“I said to them, ‘If you use any chemicals on this property, I will come and cut every tree down and you won’t have a farm,'” Rohan Marley, the founder and chairman of Marley Coffee, told Business Insider in an interview.
Today, Marley Coffee is sold in thousands of stores worldwide. In North America, its biggest market, more than 8,800 stores will sell Marley Coffee this year, up from 300 stores a year ago, according to CEO Brent Toevs.
The company is still small, however, with revenue of just $4.6 million in the nine months ending Oct. 31, 2013. That’s up from $1.4 million during the same period a year earlier.
Marley attributes the company’s recent growth to its sustainable farming practices, which he says were inspired by his father and his Rastafarian beliefs.
“I was truly inspired by a vision that came into my mind as the son of Bob Marley,” he said. “I thought about how I could really encompass his message of peace, love and sustainability.”