by mattmills » Tue Apr 21, 2009 10:29 pm
But that assumes that everyone is interested in paying for quality.
The statements made are far too sweeping, if we are really to discuss such large issues it needs to be broken down:
Origin effect
Consumer Effect
I am certainly not saying that the big chains strive towards quality, they are business and are in it to make money and create a huge amount of employment. But when we discuss quality we have to look at the mkt.
The move to and the inital success of the Instant Product makes a huge statement, not on the company but on the consumer.
In these times it is the company´s repsonsibilty to survive which is far more important to the thousand of employees.
Taking into account the origin operation, the actions of the huge commercial roasters in essence do far more for the origin countries than the whole of the specialty movement, and impact far more people. Simply through the quantity they buy they keep these countries ticking over. This is not undermine the impact of some great specialty programs, but when you put it into perspective the impact is very small. On top of that we should not assume that small direct programs are just one way, these also have a monetary value to the client.
With regards to Charities, simply by buying products from the Origin you are doing far more good than any charity is able to achieve, and we see this every day. There is no substitute for on going business.