Cafédirect's top ten facts

1. With a turnover of £22.3 million (2007/08), we are the UK’s largest 100% Fairtrade hot drinks company, the 5th largest coffee brand and 7th largest tea brand.
2. All of products - teas, coffees and cocoa - are 100% Fairtrade and over one third of our products are organic.
3. In 2008 we won eight prestigious Gold Great Taste Awards, leading the hot beverages category for the year.
4. The collapse of the International Coffee Agreement in 1989 sent market prices plunging, putting the lives of millions of smallholder farmers in jeopardy. Cafédirect was founded in 1991 by Oxfam, Traidcraft, Equal Exchange, and Twin Trading in response to this - three years before the Fairtrade mark was first used in the UK.
5. In 1994, Cafédirect became the first UK coffee brand to be certified with the Fairtrade mark.
6. Over the last five years, our Producer Partnership Programme has invested more than £3 million (over half our profits) into the businesses of our grower partners. This is over and above Fairtrade requirements.
7. In the 2007/08 financial year we paid our grower partners £886,000 above and beyond the market price (including Fairtrade premiums) for their tea, coffee and cocoa. This brings the additional total we’ve paid for the last five years to more than £7.5 million.
8. We work with 40 producer organisations from 14 countries and positively impact the lives of more than 1.2 million people.
9. Growers play a key role in every aspect of Cafédirect, from governance to product design. Grower organisations own shares in the company and two grower representatives sit on our Board of Directors.
10. Our range is available in major supermarkets, independent retailers, Oxfam shops, Traidcraft mail order, via the Ethical Superstore and the Cafédirect online shop, as well as thousands of out-of-home venues, such as hospitals, universities, schools and hotels. They are also available internationally.

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