Fair Trade News

Published Oct 27, 2005

McDonald's to Start Selling Organic Coffee

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) _ McDonald's will begin selling organic coffee at its New England restaurants next month, an arrangement that could propel huge growth for the Vermont-based roaster and help the fast-food chain compete for customers who avoid the Golden Arches in favor of a better cup of joe.

The deal calls for Green Mountain Coffee, based in Waterbury, to supply Newman's Own Organics blend coffee to more than 650 McDonald's restaurants in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine and in the Albany, N.Y., region.

Green Mountain Coffee earlier entered a separate deal to purchase beans, roast them and package them for Newman's Own. The latest arrangement with McDonald's expands the deal.

The coffee for Newman's Own is certified as Fair Trade, a moniker that assures the beans are produced by farmers who are guaranteed a minimum wage for their harvests and are encouraged to practice organic and sustainable cultivation.

Selling the Newman's Own brand provides the regional McDonald's restaurants "a unique and exceptional coffee to meet the changing tastes and needs of our customers," John Lambrechts, general manager and vice president for McDonald's Boston region, said in a statement announcing the agreement.

Green Mountain Coffee sells its coffees through mail-order and increasingly directly to supermarkets, restaurants and convenience stores. The Newman's Own has been its best seller at supermarkets since it was introduced, said Robert Stiller, Green Mountain's president and CEO.

Green Mountain Coffee was founded in 1981 as a cafe near the Sugarbush ski resort. It expanded into mail-order and has grown aggressively in the past decade or so. It reported in August net income of $6.5 million in the third quarter, an increase 13 percent, on sales of $37.8 million, a 20 percent increase.

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters

McDonald's

Newman's Own