I wonder if this site should look at companies like dunkin’ donuts as individual brands, or if it should consider the behavior of their parent company as well.

For instance, Dunkin’ Donuts is owned by “The Carlyle Group”: http://www.carlyle.com/eng/portfolio/...

Daniel, actually Dunkin’ Brands Inc., which owns Dunkin’ Donuts, Togos and Baskin Robbins, has three investors, according to their homepage: The Carlyle Group, Bain Capital, Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P.

When we get into non-public companies, it isn’t as easy to roll up to the ticker level.

Feel free to post any stories on Togos, Baskin Robbins, and Dunkin’ Donuts, which are now all added as brands owned by Dunkin’ Brands, Inc.

I had approached it from the other end, and looked it up via the Carlyle Group website, and well, I should learn not to make assumptions so quickly. I can appreciate how difficult it is to track down who owns how much of what.

Excellent to see the three rolled into one, thanks again!

Every time I go into a Starbucks for a cup of black coffee with maybe a shot of espresso or two in it, I ask for Fair Trade Coffee, and they never have it. Ever. Last year, I asked for it once, and the person behind the counter claimed that they had it, but it was only available on Tuesdays. Whatever. We don’t have Dunkin’ Donuts here in San Antonio, I wish we did.

This is good news. Especially since I live two blocks away from a Dunkin’ Donuts. I used to be a Starbucks Guy, but since I found out about this (and the fact that Howard Zinn is a Dunkin fan) I’ll be changing over. Now if they could just get away from using styrofoam.

Dunkin Donuts isn’t.

Unfortunately we don’t have Dunkin Donuts here in the UK, but now I wish we did.

We have Starbucks though. Wouldn’t get me in there even using heavy machinery, prefer small, privately owned shops.

Why don’t more companies pay a premium for a commodity? It only seems fair to invite more producers to an already highly competitive industry. Talk about a win-win situation: progressive consumers pay higher prices, and farmers earn less in the long-term due to overproduction, which drives downs prices. I suspect that coffee shops may even profit as well if the demand from progressive consumers is greater than what is necessary to cover the premium paid for the fair beans. Tra la la, oh happy day…

I dislike Starbucks as much as the next guy, but come on now. Starbucks isn’t owned by Phillip Morris, nor are they related in any way except that Altria Group (PM’s parent company) licenses the brand for those premade Frappechino drinks you can get in 7-11. Honestly, if you’re going to hate on a company, get your facts straight.

This is wonderful that Dunkin Donuts went and did this without any public pressure or what not. They just felt it was important. So few corporations are socially responsible (see The Corporation documentary) these days.

As for Starbucks, 7-11, etc., they will more than likely follow what is profitable. Press and Dollars will equate policy. If there’s enough positive press for Dunkin Donuts and those other companies notice enough people using Free Trade Coffee as a purchasing driver, they’ll all switch.

Sadly, it still is “all about the benjamins”.

But better tracking systems are needed to make sure that free trade coffee actually benefits the farmers, as opposed to just the middle-men….

GREAT news. I’m not a coffee drinker, nor a donut dunker, but am very delighted to hear of this enlightened company.

The phrasing on their site is a bit odd.

“Dunkin’ Donuts espresso-based beverages will only use Fair Trade CertifiedTM coffee beans.”

“Will only” is not what many good writers would use. This is likely what a tech writer would suggest:

Dunkin’ Donuts espresso-based beverages are brewed with Fair Trade CertifiedTM coffee beans.

I wonder if the ambiguity is intentional. So HOW CAN WE VERIFY DD IS USING FAIR TRADE?

glennzinho: As I understand it, “Fair Trade” implies no middle buyer, or the buyer guarantees an approprate living wage.

“Producers receive a fair price – a living wage. For commodities, farmers receive a stable, minimum price.” Global Exchange

http://medicolegal.tripod.com/boycott…

If that’s not enough, just google Philip morris owns starbucks

Fair Trade was created to help farmers not get ripped off by their local re-sellers. These people are called ‘coyotes’ because they “slyly” cheat farmers out of thier sales.

So Fair Trade certification came about to guarantee the farmers get their money directly.

The problem with Fair Trade coffee is that, just because it is certified to be better for the farmer, it doesn’t mean it is quality coffee.

This is why Starbucks doesn’t sell all Fair Trade coffee, there isn’t enough high quality Fair Trade.

To avoid coyotes, Starbucks has formed personal relationships with the farmers they buy from. Starbucks pays more to farmers than they would get from someone else AND more than Fair Trade pays.

In fact, many farmers would get paid LESS for selling a Fair Trade coffee than they would for selling to Starbucks.

(And even worse are what farmers get paid as a result of the huge coffee roasters where coffee is just bought in bulk – sight [and farmer] unseen).

Long story short… What Dunkin’ Donuts should do is ensure their customers quality AND not cheat the farmers by buying direct from the farmer.

Fair Trade is a buzz term that sounds like the magic solution and Dunkin’ is smart for leveraging the emotions.

Phillips petroleum does ground breaking research in solar power and is complicit in killings in oil fields in nigeria. dunkin does fair trade, and it’s important, but their use of transfat saturated ingredients is a major health risk. the picture of the company, any company, requires an algorythm with more than one variable. the economy, a company’s impact and our reaction, are complex and multidimensional. maybe pie charts or something. i’d like a more rounded picture to evolve here.. occassionally, anyway. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transfats

Dunkin Brands is part-owned by The Carlyle Group, a private equity group with a great deal of lobbying power and strong ties to the Bush family and the Saudi royal family. The Group is ‘advised’ by many former political leaders, including John Major, the ex British Prime Minister and, as such, wields disproportionate lobbying influence in Washington.

Incidentally, the group also owns (or part-owns) the hippy-chic Philosophy skincare range, which is packaged in vaguely deep earth-goddess musings about integrity and wisdom (their bathrooms reek of the stuff). Also owns a company that imports seasonal cheap plastic tat from China that ends up in the landfill three weeks after purchase.

Fair trade coffee? Seems like corporate window dressing to me…