Who owns what?

You can find many different coffee brands on supermarket shelves, and frequently multiple brands are actually owned by one of only a few corporate conglomerates.  Some of these companies have poor records when it comes to environmental and social responsibility.  Here is a primer on common coffee brand ownership.  These brands represent 40  to 60% of the world coffee market.  Read about their role in the coffee crisis.

Nestlé -- Nescafe, Taster's Choice.  Purchases 750,000 tons of coffee annually.

• In October 2005, Nestlé announced it would offer a Fair Trade coffee called Partner's Blend (available only in the UK), with beans purchased from El Salvador and Ethiopia.  This has been called a step in the right direction, but has also been met with criticism.  Remember, the Fair Trade seal is awarded by product, not by company.  This Fair Trade product makes up less than 1/10th of 1% of Nestlé's coffee imports, and many consider this an attempt at greenwashing the company's poor image when it comes to Fair Trade issues. (Update: See GreenLAGirl's post on the Nestlé Fair Trade issue).

J. M. Smucker Co. In 2008, Proctor & Gamble (P&G) divested itself of its coffee division, which was taken over by Smucker's. Smucker's now owns the Dunkin Donuts retail distribution, as well as the Folgers and Millstone coffee brands.

• Millstone is the gourmet coffee line, with three organic blends.  Several organizations spearheaded a campaign to get P&G to buy responsible coffee.

Kraft Foods -- Coffee brands include Yuban, Maxwell House, Brim, Chase and Sanborn, General Foods International Coffee, Gevalia, Kenco, Maxim, and Sanka.

• Kraft Foods is using Rainforest Alliance certified coffee in some of their brands, including Carte Noire, Jacques Vabre, Maxwell House, Jacobs, Kenco, and Gevalia.  In 2006, this amounted to only 25 million pounds. To put this in perspective, the United States alone imports an average of 1.4 million metric tons of coffee beans annually. That's over 3 billion pounds of beans.

Sara Lee -- Sara Lee's foodservice division operates Java Coast locations, and supplies coffee to many universities, corporations, etc. as well as fast food restaurants; one partnership is with Dunkin Donuts. Owns Senseo brand and roasts coffee under the Doewe Egberts division. Sara Lee is the former owner of Hills Brothers, MJB, Chock Full o'Nuts, and Chase and Sanborn, now all owned by Massimo Zanetti Beverage USA. 

Comments

[Kurt Stauffer]

When the Big 4 hegemenize the Specialty Coffee movement we're back to square one. Be carefull what you wish for. I DO NOT think they should be in the Organic, Fair Trade, or craft roasting business. They will squeeze every penny out of it and leave all the craft roasters in ruin. Let them buy Brazilian and Vietnamese Canifora. That's their niche. I don't even know why you waste your time talking about them except to say "Here's what you don't buy".
Kurt