About Bello Co-op
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.
From a Five-Kilo Roaster to Bellingen 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
- Organic, women-farmed coffee sourced with direct trade relationships
- Above fair trade pricing — always
- Home-compostable packaging, zero compromise
- Five decades of combined coffee roasting experience
- Co-operative structure: member-owned, community-led
- Profits reinvested into local community projects
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.
The People Behind the Co-op
Our founding board brings together five women committed to building a co-operative that serves Gumbaynggirr Country for generations to come.
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.
Sharma Oxenbridge
Samantha Estreich
I'm Samantha Estreich, and I am so happy to stand as the Secretary for our co-op board.
My family and I moved to Bellingen only two years ago. My greatest achievements are my four little growing humans. Access to food that's good quality, local and affordable is very important to us. I immediately knew a co-op was a fantastic idea for our family and our town.
I wanted to be involved from the very beginning, and it has been incredibly rewarding to work on the board alongside such a passionate group of women to bring this vision to life.
Ruth Galloway
Ruth is the founder of What Came Next.
Luci Foote
I live on Gumbaynggirr Country with my partner and two little children. I'm currently a stay-at-home mum and believe the only way forward is through collective action and community organisation.
I have over 10 years' experience in public policy, governance and advocacy within government and in the non-government sector. My career has focused on First Nations self-determination, criminal justice reform, and domestic and family violence.
I hold a Master of Philosophy from the University of Oxford, where I focused on social inequality, public safety and violence, and a Master of Laws from the University of New South Wales, focused on environmental and First Nations justice.
The People Who Backed Us from Day One
Our founding members are the community members, friends and supporters who have believed in Bellingen Community Co-operative from the start — contributing time, skills, resources, and faith in what we are building together.
Paul Forest
Paul Forest has spent more than two decades working at the intersection of technology, artificial intelligence, human cognition and complex systems.
His early career was shaped by the rapid growth of the internet, where he became a pioneer in search technology and digital information systems. He went on to build and lead large scale technology businesses, working deeply with the data and intelligence within Google’s search and advertising ecosystems. In 2020, this work expanded into the development of an early warning system for COVID-19, leading to discussions with senior scientists, the CEO of Google Australia and her team, and a direct presentation of solutions to the Australian Prime Minister.
Today, Paul is increasingly focused on how technology and systems thinking can support stronger, more resilient local communities.
He is particularly interested in the relationship between people, place, food and living systems, and in how communities can become more connected, self supporting and responsive to change. He sees local food systems as an important part of that work, creating opportunities for people to know where their food comes from, support local growers, share resources and strengthen relationships within their community.
For Paul, technology is most valuable when it helps people reconnect with what is already present around them: the knowledge of the community, the intelligence of nature, and the relationships that allow people and place to thrive together.
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.
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.
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.
Community Infrastructure
From barista training for young people to shared commercial kitchen facilities in Bellingen, we're investing in the infrastructure that lets a whole community thrive — not just a single business.
Bring Bellingen Community Co-operative 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.