Ethical considerations

24th April 2008, 4:52pm

The moral and business case for catering operators to increase the range and volume of Fairtrade and ethically-produced products they sell continues to grow. David Foad reports

The idea of hard-bitten catering operators using and selling Fairtrade products was met with a degree of cynicism when companies such as Cafedirect floated it a few years back. It was regarded as a bit of a gimmick that wouldn't have much impact outside of the charity shop circuit.

The quality of the produce was called into question, doubts were expressed about the value of the exercise to the farmers and the business case was less than persuasive.
Times change, in this case quite rapidly, and Fairtrade is now a firmly established part of the foodservice market. Combined retail and foodservice sales of Fairtrade products in the UK reached £500 million in 2007, showing growth of 40%.

And when you have heavyweight players such as Compass UK, whose customers make three million purchases a day, announcing that it will now start providing only Fairtrade bananas in the UK, then you know you've got market momentum with you.

In that time the questioning and doubts have been met by a solid track record of improving product quality, compelling testimony from growers and the business world's wholesale adoption of corporate social responsibility programmes.

That is the picture that emerged when senior Fairtrade suppliers met catering buyers to debate issues at the Peros Ethical debate at Imperial College recently.

Kenyan tea grower Andrew Kobia Ethuru told the meeting that his grower cooperative was very well aware that quality was needed and that farmers were adopting the latest growing techniques and investing in machinery and fertilisers.
"We know that unless our tea is high quality then people in the UK will not want to drink it. By using the money we receive from Cafedirect we are able to do all this, as well as build roads and healthcare facilities for our communities."

Student impact

Cafedirect head of corporate affairs Zachary Dominitz confirmed that it took several years of checks on farms, training and development before a group of growers was accepted into its Fairtrade fold. At that point it is guaranteed a minimum price and can begin to receive additional investment from Cafedirect (60% of profits are ploughed back into the businesses and communities of growers).

The Higher Education market has led the way in its acceptance of Fairtrade produce, and that is why the new Fairtrade cola Ubuntu has had its most significant impact so far among UK students.
Ubuntu foodservice sector manager Louise Whitaker said: "Students may like the idea of Fairtrade, but they are also savvy consumers and would not buy it if they didn't like the taste."

Divine chocolate, which is made using cocoa grown by west African farmers has become a £10m business in just a few short years and in 2007 was able to pay its members their first premium as a share of the £500,000 profit the company made.

The company's managing director Sophie Tranchell, who heads the steering committee to make London a Fairtrade city, said minimum price payments for cocoa beans had been used already to dig wells and build hospitals.
"We're now looking to build on this initial success and start marketing Divine branded cookies and brownies."

A number of contract catering companies, including Aramark and Catermasters, have adopted One Water brand bottled water that uses all its profits to build 'Playpump' wells for villages in Africa.
Marketing director Maria Scott said she was well aware of caterers' concerns about promoting bottled water at a time of discussion about issues like sustainability and carbon footprint.

"We're rolling out PET bottles that can be recycled, which meet objections about the amount of waste the industry if generating. And don't let that debate obscure the key message that these pumps provide a steady supply of clean water and free up women and children to look after families and go to school rather than spending hours each day collecting water."