Wish4 Fairtrade merchandise goes on sale

Just a few days to Xmas, the perfect moment to get one's act together and launch a range of merchandise to help raise money for Fairtrade enterprise. So here it is !  

Click here for Wish4 merchandise

With roads frozen, business struggling to deliver goods for the last minute panic buying frenzy, and everyone wanting the holiday to come sooner rather than later, it seems that opposing forces are the norm  !!

Nobody working in accounts payable departments, but everyone able and willing to send out invoices early for the month end. Nobody paying attention to prices, so spray-on snow varies from 99c to €2.50 in shops no more than 200yds apart.

And tonight a complete lunar eclipse if only we can stay awake late enough / wake up early enough to appreciate such a once-in-a-few-years feat of nature.

 

So, the big drinking season is upon us ! Another reason for supermarkets to actively encourage excessive alcohol consumption by selling 'slabs' of beer (24 cans in a shrinkwrap tray) for apparently irresitible prices. And all that Half Price wine, which must be illegal, because those wines have never been worth double the 'half price', as even a monkey could tell you.

So, what to do ? How to remain true to the values you espouse, amid the unsustainable consumerism, and in the face of a financial meltdown ?

Surely a perfect moment to really get used to the fact that your wallet is a weapon. Whatever you buy will be replaced on the shelf by another of the same. That's how retail stock control systems work. They are software packages. They are NOT thinking, intelligent, people. They dont distinguish right from wrong. Just full from empty. Cash or NO cash.

So your every purchase is a direct vote for the kind of products you want more of, and ultimately the kind of world you are actively creating around you. The things you aren't buying are also voted off the shelf just as directly. So despite what they say, it's not the thought that counts in Tesco, ASDA, Dunnes, SuperValu or ALDI and Lidl; it's the till receipt. 

So how about a toast to fairtrade and organic wine , and a Wish4 a fairer world in 2011 ?

Cheers,

Bolder in Boulder but not yet in Kinsale

 In my town of Kinsale, we harbour some of the most intelligent life forms on earth. And today the good and the best gatherd to dissect the budget into the kind of detail that left me thinking.....well.....its no THAT bad is it. And I guess that's because many of us dont have massive pensions under threat, or property empires buoyed up by tax relief, or ministerial cars now havin got be down graded to under 2 litres.

So, back at the office, cashflow is king, and there are flickering candles at the ends of a few of the tunnels. So as we despatched great new orders of Fairtrade muffins just in time for Xmas, and are now in limbo while we speculate about what Jan 2011 will bring, someone sent me a link to the Unreasonable Institute in Boulder, Colorado
http://vimeo.com/15739837

A bit like the Positivity ladies in Cork, and the Transition Town movement, the future seems most likely to bring satisfaction if we take it upon ourselves to plant a tree, say thanks to bank clerks, and give our time to community initiatives.

And anyway, being unreasonable is not new to any of us here in Kinsale if the local car parking habits are anything to go by.

Kraft v Starbucks. Does Fairtrade win ?

Today we read about Starbucks stepping up their efforts to stop Kraft selling Starbucks brand coffees through the world's biggest grocery store outlets, so they can go back to doing it themselves or hopefully with a more ethical partner.
Ironic that Kraft, which recently bought the big Cadbury fairtrade brand, now stands to lose the big Starbucks fairtrade brand. Clearly fairtrade plays absolutely no major part in the Kraft thinking, which is what any industry expert, or for that matter dog on the street, has always known.
Contrast that with a 'pure-as-the-driven-snow' motive behind Oromo Coffee Company where Ethiopian refugees in UK are bringing top quality Ethiopian organic fairrtade coffee from the home based communities direct to the public more so they can just have independence from the state benefit system, than to make a profit at all !

The average board director at Kraft, of course, has never actually set up a business, prefering to read about them in far away business school books, relying on money and contacts to fast track them to corporate riches, and the protection of legions of dispensable junior staff who bear what little responsibility Kraft recognises for real customer demands.
So, today, we take our hats off to the likes of Oromo, and the motivation that has got them going.

Global Warming & Fairtrade sorted

Spent hours hours today debating Fairtrade as a concept and discovering that the world's CO2 emission problem could REALLY be solved by Coca Cola in just over 3 years ! What a day. And I had a gorgeous duck salad for lunch.
We Forest is a great response to climate change, and well worth checking out.
As for Fairtrade, the concept does cast the 'recipient' communities, and therefore potentially entire small nations in a particular relationship to the 'sharing/giving' countries.
 Obviously the implication is that all other trade is 'unfair', and be that as it may, and I for one DO subscribe to that observation, it may indeed NOT be giving an entirely intended message to outsiders, that FT is about 'sharing among equals' rather than a means simply to feel good about handing out a donation to the needy. Divine chocolate and the likes are the real deal, but Cadbury and Nestle clearly are not. Sadly, not enough people have made that distinction. I hope they (YOU!) will from now on.
Todays recommended reading that partly inspired such thoughts is Stone Soup by one of Earth 2010's most thoughtful inhabitants, Bill Liao. Thanks Bill.

