Poor Farmer

EDITORIAL The Daily Free Press March 27, 2007 Starbucks customers may want to rethink where their money is going the next time they order a grande roasted Shirkina Sun-Dried Sidamo coffee. Coffee farming is primarily a third-world industry that markets its product in first-world countries. Starbucks would be lost without the hard work of subsistence farmers in developing nations like Ethiopia. In March 2005, the Ethiopian growers tried to get into the capitalist game by applying for patents on beans produced from three separate regions: Harrar, Sidamo and Yirgacheffe. If Ethiopia receives these trademarks, the farmers -- who earn less than $2 per pound while Starbucks earns as much as $26 per pound it sells -- would see a little more money come their way. But Starbucks had already patented beans from Sidamo and refused to allow the Ethiopian requests to go through. The Seattle-based company suggested the farmers apply for a geographic certification. This type of protection, similar to ...

By Amitava Basu Financial Express March 25, 2007 IT is amazing the way wild berries in one corner of Africa grew to transform into a popular, international beverage. Coffee plants were first located growing wild in the highland forests of Kaffe in Ethiopia, from where it derived its name. No one knows when exactly coffee was discovered. However, there is evidence to suggest that sometime between 575 A.D. and 850 A.D., a nomadic mountain tribe called Galla used to ground coffee seeds and mix with animal fat and ate it. From its birthplace in Ethiopia, coffee berries were transported to the Arab world. From there, coffee travelled to Turkey. It was here that coffee beans were roasted for the first time over open fires. The roasted beans were crushed and then boiled in water, creating a crude version of the beverage enjoyed today. Later, the Venetian merchants brought coffee to Europe. It was only in the 18th century that coffee found its way to the Americas, when a French infantry captai...

Seeking Alpha Mar 26th, 2007 with stocks: SBUX Profit Margin Man submits: Starbucks' ( SBUX ) growth engine is the 'be all and end all'. The Founder has made a commitment to the market, so all staff is directed to pursue growth. While management says 'only good deals', folks get rewarded for deal numbers and there is no penalty for underperforming stores or bad growth forecasts. There is no penalty for underestimating how much a new unit might cannibalize another existing one; in fact, no one even tracks cannibalization in any serious manner. Why should they? Comparable store sales continue to increase, so how could there be a problem? Well, consider this: Suppose a given market area has 300 existing Starbucks and 30 new stores open during the year so, at year's end, the area has 330 stores. Those stores came on line over the 12 month period. The typical store 'ramps up', hitting on all cylinders 5 to 9 months after opening. Looking at comparable store...

Starbucks Coffee Company hosted its 2007 Annual Meeting of Shareholders on Wednesday, March 21, 2007 in Seattle, Washington at the Marion Oliver McCaw Hall at the Seattle Center. Following is an unedited script (prepared by myself) of a portion of the Q&A session that is directly related to the coffee trademark dispute between Starbucks and Ethiopia. Another investor, Bruce Herbat, President of Newground Social Investment, also expressed his concerns over Starbucks’ influence of the National Coffee Association to oppose Ethiopia’s trademark application. Herbat mentioned this in relation to his question about Starbucks’ transparency with respect to spending company finances for political contribution but it was not addressed by the executives. According to Starbucks' website, the audio webcast will be in archive until April 25th at: http://investor.starbucks.com/phoenix.zhtml?p=irol-eventDetails&c=99518&eventID=1403060 ------------------ Q. Thank you, my name is Wond...

The Boston based anti-poverty organization, Oxfam America, recently sent a letter to investment analysts, with a carbon copy to Starbucks’s Investor Relations department, to inform them about “a pressing dispute between Starbucks and the Government of Ethiopia” and urging them to raise the issue with company management. The following is extracted from the letter; it provides a quick synopsis of the public dispute over Ethiopia’s trademark initiative and its impact on the Starbucks brand. I think the material fits the My Starbucks Story theme , so I took the liberty of naming it accordingly. What is your Starbucks story? Email it to me at poorfarmer@gmail.com . ----------------------------- " My Starbucks Story" of Oxfam America This conflict [between Starbucks and Ethiopia over coffee trademarks] could well constitute a brand risk for Starbucks, affect employee morale, and jeopardize its relationship with key suppliers—all of which may affect long-term shareholder value. ...

~ My Starbucks Story ~ I attended the Annual Starbucks Shareholders Meeting held in Seattle on March 22, 2007. Tagline of the event, "My Starbucks Story," was repeatedly told by every performer and speaker, except the Rwandan President Paul Kagame and the former Beatle Paul McCartney who was linked via live video from London. At the start of the Q & A session, I had a chance to ask Chairman Howard Schultz and President & CEO Jim Donald two questions regarding the trademark dispute between Starbucks and Ethiopia. A day before that, I visited company headquarters and briefly conferred with senior VPs Sandra Taylor and Dub Hay; also, I met with six experts in their fields. I will soon post my observations and analyses of the information I gathered ... and that will be My Story of Starbucks. Stay tuned. ------------------- Emad Mekay Washington, United States 22 March 2007 11:59 The international advocacy group Oxfam is taking on United States coffee retailer Starbucks ...

Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle) Wednesday, March 21, 2007 On the day of its annual shareholders meeting in Seattle, Starbucks Corp. has been targeted by a Boston-based nonprofit that's working to help Ethiopian coffee farmers trademark their coffees. In full-page ads Wednesday in The Seattle Times and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Oxfam America of Boston said Seattle coffee giant Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) "refuses to sign an agreement recognizing Ethiopia's ownership of the trademarks of the country's coffees." Oxfam says it's working with the farmers to obtain trademarks of famous Ethiopian coffees, including Sidamo, Harar and Yirgacheffe. Obtaining the trademarks, Oxfam officials said, would give "farmers a greater share of the retail value of their coffees." "If Starbucks is seriously committed to humanity, it needs to change its position and agree to negotiate a licensing agreement with Ethiopia that respects its ownership of its u...