Thank you GREEN LA GIRL for all you are doing! I used to work for Starbucks back in the day, and I remember vaguely something about fair trade and making a french press for customers, but I never had to do it and was never asked about it.

Anonymous said…

Starbucks sells FT? News to me. I’ll ask for it in future. BTW, Faboo sent me.
Scott S.
Bowie, Md

12/08/2005 04:47:05 AM

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FARfetched said…

There’s a Starbucks on my way home from work; although I usually patronize the local indie shop I’d probably spring for a bag of FT coffee if they have it.

Faboo told me about the petition.

Larry K.
Planet Georgia

12/08/2005 07:41:57 AM

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faboo
faboo said…

I forgot to “sign” my name.
Anika Denton
Los Angeles, CA

BTW, I’ve hit up 4 different Starbucks in the last 2 days. At 3 of them, none of them knew what I was talking about. At one, the girl just rolled her eyes at me and said, “fine”. I waited for 30 minutes and still no coffee. I asked for a venti drip instead and she called me a troublemaker. Such customer service.

I also have a neighbor who works at Starbucks. When I mentioned this to him yesterday, he had no idea what I was talking about. He’s worked there for 3 years. Before he went to work this morning, he said he spoke with the manager who said, “Oh yeah. If they ask for it, try to offer them something else, unless the line is short.” I have another neighbor who works at a different Starbucks, I’ll try to catch him when he gets home to get his take on this.

12/08/2005 02:00:31 PM

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Anonymous said…

I used to work for Starbucks as a Store Manager. We were reminded to brew FT on the 20th of each month and there were memo’s that told us to brew a French Press upon request. The problem comes in when there is too little staffing to support conflicting priorities (like serving customers in less than 3 minutes, keeping the pastry case bountiful, keeping the café and restrooms spotless, washing dishes, stocking retail, stocking coffee displays…) and lack of training. Not because of lack of caring about training – but with the limited training time available. One of the expectations Starbucks has is that all partners complete a coffee passport – which means they have to do an ‘official’ tasting of all of the coffees offered. The only way to do that is with a French Press. So managers should be training their partners to use a French Press each time they are working on their coffee passport and they will then become trained and more proficient in the steps needed to prepare the perfect press for the customer who requests FT.

The other issue is that Starbucks does not put an effort into teaching their partners about Fair Trade. If the partners had a connection with FT and understood what is really about they would then embrace the customers requesting that one-off French Press. Then Starbucks would run the risk of internal pressure from the partners wanting more FT coffee.

The earlier comment about taking the FT coffee out of inventory is valid. When a customer requests a cup of FT the partner has to either find a bag that has been opened already and use that (assuming it hasn’t expired – once it is opened it begins to deteriorate and should be discarded after a certain number of days) or they have to find a new bag and use that. Since FT coffee hasn’t become a high demand item in most Starbucks stores it isn’t unusual for the Store Manager to order very small quantities and then run out.

Ultimately these issues can be resolved at the corporate level by Starbucks sourcing more FT coffee and offering it as the coffee of the day on a regular rotation. One day a month is not sufficient.

I have since found Green Mountain Coffee Roasters and appreciate their commitment to Fair Trade and Organic coffee and really enjoy their coffee much more than any other roasters out there.

12/09/2005 06:59:33 AM

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Michelle Lee said…

Great Idea!! I would definitely request this if were available, and visit Starbuck’s more often because of it. I only purchase Fair Trade coffee for my home and I am disappointed more chains don’t have it readily available for take out.. And, french-press coffee tastes better :)

12/09/2005 07:01:47 AM

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Maya said…

I support you all the way…Hope we’ll get answers soon.

12/09/2005 08:11:08 AM

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Siel
Siel said…

Hey Faboo — which stores were these? Lemme know and I’ll tag them up so they can get on the map! And thanks for the insider info, to both faboo and the anonymous ex Starbucks manager!! Super interesting — BTW, Bloggle is written by the Green Mountain Roasters tech guy :)

12/09/2005 03:27:26 PM

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mateotemprano said…

sign me up!

