Browsers may go fair trade

by on April 6, 2010 in News


HOLLY CULP
News Writer

Browsers may start to look very different in the next year.

Plans to change Browsers to a primarily fair trade coffee shop have been set in motion in recent weeks. Spearheaded by USSU Vice President Operations and Finance Scott Hitchings, the goal to remove Starbucks coffee from the establishment has been suggested.

“Every few weeks we have Louis’/Browsers planning meetings, so I briefly brought that up at the last meeting and it went well,” said Hitchings.

Although the plans to make the switch are fairly ambitious, Hitchings is convinced it will be a slow, gradual change.

“I was advised that we wouldn’t be able to make drastic changes overnight,” said Hitchings. “We wouldn’t be able to just kick Starbucks out and bring in all fair trade. We need to find out if Browsers would still be making money if it switched, which I can’t see why it wouldn’t. I think that students are pretty environmentally conscious and like fair trade better than Starbucks.”

When it comes to ending whatever deal Browsers has with Starbucks coffee, dropping the Starbucks label shouldn’t be terribly difficult.

“We’re not in a contract with them; we just kind of have a deal with them that we serve their coffee. If the decision came down from the executive and from council to get rid of Starbucks altogether it would have to be done.”

Another aspect of the proposed change is to switch all food items to entirely organic and locally grown foods.

“I would like to have more fair trade stuff up there,” continued Hitchings. “I would also like to see more Earthbound Bakery stuff and local organic food up there, just to get Browsers to be more environmentally conscious and socially responsible.”

In regards to whether the switch to organic foods is to appease a trend or whether it is actually a move that the USSU believes will remain important to students in the long run, Hitchings took the environmental stance.

“If it’s not healthier for the people it will at least be healthier for the environment,” he said.

The inevitable result of this switch would be a price increase across the board for all coffee and food items at Browsers.

“If we did decide to go completely fair trade the prices would go up significantly. Well, significantly in comparison to the price of a cup of coffee. It would be like 10 cents, 20 cents, maybe. So that’s a lot for a cup of coffee, but really it’s 20 cents for an ethical option.”

Hitchings said that the issue is officially being looked into and worked on and he hopes to accomplish the goal by the time his term is up in 2011.

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photo: Robby Davis


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  • Larry

    This is complete garbage! I happen to hate fair trade coffee because it is of lower quality than that of starbucks. Why do we need change? What is wrong with the current system and starbucks. Did you poll the student body? Did you find people prefer fair trade coffee? This is an example of one person's ability to change policy because he and his small group of supporters believes it the 'moral' thing to do. Completely unacceptable!

    Here's an idea. Focus your time into getting rid of those bums at louis who believe in maintaining the status quo and that wish to see the place driven into the ground and replace them with some people who have an ounce of entrepreneurial enthusiasm. Its great to see our campus pub be one of the worst in this country. Instead of trying to save the world with your fair trade coffee, maybe focus on making a bit of money so my USSU tuition fee doesn't have to double in the next couple years!

    • Bob

      Actually, fair trade coffee is generally of higher quality. Maybe you're just so used to drinking Folgers pre-ground coffee in a tin that your tastebuds have forgotten what actual good coffee tastes like.
      …but ditto on the Louis. Shit, that place needs an overhaul

  • Jordan

    Using taste as an argument in the fair trade vs. standard coffee is not entirely productive. Such a stance is too subjective. The quality of either coffee can be called into question by either side, but the fact that both types of coffee are being purchased means they're passable for consumption. I don't believe one endures a loathsome fair trade coffee simply because of moral responsibilities. It it were being drawn from a septic tank, then I think there would be grounds to dismiss it.

    Those who support fair trade aren't doing so because they want a superior product, but seek a more responsible and ethical manner in which that product is brought to them, whether that's valid or not. Thus it would best to keep the issue framed around economic, social or political matters rather than the response of one's taste buds.

  • Greg

    Good points, Tomas. Also, there's a starbucks in the library and one across the street from the University. Larry can get his coffee there. Non-issue. Browsers could easily sell more coffee because they have a different option. That's why I get coffee at the crepe place.

  • Tomas Borsa

    Nice one, Larry: "Why do we need change?" you ask. "What is wrong with the current system"? But wait, you answer your own query mere sentences later: "Here's an idea. Focus your time into getting rid of those bums at louis WHO BELIEVE IN MAINTAINING THE STATUS QUO… and REPLACE THEM WITH SOME PEOPLE WHO HAVE AN OUNCE OF ENTREPRENEURIAL ENTHUSIASM". Louis' and Browsers might be separated by a few sets of stairs, but the sentiment is the same. Someone with an entrepreneurial drive (Scott Hitchings) is wanting to change the status quo (from Starbucks coffee to fair trade). I don't know if you wrote your post over the course of two or three days and just forgot what you had written previously, but it seems to me that you're advocating for two entirely different things: change and entrepreneurialism, and non-change and maintenance of the status quo.

