Wawa, PA (August 16, 2018) – Wawa is proud to announce that as of June, 2018, the Company has achieved its 2018 sustainable coffee goal with 100% of all built-to-order cold brew coffee and espresso drinks now made from Rainforest Alliance Certified™ beans. Earlier this year in March, Wawa announced that its espresso products were being made using Rainforest Alliance Certified beans. Now, with the addition of made to order Cold Brew, 100% of its made-to-order cold brew and espresso products proudly bear the Rainforest Alliance Certified seal.
The Rainforest Alliance is an international nonprofit organization working to develop and promote farming standards that protect the environment and promote the well-being of workers, their families and their communities. These standards help to ensure farm workers have safe working conditions, housing, and access to medical care and schools for their children. Through achieving Rainforest Alliance certification, farms work to protect ecosystems, including wildlife habitat, water and soil.
“Many elements go in to creating a great cup of coffee - the roast, grind, water and brew method – however it all starts with bean selection,” said Michael McLaughlin , concept development manager for Wawa Coffee and Beverages. “The best beans come from farms that are able to commit to the highest standards, which include accounting for sustainable production methods, and the welfare of farm workers.”
Wawa serves Cold Brew, hot, iced and frozen espresso products as part of its built-to-order Specialty Beverage offer. Wawa is committed to partnering only with roasters who source quality coffee and participate in practices that support responsible environmental and social standards in coffee-growing regions. Wawa will additionally strive to have all of our coffee varieties sustainably sourced by the end of 2020. To learn more about Wawa’s quality food commitment, visit: https://www.wawa.com/fresh-food/nutrition. To learn more about The Rainforest Alliance, visit: www.rainforest-alliance.org.
“Now, when you purchase a cold brew or espresso drink at Wawa, you are helping ensure farm workers have safe working conditions, housing, and access to medical care and schools for their children,” said McLaughlin. “Even more, your purchase helps these farmers adopt practices that protect the ecosystems where they work so that quality coffee remains available for years to come.”
About Wawa’s Quality Food Commitment
As part of Wawa’s ongoing commitment to provide safe, fresh, high quality foods, the company has established a fully integrated food and product quality program, and is improving and formalizing the programs, standards, and audit criteria for the vendors who supply the food products we serve. The program builds upon Wawa’s founding commitment to family safety and trust, dating back more than 100 years ago, when the Wawa Family Dairy was the first to offer “physician certified” milk.
To guide this journey, Wawa has established an independent advisory council of top experts and thought leaders in food and animal safety, food technology and health and wellness. Wawa’s food safety program includes a focus on animal welfare that requires suppliers to meet key standards of ethical and responsible food sourcing.
About the Rainforest Alliance
The Rainforest Alliance is an international nonprofit organization working to build a future in which nature is protected and biodiversity flourishes, where farmers, workers, and communities prosper, and where sustainable land use and responsible business practices are the norm. They envision a world where people and nature thrive in harmony. In January 2018, the Rainforest Alliance merged with UTZ, a global program and label for sustainable farming. Its main offices are in Amsterdam and New York, with regional offices around the world.
Companies like Wawa are setting powerful examples by driving sustainable supply chains and offering their consumers options that match their values as well as their product preferences,” said Alex Morgan, Chief Markets Officer at the Rainforest Alliance. “We are proud to work with a company like Wawa that clearly shares our belief that everyday actions add up to big impact, and they are leveraging their business model to offer an easy way for consumers to make positive impact through their everyday purchasing decisions.”
