Final call for Fair Trade Coffee Company
Ethical consumerism has suffered a blow in its inner west heartland. Due to crippling financial pressures, the Fair Trade Coffee Company, a café on Glebe Point Road, closed its doors for the final time on Sunday, June 20.
Roger O’Halloran, the café’s manager, said it was disappointing the parties involved in the commercial venture could not put profits aside to make sure an ethically sound business model succeeded. “When you have some agents in the area raising rents as much as 15 per cent a year, it makes it hard to keep your prices in line with inflation,” he said. “Although the product is an ethical one, consumers will turn to alternatives if our prices become too high.”
Mr O’Halloran also said his café offered staff good working conditions, a point a number of other cafés could not necessarily attest to. “We offer the award wage and superannuation; one of my past employees did not know she could earn superannuation in the hospitality industry,” he said. “However, this does make us a less competitive player in the field.”
Fair trade refers to international trading agreements which aim to assist third world producers by granting above-market prices for their produce, so they can sustain a quality of life above poverty level.
Consequently, it is not only the café’s staff and customers who will suffer as a result of the closure. All of the Fair Trade Coffee Company’s proceeds go to Palms, an Australian NGO, who send skilled volunteers abroad to assist in the development and aid of countries including Kiribati, East Timor, Papua New Guinea, Uganda and Tanzania. But its annual budget will take a significant hit now the café has shut up shop.
Long-term café staff member Deirdre Cotterell said the café had been instrumental in building the hospitality skills of two women from East Timor who would have struggled to find such training elsewhere. “The ethical platform of the business is very strong and the work that Palms does in some developing countries is also very beneficial,” she said.
Now the Fair Trade Coffee Company has closed, Palms will petition other cafés in the vicinity to have a fair trade option for consumers, or even sell fair trade products exclusively. The organisation believes this is achievable, given the large and loyal customer base for the ethical coffee product.
In the meantime, Mr O’Halloran continues to look for a new venue, but remains dismayed by all the hard work completed at the Glebe location that will now go to waste.
Though this shop is closing, the Fair Trade Coffee Company will continue to sell fair trade coffee online at www.fairtradecoffeecompany.com.au
by Marcus Coombs
