If Starbucks thinks this fair trade “fad” is a college student thing that’s gonna blow over — Well, they better brace themselves.
Bright and early tomorrow, I’ll be at New Roads in Santa Monica, as part of a panel on fair trade activism. These middle school kids have been super busy, making posters, doing presentations, and even taking part on this half-day workshop that my panel’s a part of — “Hip Solutions for a Healthier Planet.”
There the students will hear about everything from biodiesel to solar energy to grassroots activism. They’ll also get to taste some fair trade coffee, courtesy of Monkey & Son!
No, I didn’t bribe these kids — These junior highers got into it themselves. They came up with their own slogans (”Think before you drink!”), took some Starbucks Challenges themselves, and decided to champion the fair trade cause by selling fair trade coffee and chocolate in schools to raise funds to get more fair trade stuff!
And local coffee company Monkey & Son was only too happy to step in. I met Thom, the Monkey, with his wife today, at the Starbucks on Robertson and Pico — You know, the one that failed the challenge miserably the last time I went by.
Like a masochist, I challenged again. The barista was actually the same guy that turned down my fair trade request previously. I wasn’t sure if he’d remember me, so I preempted him: “Oh, I asked you this the last time,” I said. “Um, can I get fair trade coffee here?”
This time: a 180. Not only did the barista immediately offer me a French-pressed cup, he offered it to me FREE.
Of course, I bugged him for details. “This girl runs this blog,” he said. Apparently, Starbucks had a store meeting, handed out a “letter” (I’m guessing it was one of my posts) pointing at the store’s challenge failure, and trained the baristas on the policy.
“They never told us about it,” he said, “so I didn’t even know we HAD a French press.”
I believe him. I’ve heard the story like a hundred times now. Starbucks widely publicized the fair-trade-on-demand policy, without actually letting their baristas know about it. I guess headquarters though this fair trade thing wouldn’t catch on, that no one would actually call them on it.’
So challengers — Is a 180 happening in your own stores? I mean, the store I went to is the one where the Dec. 16 meeting’s gonna happen, so I’m not sure if this was a special case, or if a nationwide education effort has been unleashed. Please please please rechallenge your closest store before Dec. 16 and let me know.
I’m also not sure if the barista knew I actually WAS the blogger in question — He kept referring to her as “this girl.” This could’ve been a tongue-in-cheek thing on his part, but I was too busy talking to the Monkey and his wife about the Son to find out –
You are making a difference! Looking forward to hearing about the panel.
Comment by lauren — December 7, 2005 @ 5:39 am
Well, the Starbucks on Olympic and Sawtelle (L.A.) sucks. When I asked for a cup of FT, the barista unhelpfully replied, “Well, we have our Christmas coffees.” As if that was remotely related to what I was asking for. When I asked if she could brew me a cup of FT, she looked around the store for awhile and then told me they didn’t have any in the store. (The last time I challenged this store, they did French-press a cup for me.) I briefly checked around to see if they had any FT in stock, but I didn’t have time to do a thorough search. So I walked out without buying anything–which is, what I’m hoping, what more Starbucks customers will do if they aren’t able to get what they came in for. (BTW, I’ve been telling my coworkers about these events, so this kind of bad experience makes an impression on more people than just me.)
Comment by Jen — December 7, 2005 @ 1:28 pm
New Roads teacher here, to say you ROCKED it today Siel! The buzz following your panel (as well as the java buzz thanks to Monkey and Sons) has been tremendous, left students amped to get more FT activism going on….(since when do high school kids drink so much coffee???)
Quick correction: these were high schoolers, not middle school….the junior high students were the ones who took a few challenges on the promenade last month.
Giving 3 hour long, back to back presentations to teens takes a LOT of energy - hope you can chill over some organic wine and take comfort in knowing you exposed about 200 young’uns to Fair Trade before noon - not bad for a days work!
Comment by Anna — December 7, 2005 @ 3:48 pm
Siel - wow! i’m glad it’s affected Starbucks so much! I wonder if the letter has been passed to all its global branches. Thanks for making the difference :) I’ll be testing some of the local joints in NYC soon to see if they’ve upped their awareness. I’ll let you know.
Comment by jeni — December 7, 2005 @ 7:34 pm
Jen — Thanks for the update on the Olympic & Sawtelle store! Sad that they’ve fucked up after doing at least a moderately good job last time. I’m pissed that so many stores don’t have Estima in stock — What’s up with that, seriously?
Maybe things’re better in NYC? Let us know, jeni :)
Thanks for the props, lauren and Anna — Yeah, I thought the students looked rather old to be in middle school ;) Kimmy let me know it was indeed a high school after our last presentation :)
Comment by Siel — December 7, 2005 @ 8:27 pm
i dunnoo… french press?
i’m need my coffee to be fresh roasted, fresh ground, with the espresso creamy bite and aroma - and of course nothing less than fair trade.
why aren’t there other places to go in LA that aren’t starbucks? They’re the McDonalds of coffee.
*confused*
Comment by Brenda — December 10, 2005 @ 10:55 pm