become a Member