Industry: Coffee

Headquarters: Minneapolis, MN

Founder: Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP)

Founded: 1996

Number of Employees: 12

Markets: Midwest United States

Interviewed: Andy Lambert, Event and Outreach Coordinator

Peace Coffee is Minneapolis-based 100% fair trade organic shade grown coffee company that was started in 1996. The firm buys coffee directly from farmer-owned and operated coffee cooperatives from six different countries (Guatemala, Mexico, Colombia, Nicaragua, Ethiopia and Sumatra.) The coffee is delivered locally in the Minneapolis area by bike. To deliver to suburban accounts, the firm uses a van that is 100% bio-diesel. The company’s commitment to fair trade and organic farms goes well beyond buying coffee; the firm also practices social and environmental responsibility when it delivers its coffee and operates its business. Peace Coffee is a for-profit subsidiary of a nonprofit organization. The nonprofit organization that owns Peace Coffee is the Institute for Agricultural and Trade Policy (IATP).

The community involvement philosophy of Peace Coffee revolves around the firm’s total devotion to the idea of a fairly traded, farmer-friendly product and the wonders of a great cup of coffee. The fair trade principles the firm uses to buy its coffee facilitate the farmers and their communities to thrive in a sustainable way, giving them the capacity to improve their own quality of life. The firm also believes it is important for small business to support their local community, whether in supporting the arts, education or supporting other small businesses, working and making connections to help their own business thrive.

Peace Coffee

2801 21st Ave S #120

Minneapolis, MN 55407

www.peacecoffee.com  

Fair Trade: http://www.peacecoffee.com/fairtrade.htm  

Industry: Coffee

Headquarters: Seattle, WA

Founders: Chris Dearnley and John Sage

Founded: 1992

Markets: Nationwide

Interviewed: John Sage, Chairman of the Board and Co-Founder

PuraVida Coffee has grown to become one of the largest sellers of Fair Trade, organic coffee in the U.S. The mission of PuraVida is to create good by using capitalism to empower producers, motivate consumers, inspire business leaders, and ultimately serve the poor. From the very beginning, the founders viewed PuraVida as an engine to generate awareness and funding for the programs the firm runs in Costa Rica. The company is involved in four neighborhoods in San Jose with six full time staff, and a crew of about thirty volunteers providing hot food and nutritious meals six days a week to about 500 kids. It also operates four computer centers and an extensive after school soccer program that gives kids a way to get off the streets and to be in a community surrounded by people who really care for them. It is in these ways that the business makes community transformations possible. In addition, the firm builds an emotional connection between the producers of the coffee and other beverages, and the consumers who buy them. The goal is to transform the daily act of making a cup of coffee into an act that creates change in the world.

The involvement philosophy of PuraVida is based on the idea that business has enormous potential to multiply resources; capitalism is unique in its ability to take a good idea and capital and to return results to shareholders in a dramatic way. It is the basis of PuraVida’s involvement philosophy that those same principles should be applied on behalf of positive social change. As a result, the community involvement of the company inspires its customers and increases their loyalty to the PuraVida company.

PuraVida Coffee

3517 Stone Way N.
Seattle, WA 98103

www.puravidacoffee.com