    As for you suggestion that fair trade is "of lower quality" than Starbucks, well that's just absolute horse shit. Think of it in terms of equivalents: Will free range, grain fed chicken be of "lower quality" than industrially farmed, Maple Leaf chicken? Of course not. And regardless, as Jordan points out, coffee is not, no matter how much we might like to think, the same as a fine red wine. Pickles are more gourmet than coffee.

  • Christine

    I think the point that Larry missed is that this is something that Hitchings is looking into, not something that’s finalized. Every good business evaluates different strategic directions.

    Good job for looking into a diferentiation strategy in the land of starbucks.

  • Christine

    I think the point that Larry missed is that this is something that Hitchings is looking into, not something that's finalized. Every good business evaluates different strategic directions.

    Good job for looking into a diferentiation strategy in the land of starbucks.

  • Wow, Larry. Really?

    "Did you poll the student body? Did you find people prefer fair trade coffee? This is an example of one person's ability to change policy because he and his small group of supporters believes it the 'moral' thing to do." -Larry

    Now, I don't go to the U of S. I'm don't quite understand… is Browsers a university institution? Is it run by the U of S Student Society? Is it funded by students' tuition? Or is it just an independent coffee shop? If it is the latter, then it would have no reason to "poll the student body" to see what they prefer. I'm not sure how the brand of coffee one sells – in one's own coffee shop – is a university "policy."

  • Wow, Larry. Really?

    And, just for the record, it IS the moral thing to do. Fair trade is not just about environmental responsibility; it's also about ensuring that products are traded FAIRLY and that the third world farmers who produced the beans are paid for their labours. Most of us in Canada can afford the extra 20 cents, and it is worth it helps pay the farmers and keep them and their families alive. Or, if you really cannot find even a sliver of compassion for those who didn't happen to be born in the in the first world like yourself, you can walk across the street to Starbucks like Greg said.

  • Larry

    for all of you who replied to my comments i thank you. however i will clarify my argument a little more and provide some more evidence as to why i am right.

    For starters, the current status quo that the USSU and most of the university seems to be protecting is warn out and played out. The USSU is no different. Rather than look at ways to increase profits for student gain, they have investigated several ways to encourage "green responsibility" on campus. I feel, as a tuition paying student, that it is completely unacceptable for them to being wasting time and money on such initiatives. I pay a hefty fee every term so that you can plead with the University to put a windmill somewhere on campus??? Do you have any idea how much they cost and how much they cost to maintain? These types of scenarios are completely ridiculous given the fact that the money that student provide for the USSU can be used for much more profitable uses, thus perhaps capping or driving the cost of the USSU fee down each year.

    My argument was conflicting in that I am a proponent for change, while stated one thing needed to stay the same. I still hold to true to that, SOME things need to change. However, there is no guarantee that the change to fair trade coffee in Browsers will be profitible, it is simple a case for doing what is "morally responsible". I put that term in quotations because I believe that fair trade coffee is a complete farce. It is marketing for middle road coffee producers. Both Tim Hortons and Starbucks have programs to help their farmers and are doing great things for their suppliers. Fair trade suppliers often keep most of their profits and, if fair trade production began to rise, the cost of coffee would go down thus having a negative effect on the millions more producers selling to Starbucks/Tim Hortons etc.

    While the USSU is off investigating the potential to create a micro brewery at Louis (the worst idea imaginable) they should be figuring out issues with their overall process, looking at Louis/Browsers as revenue streams and doing things to profit through them. My suggestion, hire new staff at Louis who know a) how to communicate with people and b) aren't averse to hosting events.

    My beef is with the need for change in the type of coffee browsers sells. I for one would not go there if they sold fair trade coffee because i don't believe in it and don't like it. The fact they sell Starbucks there right now and there isn't a student revolution to get it out of there suggests to me that this IS one person or small group's ideological opinion and i don't believe policy should be made on such grounds.

    • http://twitter.com/ishmaeldaro @ishmaeldaro

      Larry, if your main beef then is that you don't like fair trade, surely you can acknowledge that some people might not like Starbucks coffee (be it for the taste or for ideological reasons). But since there is a Starbucks in the main library and another one on College Drive, why is this such a big deal to you? If you don't like fair trade coffee, you are still free to go to the two Starbucks outlets or to the two Tim Hortons.

      When USSU executives don't take positions, people accuse them of doing nothing. When they do propose changes, people lose their shit. Really, this coffee story is not worth such outrage.