J.E. Austin Associates, Inc.

Assisting Business & Government since 1986

Starbucks Coffee Certification

Comparative Analysis of Coffee Certification Systems
Starbucks Coffee Company

Starbucks engaged JAA to prepare a comparative analysis of the different certification systems within the coffee industry, including: Fair Trade, Rainforest Alliance, Bird Friendly®, USDA Organic, Utz Kapeh, and Starbucks’ CAFE (Coffee and Farmer Equity) Practices. In order to clarify the strengths of these different sustainable coffee certification schemes, the analysis compared each program in five areas—coffee quality, economic transparency, environmental stewardship, social responsibility, and farmer equity. Starbucks pushed the analysis in the organization’s 2006 Corporate Social Responsibility Report.