During that same year, a number of well-known organisations were raising capital for growth and expansion, and financial markets saw huge initial public share offers from Google, Dreamworks Animation and Premier Foods. Also looking at growing its impact, Cafédirect, the 100% Fairtrade coffee company, launched a very different public share offering in the UK – supported by Triodos.

“It was a really important philosophical moment,” says Cafédirect CEO John Steel. “We were moving from four charitable organisations and three co-operatives who founded us in 1991, to bringing in the citizens and the producers – so it was like crowdfunding before crowdfunding was invented. We had 4,500 retail investors who wanted to make a difference, as well as the farming communities and the co-operatives we buy from and do impactful work on the ground with. And those farmers are on the Board, alongside representatives for consumers and other stakeholders.”

Cafédirect was set up on Fairtrade principles to ‘give coffee bean, cocoa and tea growers a larger slice of the purchase price for their products’. That simple statement of purpose has now evolved into the Gold Standard, which guarantees that growers always receive a fair price for coffee, are included in governance and business decision making and benefit from profits reinvested into producer support and community development programmes. The Gold Standard’s four pillars of Growers, Community, Environment and Business underpin the Cafédirect growth strategy and have become more ambitious over the years:

The power of collective impact

In common with many Triodos-supported enterprises, Cafédirect wants to achieve an impact broader than its own supply chain. The Business section of the Gold Standard commits Cafédirect to “shape the industry by raising important issues and holding the sector to account” and “recognise the power of collective impact by punching above our weight on global issues in the right collaborations”. Strikingly, one collective impact aspiration is to increase the commitment from the UK coffee sector to pay producers the living income price  – a challenging ambition but one which Nespresso has already set.

If that happened, wouldn’t it chip away at Cafédirect’s point of difference with other coffee companies? John Steel is relaxed: “If Cafédirect can represent 1%, 3%, 5%, even 10% of coffee and get the attention of the other 90%, we’re going to have much more impact than on our own. I’ve always felt that Triodos was a similar example – we’re both trying to shake up our sectors, and we’ve both got well governed, authentic business models. And just like in coffee, the rest of the banking sector is starting to adopt B Corp and other initiatives, and Triodos will be pleased to see other banks moving in their direction.”

With an objective of reinventing capitalism in the coffee sector, who owns what is an important lever of change:

“There are many ways our relationship with our growers is different,” says John Steel. “First of all, we are working with growers as shareholders in the business, and they know we're there every year. So there’s a certainty of relationship. Secondly, our purpose is to improve our farmers’ livelihoods, we can’t just go elsewhere if climate change hits, and that brings us to the third thing, improving the resilience of our farmers. We are looking at making a sustainable business for all, rather than a dependent monocrop.”

Supporting farmers and their families

Cafédirect works with independent charity Producers Direct to support over a million farmers and their families, with £100,000 invested by the company in 2023. Finding that farmers – especially women – were struggling to find markets for the crops they grow alongside coffee, they developed the Farm Direct App which connects them directly with buyers. In 2023, more than one million kilograms of produce was sold through the App by more than 3,000 farmers, boosting incomes by 37% and building resilience by decreasing farmers’ reliance on single crops. 

Triodos senior relationship manager Laura Rumph says Cafédirect has achieved transformational impact on a number of levels. "Cafédirect demonstrates remarkable governance with a balanced board structure, featuring both producer and consumer representatives, alongside the rigorous B Corp certification standards. Cafédirect were Fairtrade pioneers and are deeply rooted in the principles, ensuring ethical practices throughout the supply chain.

Notably, their latest annual report celebrates a 29% increase in the Fairtrade Minimum Price paid to green coffee producers—a significant step in supporting smallholder farmers.

“A shared commitment to ethical business practices drives the long-term relationship between Triodos Bank and Cafédirect. We both prioritise positive social impact, promote ethical consumerism and are committed to sustainability.”

The biggest event in 2023 for Cafédirect was the acquisition of Bewley’s UK, including its coffee roastery.

Laura adds: “This amplifies their ability to drive meaningful social and environmental outcomes across their value chain. It's the first time in the UK that a mission-driven organisation, focused on creating social impact for smallholder coffee farmers, has successfully acquired a larger private-sector company.”

The future of fairtrade coffee

The future for Cafédirect ties in to the way consumers transform their relationship with businesses generally.

“I would just love to see consumers embracing the way we do coffee at a whole other level,” says John Steel. “As a consumer you positively choose good coffee because of the good that it is doing, and consumers would think that way about all kinds of things, so I don’t want people choosing a bank because they get £100 free, I want them choosing a bank because they know that every time they use that bank there are lots of good impacts.”

Cafédirect has always amplified the voice of farmers since it was founded in 1991. It’s right that we conclude this piece by hearing from Luz del Carmen Suárez, a coffee producer from Peru. She is delighted with the Farm Direct App, which brings her both freedom and income:

“When there was no App, I had to go and sell everything myself. Sometimes, even for a little less than your production cost. You had to do what you needed to sell. But with the App, you set your prices, and you sell."

"It has made me feel like Luz is a person who is still discovering things about this world, who is still learning, and, most importantly, who is able to earn a little income for my family. Behind every cup of coffee there are large families, and a fair price is gratifying for each of us.”