Our Beliefs
We’re passionate about working with smallholder growers because we are passionate about taste and we believe in business being a force for good. Growers are not just suppliers, they are our partners and at the very heart of our business. We bypass the conventional market, sourcing our coffee, tea and cocoa directly and building longterm, personal relationships with smallholder growers.
We have developed our own innovative Gold Standard, setting the bar for sustainable and ethical business. In 2010 we were awarded the 2010 Sustainable City Awards (City of London), and a Major Commendation at the 2010 Business Commitment to the Environment (BCE) Environmental Leadership Awards.
Not only do we pay growers a fair price for their crop, but we fund a programme of development projects through our sales. Since 2009 this programme has been managed by the Cafédirect Producers’ Foundation (CPF), a registered charity led by growers for growers, and they decide how Cafédirect’s profits should be reinvested in their communities. This ambitious and innovative step to empower smallholders takes forward Cafédirect’s ongoing commitment to place them at the heart of our work.
CPF strengthens smallholder farmers’ access to the training, education and information services they need to improve their farms and livelihoods. Emphasis is placed on supporting smallholders as leaders of their own training initiatives. CPF also supports smallholders to increasingly share information and knowledge with each other. As a non-profit organisation, CPF can raise additional funding to support our producer partners from international development donors and philanthropists in addition to the Cafédirect funding.
We are also proud to have been ranked the No. 1 ethical tea and coffee brand in the Good Shopping Guide 2010, achieving the top rating in each of the 15 categories. We were the only company to reach this high level of recognition in this group.
Read our latest Annual Report 2009-2010
