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#Vendors
Ensure that your vendors align with your values
Starbucks fully owns the coffee procurement process and all of their roasting facilities, but what about everything else? All other aspects of the supply chain are strictly monitored through what is called the Starbucks Coffee and Farmer Equity (CAFE) Practices. This helps to ensure that all vendors align with Starbucks values and quality standards.
CAFE Practices, developed by Starbucks staff, judge vendors on a set of over 200 indicators. Anyone scoring a 60 or above receives enhanced pricing and contract terms, while anything less requires you to go through the time and expense of re-verification in a year.
But even before CAFE Practices launched in 2004, vendors have always been judged on four criteria:
- Economic transparency: To reduce costs and improve efficiency through extensive service, cost, and productivity metrics.
- Social responsibility: To ensure a safe, fair, and humane work environment.
- Environmental leadership: To protect water quality, improve soil health, preserve biodiversity, reduce agrochemical use, and conserve water and energy.
- Quality: To ensure consistency by measuring everything from the altitude, variety, and even shade density of the coffee farms.