Ethical sourcing is having a real impact on the food service industry, with increased opportunities for operators who meet customer demand for sustainable products.
First Choice Coffee, now the largest supplier of Fairtrade and Rainforest Alliance Certified Coffee to the food service industry, understands the importance of providing premium coffee that is ethically sourced as well as meeting increasingly sophisticated tastes.
Elaine Higginson, managing director of First Choice Coffee said: "First Choice Coffee’s Grand Café range of certified coffees includes 100% Rainforest Alliance Certified Coffee, Fairtrade and Organic Fairtrade coffee - thereby offering a complete solution to operators looking to satisfy the current demand for ethical coffee. This sector of the market is experiencing a period of rapid growth and our commitment to sustainable sourcing has really paid off – we’ve seen coffee sales increase and our Grand Café Certified range now accounts for around 60% of our coffee tonnage.”
However, “green” credentials alone are not enough to guarantee success.
The boom in the UK coffee culture has allowed the customers' taste to evolve. Sustainable coffee is now in demand and the Grand Café range puts the emphasis back on sourcing and is made from quality beans that have been cultivated from some of the world’s top coffee plantations, Higginson adds.
"The beans are sun-dried and slow roasted to exact specification before being packed into specially developed valve bags to ensure consistency and date stamped to guarantee freshness – making sure that operators have beans that make the perfect cup of coffee every time.”
Copy supplied by First Choice Coffee