Fair Trade News

January 5, 2007 | Sustainable Food News


Fair trade advocate Equal Exchange goes retail

Massachusetts-based Equal Exchange, a nationwide cooperative specializing in fair-trade coffee, tea and chocolate, opened its first retail cafe in the country - in the state of Washington.

The Equal Exchange Espresso Bar is located near Seattle in the Ballard Market.

Equal Exchange's long-term relationship with Town and Country Markets, which owns Ballard Market, was the main reason to locate the operation thousands of miles from headquarters, according to a report by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Town and Country, the six-market chain, is Equal Exchange's largest West Coast customer.

"They've been inspiring in the way they've taken the concept of fair trade and applied it to other parts of their businesses," said Tom Hanlon-Wilde, Equal Exchange's West Division sales manager.

Fair-trade coffee purchasers guarantee farmers a minimum price for their beans, and Equal Exchange promotes organic, gourmet coffee, tea, sugar, cocoa and chocolate bars produced by farmer co-ops in Latin America, Africa and Asia.