The Conference was opened by Jim DEVLIN, Executive Director of the
BSA, who introduced the theme of ethics and beverages, saying many
questions were posed as a result.
SPEAKERS
Silver MASORO-ATWOKI, from Mabale Growers Tea Factory,Uganda - gave
a passionate talk on how Fairtrade and the premiums involved help his
community improve their lives. He said with this help, the quality
of their end product had improved in recent years as well. He ended
with an appeal for the audience to buy and support Fairtrade products
to an even greater extent.
Chris GARTHWAITE, Managing Director of CGA
- Insight Specialists – told
how they specialise in what consumers demand both now and in the future,
focussing on customer experience, working across both industries and
geographies. They are passionate about putting the customer at the
heart of business, and he was an interesting and eloquent speaker.
He talked about the ageing population and ‘our’ greater
affluence. He also commented on ‘the power of conscience’ in
our buying habits. Chris outlined the many benefits of Fairtrade, not
only for the growers but also for those distributors, wholesalers,
and customers who take on Fairtade products. He strongly felt that
Fairtrade was very much mainstream now - highlighting M and S and a
number of the major operators - including Virgin Trains ; Selfridges
and IKEA - who feature it strongly.
Mark AYLING from Complete Coffee - spoke on ‘Sourcing in a Fairtrade
World’, highlighting that coffee is the 2nd largest traded commodity – after
oil. It is also crucial to the economies and politics of many developing
countries, and for some of these countries, coffee equates to over
80 % of foreign exchange earnings. He talked about pricing trends and
the many factors that can affect them, including speculators ; weather
; natural disasters ; and politics. Fairtrade entered the public awareness
some 20 years ago, with an argument that the trade in coffee was inherently
unfair and biased towards the west and consumers. He showed an alarming
chart that indicated that just 2 % of the price of a jar of coffee
goes to the farmer, whereas 64 % goes to the roaster.
He covered the various Certification bodies for the ‘ethical’ sector – currently
the Fairtrade Foundation ; UTZ Kapeh ; and the Rainforest Alliance
- detailing the differences and similarities between these bodies.
He also mentioned bodies that we might see more of in the future. His
was a most detailed and informative presentation, with lots of facts
and figures, greatly appreciated by the audience.
Andy FAWKES, Managing Director of Masteroast - then talked about roasting
ethical coffee. He said this was in fact no different from any other
coffee, but he stressed that there was far more to the offering that
just adding a logo. He also talked about the various certification
bodies. He commented that the growth of business was due more to market
shift than new business as such. He suggested that Fairtrade coffee
comprises around 5,000 tonnes p.a. and approximately 20 % of the total
market.
Peter COUCHMAN, from the Mid Counties Co-operative - spoke on ‘Responding
to the Ethical Consumer’. He was a very passionate supporter
(as is the Co-op) of Fairtrade beverages, and he stated that 93 % of
their Members supported the promotion of Fairtrade and 76 % of their
Customers say that it is important to them. As might be expected, they
found significantly higher figures for ABC 1 and younger groups. He
suggested that they don't just sell Fairtrade beverages : they engage
the whole community. He ended his presentation by saying – ‘You
can’t just sell Fairtrade …. You have to believe in it’.
After tea break, Julian HUNT, Communications Director of the Food
and Drink Federation, summarised all the Speakers’ points and
opened discussion up to the floor. A lively debate followed with questions
like ‘Do you feel the whole ethical debate was driven by government’ to ‘Does
not Fairtrade actually upset the market unfairly against ‘normal’ producers
?’. There were also challenges on data.
The panel comprised the Speakers - with the exception of Silver who
had to leave to catch a plane back to Uganda. His place was taken by
Mark VARNEY from The Fairtrade Foundation - who was asked some challenging
questions on where the money they raise actually goes and just how
much is raised :
The Conference closed at 5 p.m., with Jim DEVLIN expressing the Conference’s
gratitude to all the Speakers and the Chair - Julian HUNT. He summarised
by saying that the interesting debates had thrown up more questions
than answers. Many in the audience went away feeling that it was a
much wider topic that they had originally thought.
BEV-X Industry Dinner
Before the Dinner, Jim DEVLIN spoke of this year being a special one
for the BSA – namely its 10th Anniversary. He covered the formation
back in 1996, and outlined many of the major achievements of the Association
since that time, including the 4 special BSA dedicated pages initially
in ‘EuroBev News’ and more recently ‘Café Business’ ;
the launch of the Bev-e Awards in 2004 ; the launch in 2005 of ‘In
The Cup’ – the BSA’s training and best practices
magazine ; and 2 help lines – one specifically on Health and
Safety, plus technical bulletins.
He then outlined some of the challenges ahead, and spoke of the BSA’s
biggest initiative at the present time being the development of a nationally
recognised Barista Qualification – an NVQ in Barista Skills.
Darren SINCLAIR and Matt LARDI from City & Guilds were present
at the Dinner, and during the evening they got an overwhelming response
to the work being done to set up a nationally recognized Barista qualification.
Bev-E Awards Dinner
A sellout event this year with the Bev-e awards being a highlight
of the evening. Over 120 people attended the dinner held at the Hanover
Hinckley Island Hotel.
As in previous years a raffle was held in aid of DR B’s with
prizes kindly donated by some BSA members. Funds in the region of £800
were raised for this most deserving cause.
Further photos of the event below kindly supplied by Fergus Cooney
of Rephoto Publishing.
The BSA gives special thanks to CUNO for their support of the BEV-E
Awards DINNER
