Starbucks Business Operations

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Ethical Sourcing

While being thorough believers of buying and serving the best coffee possible Starbucks provides its consumers with ethically sourced products. All coffee is grown under the highest standards of quality using ethical trading and responsible growing practices. Ethical sourcing facilitates a better future for farmers and a more stable climate for the planet.

Starbuck’s process ensures the grown coffee they purchase is in a way that respects the people and places that produce it.

In the past ten years of moving towards ethical sourcing, Conservation International was involved in the process of developing buying guideless that addressed the principles. The guidelines are called Coffee and Farmer Equity (C.A.F.E.) Practices and help farmers grow coffee in a way that’s better for both people and planet.

C.A.F.E Practices create measurable standards for four areas; product quality, economic accountability (requirement), social responsibility (evaluated by third-party verifiers), and environmental leadership (evaluated by third-party verifiers)

During the 2010 fiscal period, Starbucks bought 269 million pounds of coffee. 226 million, approximately 84%, was from C.A.F.E Practices suppliers. Average price for premium green (unroasted) coffee went up 9 cents to $1.56 per pound in 2010.

Starbucks purchased 14 million pounds (6.4 million kilograms) of certified organic coffee in fiscal 2009 which is better for the planet.

Starbucks is a member of the Ethical Tea Partnership which works on improving conditions across the tea industry. Through its tea brand Tazo, Starbucks reaches out to communities providing them tea ingredients the CHAI (Community Health and Advancement Initiative) project. Since 2003 the CHAI project has generated $2.4 million dollars.

Starbucks has a similar approach to buying ethically sourced cocoa and is designed to ensure a long-term supply of high-quality cocoa while contributing to the environment and...