BURNABY, BC – When the Starbucks store at Simon Fraser University ( SFU ) opens its doors on Saturday October 5th, it will be the first Starbucks store in Canada to offer customers a Fairtrade certified option for their handcrafted espresso beverages, in addition to an already available Fairtrade certified brewed coffee option.
Starbucks, one of the largest buyers of Fairtrade coffee in the world, entered into this pilot program with SFU given the university’s Fairtrade campus designation and deep commitment to ethical sourcing.
This option is currently only available at some universities in the United States and the SFU Starbucks store will be the first store in Canada to offer it.
Customers will have the option of ordering their espresso beverages (like lattes and cappuccinos) with either Fairtrade certified or C.A.F.E. Practices verified coffees. C.A.F.E (Coffee and Farmer Equity) Practices is Starbucks own verification program developed through our partnership with Conservation International, and is verified by independent third-parties overseen by SCS Global Services.
“We apply very high standards to sourcing and purchasing all our coffee,” says Roger Aube, director of Licensed Stores for Starbucks Canada, “All our stores offer C.A.F.E. Practices verified espresso, and over 93% of our coffee is third-party certified or verified through C.A.F.E. Practices, Fairtrade or certified organic.”
“SFU is extremely pleased with Starbucks’ commitment to providing more Fairtrade coffees to our campus community,” says Mark McLaughlin, Executive Director of Ancillary Services at SFU.
“For the past year, SFU has been working alongside the University of British Columbia, Engineers Without Borders, and Fairtrade Vancouver to encourage major coffee companies to enhance their Fairtrade options for our students, and this is a step in the right direction.”
Customer demand for Fairtrade certified coffees appears to be strongest on college and university campuses. Starbucks is uniquely positioned to meet this specific need, given its availability of Fairtrade certified coffees and its increased presence on college and university campuses across the country.
There are no firm expansion plans to other universities or stores at the moment, although all stores already offer C.A.F.E. Practices verified espresso,and numerous universities and colleges across Canada already offer Starbucks Fairtrade certified brewed coffee.
Simon Fraser University is Canada’s top-ranked comprehensive university and one of the top 50 universities in the world under 50 years old.
With campuses in Vancouver, Burnaby and Surrey, B.C., SFU engages actively with the community in its research and teaching, delivers almost 150 programs to more than 30,000 students, and has more than 120,000 alumni in 130 countries.
Source: Starbucks Coffee Canada
