Cafédirect

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Cafédirect

Type	Public
Founded	1991
Headquarters	London, United Kingdom
Key people	Penny Newman, CEO Krishna Gopala, Chairman
Industry	Beverage
Products	Coffee, Tea, Cocoa
Revenue	19.754 million GBP (2005)
Slogan	Bringing Quality to Life
Website	www.cafedirect.co.uk

Cafédirect is a UK-based alternative trading organization. It is currently one of the largest Fairtrade hot drinks companies in the world. Its brands include Cafédirect, Teadirect and Cocodirect. Cafédirect works with over 250,000 coffee, tea, and cocoa growers in 33 registered Fairtrade producer organisations across 11 countries.

Cafédirect was founded in 1991 by Oxfam, Traidcraft, Equal Exchange and Twin Trading as a response to a global collapse in coffee prices. Cafédirect revolutionized the Fairtrade world by launching the movement's very first mainstream coffee brand. It was also the first Fairtrade coffee brand to carry the Fairtrade Mark in the UK and the first Fairtrade product to be sold in supermarkets such as Co-Op and Safeway.

Cafédirect established the Gold Standard, a guarantee to pay above the world market price for coffee, and to support the development of producers. In addition to paying a fair price to growers in developing countries, the company donates a percentage of its profits to producers for activities such as market information and management training. In 2005, Cafédirect invested 86% of its operating profit - £574,000 in 2004/05- into such training and development programmes.

Cafédirect was in 2005 the UK´s sixth largest coffee brand, boasting over 41 Fairtrade products and an annual revenue of £19.75 million. Market shares in 2005 rose to 8% for Cafédirect Roast & Ground, 4.4% for Cafédirect Classic Blend and 1.2% for Teadirect.^[1]

[edit] References

^ Cafedirect. (2005). Cafédirect 2005 Annual Report. URL accessed on August 2, 2006.

[edit] See also

ATOs	AgroFair \| Alter Eco \| Artisans du Monde \| Cafédirect \| Claro Fair Trade \| Ctm altromercato \| Divine Chocolate \| Equal Exchange \| Equita \| El Puente \| EZA Fairer Handel \| Fair Trade Original \| Gepa The Fair Trade Company \| Ideas \| Intermon Oxfam \| La Siembra \| Oxfam-Magasins du monde \| Oxfam Trading \| Oxfam-Wereldwinkels \| SERRV International \| Solidar'Monde \| Traidcraft \| Twin Trading \| Ten Thousand Villages

ATOs