Israelis attack Fairtrade olive groves ?

We read today that the olive farming families in Palestine are now even having their olive trees chopped down in areas neighbouring the west bank jewish settlements.
Zaytoun are an organisation trying to provide free and fair markets for the olive oil that has been grown here for decades, that deserves our support.
And the best way to do that is simply to buy their product in the shops. And to realise more and more that what we spend our ever decreasing family budget on is basically a vote for the kind of world we want to live in.
I heard that at a conference recently, and it sticks with me, because its true.
Buying cheap tea bags is just a vote for a world full of cheap tea bags. We get what we buy into ! Big time !
So, lets vote for Fairtrade, for freedom to trade, and for what we need rather than what we want.www.zaytoun.org

Bonn International Fairtrade Towns Conference Nov 5-7

Today I took a look at the agenda for the upcoming International Fairtrade Towns conference to be held in Bonn Nov 5th-7th.

Good to see that several Lord Mayors of german towns will be sharing their stories of how Fairtrade is working in their communities. And I'm hoping a mayor or two will show up in Dublin for our own National Fairtrade Town Conference, later on Nov 19th/20th in Dublin.

Amazing to realise just how many people have given of their time, to take a stand for developing economies where banks just dont exist for people, and where being self sufficient is just part of day to day life. Not something we learn at school or at home. What would we do without expensive daily yogurts full of miracle molecules, or at least 10 flavours of crisps to get us fat ?

 So, with UN World Food Day now 6 days behind us, and Xmas 64 days ahead, we can make changes. Someone said to me yesterday, the only way we'll create a better quality world, is by becoming better quality people.

So, whether in Bonn, Kinsale, Dublin, or Douglas Isle of Man, here's to quality in all our buying decisions at the shops tomorrow.

http://www.fairtradetowns.org/news/fourth-international-fair-trade-towns-conference/

See exactly where Wish4 Fairtrade sugar comes from

Recession is not the best time to launch a business who's priority is a fair deal for people who live out of sight, in developing countries. But luckily in our two short years we just had our best month's sales to date. So, good news for those we work for. But with supermarkets busy expanding their ranges of cheap, unhealthy products, few buyers have the courage to deliver for the customers what they actually want.

Recent research by the CoOp shows that convenience, health and ethical sourcing are the 3 most important issues their customers want their buyers to pay attention to. But selling Coke on Special Offer gets the priority.

You have to wonder what is really in the minds of retailers who can't find 1 single can width of space on their shelves for a Fairtrade Cola, which trials show tastes good.

You also have to worry about those making multi million pound profit decisions who have never been to see what all the fuss is about. I have never met a buyer who returns from a fairtrade producer visit (which of course they dont even have to pay for) without a review of his blessed category taking place shortly after.

What are we to do to reach the Tipping Point in Fairtrade purchasing ? Well, if you want to set up a simple van delivery service for exclusively fairtrade products, we'd be happy to help. We believe that is a route to market that works well in troubled times. It gives shops more control over their stockholding, which can be more 'little and often', then 'piled high sold slowly'. And it allows distributors with a real value (and values) story behind their products to make contact with more discerning buyers, in a better targeted operation.

So, if you are interested in that kind of opportunity, why not get in touch, and see how we can work for the growers at this sugar plantation in Malawi.

Waterford Fairtrade City birthday

Its that time of year, several Fairtrade Towns and Cities in Ireland are celebrating. Yesterday Waterford City marked 5 years of FT with a lunch served by the students at the WIT hospitality dept. Fairtrade wine, bananas, coffee, chocolate and much more was enjoyed by the organisers, the Waterford One World Centre, and guests including the mayor, the CEO of CHamber of Commerce, and the WIT President Ciaran O'Broin. It is hoped that Mairead Bonner and her catering team will soon offer Wish4 Fairtrade muffins along with the Fairtrade Coffee they have been serving to students for many a long year.

Mayor fo Kinsale celebrates 5th Fairtrade birthday

Mayor Michael Frawley joined Michelle Kelleher, one of life's great town clerk's, and other staff for a giant cuppa to celebrate Kinsale's 5th birthday as a Fairtrade Town. The event co-incided with the annual Kinsale gourmet festival and the arrival of probably the first bottle of Fairtrade vodka in the country.
Should go down well with the Ubuntu Fairtrade Cola, and a packet of Liberation Fairtrade Salted Cashews, but you cant find that stuff very easily in Ireland yet.

