Grounded in Leeds
Our colleagues at Leeds Heritage Theatres caught up with Hols Kragiopoulos, Co-Founder and CEO of North Star.
Leeds Heritage Theatres
The Interview, Part 1
North Star’s story is rooted in Fairtrade, sustainability, and transparency – what do you find is the easiest part of staying true to those values, and what’s the most challenging?
The easiest part is that these values aren’t something we’ve bolted on — they’re the reason North Star exists. Every decision we make runs through that lens, so it feels instinctive to stay true to them. The harder part is scaling while staying uncompromising. It can be challenging to find partners who share those values wholeheartedly and won’t ask us to dilute them. That’s why so much of our work focuses on educating and engaging consumers — because the more people understand the problem we’re trying to solve, the more support there is for doing things the right way.
If every customer could make one small change in how they buy or drink coffee, which change would have the biggest positive effect for producers?
I’d say: be willing to pay a little more and choose coffee from a roaster who prioritises long-term partnerships, able to tell you where it comes from and how that partnership is creating more resilience. Specialty coffee isn’t about exclusivity; it’s about fairness and feeling like you are part of the solution and not the problem.
Positive change in our industry all starts with the choices made by coffee consumers – so just take the time to be a little picky with who you spend your money with, and you’ll already be making an impact.
What’s a story from one of your producers that you wish every customer could hear when they order a cup?
It would have to be the story of Maria Zoila Pineda, our partner in El Salvador. When we first met her in 2019, she was producing great coffee, but without the right infrastructure, her beans were blended with her neighbours’ and sold at bulk prices. She was losing most of the value her coffee deserved, to the point she didn’t see her farm as viable and had no plan for its future. We invested $10,000 in raised drying beds, fermentation tanks, and depulpers, and the results have been transformational. Her income has tripled, her quality has improved, and her son has moved back from San Salvador to take over the farm. Every customer who chooses North Star – online, in our shop, or through our wholesale partners – has played a role in that story. That, to me, is the power of coffee done differently.
What excites you most about the coffee industry right now, and what emerging trends are on the horizon?
I’m excited by how much more curious and engaged consumers are becoming. People are going beyond having an interest in flavour profiles and are starting to ask questions about origin, processing, and sustainability in a way they simply weren’t a decade ago. That curiosity creates space for coffee to be valued through a multitude of lenses – not only the cup quality but also attributes that are important to the consumer, such as traceability, certification/impact-driven procurement etc. On the horizon, I think we’ll see high-quality coffee popping up in non-traditional outlets such as office meeting rooms/gyms etc, as opposed to just your independent coffee shop. Hopefully, this will result in a wider acceptance that coffee needs to be priced in line with the cost of sustainable production, not the commodity market.
Words by Kelly Scotney and Hols Kragiopoulos, photos by Ben Fletcher.
