October 05, 2013

For the first time in Canada, Starbucks will offer its customers a Fairtrade certified option for their handcrafted espresso beverages as well as an already available Fairtrade certified brewed coffee option when the company opens a location at Simon Fraser University’s Burnaby campus on October 5.

Starbucks, one of the largest buyers of fair trade coffee in the world, entered into this pilot program with SFU given the university’s Fair Trade Campus designation and deep commitment to ethical sourcing. The option is currently only available at some universities in the United States and the SFU Starbucks store will be the first location in Canada to offer it.

SFU was designated a Fair Trade Campus in May 2012 and is proud to be part of an international movement that improves the livelihood of developing world farmers and workers.

SFU student food surveys have consistently indicated that Starbucks is the top requested new vendor at the Burnaby Mountain campus. With SFU being a Fair Trade Campus, SFU needed to work with Starbucks to make this happen.  After a number of months of discussions, SFU and Starbucks are please that on October 5, SFU opened the first Starbucks store in Canada to offer fair trade espresso beverages.

SFU has been working alongside the University of British Columbia, Engineers Without Borders, and Fairtrade Vancouver to encourage major coffee companies to enhance their fair trade options for students, and this pilot project is a direct result of this joint effort.

The SFU Starbucks is located in the West Mall Centre and this trendy, new student space will be loaded with community tables, Wi-Fi, and power for mobile devices, with comfy indoor and patio seating. The store will be open 7 days a week and late on Thursday, Friday and Saturday until midnight. Sixteen student jobs are being created through this project and SFU student-artists will be contributing to the painting of murals.

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