Is Starbucks Socially Irresponsible?

By Alyce Lomax (TMF Lomax)
March 24, 2005

If asked to name a socially responsible public company off the cuff, many people would very likely answer Starbucks (Nasdaq: SBUX). That's why I found it fairly jarring to hear that Pax World Funds, a socially and environmentally responsible mutual fund, issued a press announcement yesterday proclaiming it had "reluctantly" divested itself of all shares of Starbucks.

Why?

Alcohol.

...

If you admire Starbucks' environmental stance, its commitment to fair trade, and its solid treatment of its employees, then, by all means, buy into the company. To my way of thinking, those attributes certainly count as plenty socially responsible, and a little bit of liquor, which isn't even being sold in an "inappropriate" venue, but rather in bars and restaurants, isn't going to change that.

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Pax World Funds Sells Starbucks Stock

Pax World Funds Reluctantly Divested 375,000 Starbucks Shares as a Result of Company's New Alcohol Venture

PORTSMOUTH, N.H., March 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Pax World Funds, home to the United States' first socially and environmentally responsible mutual fund, announced today that it had no choice but to divest itself of 375,000 shares of Starbucks Coffee Company worth an estimated $23.4 million(1) as a result of the giant coffee chain's decision to enter into a development and distribution deal with whiskey maker Jim Beam to sell a coffee-based alcoholic beverage.

Caffeine won't make the heart flutter

Mar 23 (Reuters Health) - Moderate caffeine consumption does not appear to trigger an abnormal rhythm of the atria, the upper chambers of the heart, new research reports.

Danish investigators evaluated the effects of caffeine, consumed through coffee, tea, cola, cocoa or chocolate, in almost 48,000 people. The investigators found that those who consumed the most caffeine per day -- roughly 1,000 milligrams, or about 10 cups of coffee -- were no more likely to experience atrial fibrillation or flutter than people who drank the least amount, equivalent to between 2 and 3 cups of coffee each day.

In an accompanying editorial, Drs. Martijn B. Katan and Evert Schouten of Wageningen University and Research Center in the Netherlands, note that caffeine also does not appear to cause abnormal rhythms in the lower chambers of the heart, called ventricles, which can be deadly.

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King java rules West Coast

But most coffee shops per person found in Alaska
Houston Chronicle
Marketwatch

SAN FRANCISCO - Coffee drinkers in the Western United States have the most stores from which to snag a cup of joe, according to a new survey.

Anchorage, Alaska, scored the most coffee outlets per capita, while Los Angeles offered the greatest total number of stores, according to data from the NPD Group, a market research firm that tracks how Americans eat.

Anchorage has nearly three coffee shops per 10,000 people; followed by the Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, Wash., region, which has 2.5 shops; and San Francisco, which has 2.2 coffee outlets for every 10,000 consumers. New York, on the other hand, has less than one coffee shop per 10,000 people, although it has the fourth-highest number of shops, at 525.

The Seattle area, home to coffee giant Starbucks, also came in second in total number of shops, tallying 628. In the No. 1 spot, California's Los Angeles-Long Beach area has 801 coffee shops, although they account for only 0.8 units per 10,000 people.

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Over 50% of adult Americans drink coffee

REUTERS

NEW YORK: From the kitchen to the coffee shop, more Americans are drinking the black brew breezily nicknamed “a cup of Joe.” So found a survey conducted randomly by telephone in January, which has been taken every year since 1950.

The number of US consumers who drink coffee every day rose to 52% of the adult population, or 112.3m Americans, from 49% a year ago, according to the new industry survey.

That is an increase of 7.4% from the 104.6m daily coffee drinkers aged 18 years or older in ’04, showed data from the National Coffee Drinking Trends ’05 survey taken by the National Coffee Association of USA.

“Americans are taking notice of coffee like never before — turning new attitudes into daily behaviours,” Robert Nelson, president and chief executive officer of the NCA, said in a statement, adding “Already enjoying a wider variety of coffee options to fill new roles throughout the day, consumers now seem to be making a good thing daily.”

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Hike could induce caffeine withdrawal

MARYANNA LEWYCKYJ, SUN MEDIA

There's trouble percolating in coffee markets could lift the price of your morning pick-me-up. Commodity prices for coffee beans have picked up steam recently, rising from 65 cents US per pound last summer to $1.37 US this week. Prices are bubbling up because of increased demand, coupled with supply shortages due to poor crop yields.

According to the International Coffee Organization, coffee prices jumped by 12.67% between January and February of this year, reaching their highest level since December 1999.

The skyrocketing prices have caused some major coffee distributors to raise prices for supplies headed to stores.

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Costa Rica organization promotes coffee blends

Taiwan News, Staff Reporter / By Marie Feliciano

Francisco Mena, director of Deli Cafe from Costa Rica, demonstrates how to make good coffee at Taipei, yesterday./KEYE CHANG, TAIWAN NEWS
Costa Rica's rich, intensely fragrant, and full-bodied brews are winning the hearts and wallets of Taiwan's coffee connoisseurs, the Central American nation's coffee ambassadors said yesterday.

"We call our specialty coffee 'cups of gold,'" explained Deli Cafe president and top coffee producer Francisco Mena.

"The gourmet coffee that our country produces is made from the choicest coffee beans harvested from Costa Rica's high-altitude farms, and processed under the strictest of quality standards. We call them our 'volcanic treasures' because they thrive on volcanic soil."

Producing only the Arabica varietal, Costa Rica had been synonymous with extraordinary brews, added Grace Mena, president of Sintercafe, a non-profit organization that promotes and markets Costa Rica's golden crops.

"Yes, our coffee is expensive and we are proud of that," the official said.

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