Sean Zister (BES ’96, Geography) and Amy Zister (BA ’98, Liberal Arts) are entrepreneurs who live their lives and operate their business based on their core values and beliefs. Both are passionate about improving communities on a local and global scale, which is evident in how they operate Seven Shores Urban Market and Café, in Waterloo, Ontario.
“It is not about the bottom line. We look at how our company contributes to society,” Sean explains. “That is why at Seven Shores, we focus on fairly traded products, a living wage for our employees, and local foods based on the slow movement of cooking, because so much goes back into the economy when you operate this way.”
Capacity Waterloo Region considers Seven Shores a social venture because its success isn’t measured by profit alone, but rather by how they support local and global populations. Seven Shores sells products from local and international producers who have been paid fair prices. The café provides healthy lifestyle food choices that are local and organic.
“We travelled a lot internationally during school and it opened our eyes to the extreme poverty of producers in developing countries because of unfair trading conditions. Here, it is easy for us to just buy anything and not think about it. When you are over there and you see the living conditions of these people, and know that you can actually make a difference, it inspired us to live our lives this way,” says Amy.
“You have to be the difference, make a change, you have to take action,” Sean adds.
With three young children under the age of six, family time is also very important to Sean and Amy. To support this priority, they close the café each Sunday so that they and their employees can spend quality time with family and friends.
“Although taking Sunday’s off can be challenging from the business perspective, it is important and we hope that this will inspire others to do the same,” Amy says. “We want to get our kids involved and to pass along these values to them.”
After each milestone of growth in their business, Sean and Amy step back, reflect, and then seek new ways to contribute more to the community through their business. Leading by example, they believe that by educating and influencing customers and their children and by living and working in a method true to their beliefs, they are taking action to create powerful change.