Matt Earley
Just Coffee: Not just a market, but a movement!
http://www.justcoffee.net
Madison, WI

SBUX is a huge problem, and a good one to hammer on. They have been let off the hook to up their committment to fair trade and should be called to the mat. TFUSA should enforce their own rules on SBUX and other trans-nationals as well. And it is completely in-line for activists to bug the crap out of all of these companies.

As far as the “must serve the shareholders” argument goes, it is a ruse. Trade should benefit all involved, not just the companies that have the power to rip off producers. Market exchange can be equitable and still work. After you give SBUX hell, leave without spending a penny and go buy coffee from a 100% fair trade company instead of supporting one that uses the FT seal for marketing purposes while purchasing 98% of their beans for sweatshop prices!

12/09/2005 05:31:05 PM

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faboo
faboo said…

The Starbucks I went to were:

Stanley and Melrose (my local), though yesterday I talked to another guy who worked there and he knew what I was talking about.
Olympic and Fairfax
La Cienega and La Tijera (?)
La Brea and Santa Monica

I’m going to Farmers Market today, so we’ll see if they do it. There’s also one in B&N at The Grove, are they held by the same standards?

I spoke to my other neighbor who works at the one on Santa Monica in West Hollyood closest to La Cienega (does it make sense that all 1.3 or whatever square miles of West Hollywood has 3 Starbucks on the same stinkin’ street?) and he said that they get requests for the FT coffee all the time and have no problem doing it. He’s even going to get me a free bag of coffee (yay!).

12/10/2005 10:48:57 AM

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Siel
Siel said…

Hi former Starbucks manager (anonymous) — Thanks for the info. Used it in my post today :)

Faboo — The stores’ve been tagged! And glad to hear there’s at least 1 store on top of things in LA — and that there are lotsa people requesting fair trade!

mateotemprano — I’m so interested in Just Coffee! Was talking about you guys with someone at TransFair last week. Hope you came through the hurricane okay –

12/10/2005 09:31:11 PM

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Catherine said…

Starbucks has a great opportunity here to set an important example for coffe shops everywhere. Go for it!

12/12/2005 02:23:20 AM

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Anonymous said…

Alexis Carroll
Boise, ID

12/12/2005 08:21:33 AM

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Anonymous said…

“…purchasing 98% of their beans for sweatshop prices!”
Please keep in mind that Starbucks purchased their beans for $1.20/lb vs. Fair Trade price of $1.26 when the commodity price for coffee was around $.85…

12/13/2005 01:31:25 PM

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Siel
Siel said…

Anonymous — That $1.20 didn’t actually go to farmers.

12/13/2005 01:50:01 PM

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K32Dance03 said…

Katie Oreskovich
Westville IL
Student, Community Council Secretary
West Virginia Wesleyan College
Buckhannon, WV

12/14/2005 03:25:22 PM

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Robert ‘Groby’ Blum said…

Robert Blum
Los Angeles, CA

Sorry for signing on that late – spaced out a bit..

12/15/2005 08:24:15 AM

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Tim Wientzen said…

Starbucks has been dragging its feet over Fair Trade for four or five years. This is plain sad.

12/15/2005 08:45:52 AM

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Anonymous said…

Thanks for listening and hope to get some answers (and good coffee) soon.

Kathy S. – Los Angeles, CA
(Faboo sent me)

12/16/2005 12:42:35 PM

I’ve personally only got Fair Trade about half the time that I’ve asked for it at stores. That means that their policy is not being followed. It’s lip service. They’re trying to coopt people out of making a real substantial demand.

Regardless, even if STBX follows their policy, how many people will actually ask for a french press? The solution is to BREW FAIR TRADE AS THE COFFEE OF THE DAY EVERYDAY. The quality is plenty good, and they can add new SKUs of Fair Trade to create the diversity in flavor they need.

And, oh, by the way, the whole story about the Christmas coffees taking all of Fair Trade’s room is ridiculous. Why can’t the Christmas coffees be Fair Trade? Answer: They can, and STBX isn’t going to show creativity until consumers and students make them do it!

I join the authors by signing my name to this letter. I support the Starbucks Challenge and I encourage Starbucks to fully live up to the intent and letter of their “STARBUCKS, FAIR TRADE, AND COFFEE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY ” policy.