Considering all the fair trade certification problems that’ve been pointed out (See the Coffee Crisis series for more details, or this post for a quick run-down), you’d think that it’d be pretty much impossible for small, local companies to pony up the money and resources and get fair trade certified.
Not so, necessarily. Thom, founder and monkey of Monkey and Son Coffee Company, is not only small and local, but also 100% fair trade AND 100% organic certified.
The reason? Simple: “I believe in it.”
Thom comes from a long line of farmers in Northeast Montana — His father had to quit farming because the farm went under. So when Thom’s own son was born 13 months ago, he started Mokey and Son. “That was something for my kid. When he was born — I wanted to give something back.”
Aaaahhh — I know. Too sweet. But Monkey & Son isn’t just hearts and flowers — It’s about pragmatic, forward-looking business savvy too. According to Thom, the fair trade revolution’s just begun: “I think people are beginning to see the writing on the wall,” he says.
Meaning that as consumer demand for the fair trade label grows, companies without the certification will begin to get somewhat stigmatized. Part of Monkey & Son‘s biz strategy is to stay ahead of that trend.
Of course, Thom’s quick to point out that Transfair, the company that does the fair trade licensing for US coffee companies, is not perfect. And while he’s opted for 100% certification, he says he can understand, to a degree, why some of the more consciencious coffee companies have opted against it. “I don’t look down on them,” he says about those companies. “Transfair IS very bureaucratic.”
But Thom’s stance is — “you gotta start somewhere.” Like it or not, TransFair IS the only company doing fair trade licensing in the US right now. So if coffee companies want to engage consumers about fair trade issues, companies need to work WITH TransFair, even while pushing TransFair to address issues of concern: “It’s about doing the right thing.” And, despite the organization’s faults, the people at TransFair are “really good people,” Thom says, with limitations, difficulties, and challenges of their own as a nonprofit organization.
His biggest critique is for the coffee companies that complain about the cost of certification. “Why not just pay the few extra cents? I think it’s a cop out.”
If you’ve been following the Starbucks Challenge at all, you know my opinion here’s biased — That’s no secret. Monkey & Son provided one of the prizes for the first Challenge awards — and he’ll be providing the second too! (More deets on that tomorrow) Still, this socio-enviro conscious lil local coffee company is one after green LA girl’s own heart. And the Velvet Hammer is really, really yum.
What does Thom think of Starbucks? He still goes there sometimes, and is impressed by their consistency. But he’s turned off by their efforts to cut out mom-n-pop stores, saying that whenever an indie coffee shop opens, Starbucks plants new stores on either side, driving the indie cafe out. “That’s what Starbucks is about,” he says.
And as a musician himself, he’s peeved that Starbucks’ CDs only market already-successful artists. “I’m kind of sick of Starbucks’ Walmart approach to everything,” Thom says. “Support the little guy!”
Filed in: monkey&son fairtrade coffee organic starbuckschallenge starbucks transfair
Okay, I’m sold. I thought I had my place to buy coffee all figured out. I order from a small grower in Hawaii -a family that has a small farm, does the work themselves, and direct markets. I’ll still support them, because…. I know them. But, once I found out that Monkey & son supports grassroos bicycling, too… I was sunk. I must buy coffee here. I’ll order the velvet whatever today!
Thanks for the link!
Comment by Andrea — November 1, 2005 @ 5:28 am
Hi! You’ve hooked me on your missions. I was in Caribou Coffee this morning, and quizzed the sales guy on their one coffee type (Rainforest) that was fair trade certified. He said that some of the other types are also fair trade, but that someone (he wasn’t sure if it was Caribou or the farmers) couldn’t afford the certification. It would be Caribou (the company) paying for the certification, correct? I would hate to hear that the farmers couldn’t afford it so therefore they miss out.
Do you know how much such a certification does cost?
Comment by BlondebutBright — November 1, 2005 @ 2:38 pm
Andrea — Once you taste the coffee, you’ll be sunk further :)
BbB — Ah — Yes — There are cost issues with certification. It’s a little complicated, but here’s the short version. Since 2004, the farmers have had to pay to get certified through FLO, the international organization that does the certification. This costs, um, like over a couple thou — a good chunk of change — especially for struggling farmers (see this post for more deets on this).
The certifying organizations, however, say that before they instituted the fees, FLO had probs with too many unserious farmers asking for certification inspections without being committed to it — which unnecessarily sapped a lot of FLO’s resources — Thus the fees. The certifying orgs do point out that, once certified, the farms can make back that money within a year.
The coffee companies too then have to get fair trade licensed, which is a completely separate process. Basically, for a product to have the fair trade sticker, everyone in the production chain has to have been certified and licensed. For US companies, this licensing is done by TransFair, who I’ll be talking with tomorrow, BTW. It costs between 5 and 10 cents a pound of coffee for the US companies.
So yes, certification, as of now, is not without its issues, financial and otherwise. The question is — How do we go about remedying these issues? In my view, blowing off TransFair is not the answer…
Comment by Siel — November 1, 2005 @ 10:27 pm
Well, Siel picked me as her choice for the Starbucks Challenge! I’m honored.
My prize was a 2 lb bag of Monkey & Son Velvet Hammer fair trade organic coffee, and I must say, it’s pretty tasty. I’m no connoiseur, so I can’t give you a very detailed description, but I can tell you that my mom (who drinks alot of coffee) enjoyed it as well.
It has a strong taste and aroma, but not bitter, and it was great with the french vanilla creamer that mom drinks with all her coffee. If I ever bought coffee for home use (I usually just go out for it), I’d be glad to buy Monkey & Sons.
Comment by George — November 7, 2005 @ 10:51 am
Damn, I spelled connoisseur incorrectly!
Comment by George — November 7, 2005 @ 11:01 am
I had an interesting conversation with the Fair Trade people. Monkey and Son’s (according to them) is NOT a member and seems to be using their label without permission and thus not paying any fees.
Hmmmmm
Comment by Cliff — March 10, 2011 @ 11:17 am