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Green Mountain Coffee Roasters supply coffee McDonald under the Newman's Own Organics name
October 28 2005
Waterbury-based specialty coffee company Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. announced a deal to supply coffee to 650 McDonald's restaurants in the Northeast under the Newman's Own Organics name.
The coffee, Newman's Own Organics Blend, will be available at McDonald's in Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Maine and Albany, N.Y., beginning Nov. 1, the coffee company said.
Green Mountain Coffee will source, roast and package the blend, made from Fair Trade Certified and organic specialty coffees, exclusively for McDonald's. Fair Trade Certified coffee is grown on smaller farms that receive a premium for their beans grown using sustainable methods, such as organic farming, that protect the environment, and the farming families benefit from education, health care and housing.
While Green Mountain Coffee did not release the value of the deal or how much coffee it would be selling to McDonald's, spokesman Rick Peyser said the burger chain is now his company's largest restaurant customer.
"This is a real win-win for small-scale farmers who benefit from Fair Trade, consumers, McDonald's, and Green Mountain Coffee Roasters," Peyser said in an e-mail message. "Our goal is to make this program so successful that it will grow beyond the New England region."
The deal with McDonald's will have no immediate impact on jobs at Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, but that could change, he said.
The Newman's Own Organics coffee is a partnership between Green Mountain Coffee Roasters and Newman's Own Organics, a division of the food company Newman's Own, co-founded by the actor Paul Newman. Newman's Own donates its profits to charity. McDonald's has been serving Newman's Own salad dressing since 2003.
Peyser said Green Mountain Coffee Roasters hopes the McDonald's deal will expose new customers to the company's Fair Trade coffee and help drive supermarket sales.
"Newman's Own Organics Coffees is our fastest growing line in supermarkets," he said. "We are delighted that consumers will now have the opportunity to experience this fine organic Fair Trade coffee by the cup in McDonald's in the region, which we hope will encourage supermarket purchases for home consumption as well."
Source: burlingtonfreepress
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