20% OFF Wish4 Fairtrade in London

Today came the invitation to join the irish party travelling to the International Fairtrade Towns conference in Bonn Nov 5/6th. A privilege.

And business is picking up. Leeds University are on the phone, the DBC Foodservice promotion is started, which means our products can be 'got' anywhere in UK now. And preparations for the Waterford Fairtrade City birthday Oct 13 is underway.

And of most relevance to you now, is this 20% OFF deal at Planet Organic all over London, or online, for Wish4 Fairtrade goodies.

Skibbereen Fairtrade Town

The food festival season is at a height around now. Near us we have had Midleton Food Festival, and we look forward to Kinsale Gourmet Festival on October 7 & 8. But yesterday was the turn of Skibereen in West Cork to hold its food event, A whole week including an excellent conference on sustainable food production in Ireland. And the Fairtrade Town team were out on force showing off the new Wish4 Fairtrade snacks and confectionery in the open market.

People ask me about whether Fairtrade is better than buying local, or buying organic. And to me it seems these various important initiatives are all part of a move towards making sure we know what good food is, and where it comes from and how its paid for (including environmental costs !). So, unless we plan to grow sugar, coffee, oranges, and cotton here soon, or give up using them, Fairtrade is definitely a good option. Potatoes we can grow, and fatty foods we can give up, but a nice cup of tea and a snack bar with a Fairtrade guarentee should give us the best of all our worlds.

Latest news from Wish4 is that you can now buy Wish4 direct online in the UK from the boys, and it is only boys at Premcrest, in Leeds. I think they have some special offers coming up on Wish4 as well, so not a bad time to click on the link below......

http://www.premcrest.co.uk/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=1

Sainsbury is UK biggest Fairtrade retailer

Bad news for CoOp lovers as Sainsbury is busy plastering its stores with 'No1 Fairtrade retailer' posters. The CoOp has been a bit compromised by its merging with Somerfield, and has thrown out new Fairtrade products and promotion opportunities in favour of 'harder hitting' price deals in the past few months. Sainsbury takes over the mantle, although we'd believe that Waitrose has at least an equally big 'heart' for Fairtrade it just has less stores. Sainsbury too has had offers to fill gaps in its Fairtrade ranging, but has left them empty to date, apparently worried about listing 'unknown brands', despite the fact that the Fairtrade logo itself carries more credibility internationally than anything any grocery retailer can match.

So, who is really committed to Fairtrade....well, the growers of course, and the consumers, and the '100 percenters' who only trade in Fairtrade, and do not compromise their ethics. The price to pay for that seems to be to remain an 'unknown brand' ?

Fairtrade goes to the Electric Picnic

Well, no sooner does the curtain come down on Greenbelt, than its time to erect a few tent poles just outside Dublin for this week's Electric Picnic. Amnesty International are just about to re-open their offices in Dublin, with a Fairtrade Cafe on the premises, and at the festival they will be running a 24 hour a day bingo session. Prizes every half an hour, and Fairtrade coffee and Wish4 muffins and snacks to go with them. The organisers are keen to promote Fairtrade and every year the majority of traders support this, and that's good news.

This week also sees the launch by DBC Foodservice in UK of the new Wish4 Fairtrade muffins and snack bars. Good news for lots of catering outlets across the land. Falmouth University is one group we know will be pleased about that.

We also continue to develop direct fairtrade supplier relationships a particualr African company in the biscuit and confectionery business. The biscuits are a bit dry all right, but the boiled sweets and toffees are looking good.

Greenbelt Festival - Fairtrade Muffins in demand

This year the Christian Aid cafe at the annual Greenbelt Festival was host to Wish4 Fairtrade. A year ago Wish4 was still a dream, and we were at the festival as volunteers, learning just what a great festival it is. This year we're back as purveyors of the only Fairtrade muffins and hand baked, all natural snack bars on site. And with 20,000 festival goers to satisfy from dawn to dusk, its a great place to do a bit of market research. Clearly our chocolate and blueberry muffins are the stars of our modest show.
Great moments at the festival include the 'beer and hymns' session, about which some people had been wondering 'what is it really about ?'....to which the organisers....who contemplated the question for many hours.....were able to reply:- 'well....when you home in on its possible spiritual significance, and philosophical meaning, its best summed up as a time spent.....drinking beer........and......er.....er.......singing.....hymns ??!!'

 

Check it out !

Fairtrade Cost Cutting

Costcutter stores througout Ireland are now listed for Wish4 Fairtrade's new range of Fairtrade confectionery, and bakery snacks. So next to the fairtrade coffee to go in these stores you can enjoy the taste of a healthy Fruit Nut Seed bar, or a traditional millioanire's Shortbread made in a way that guarentees growers a fair price, but also just tastes good. No preservatives, colourings, flavourings. Real butter NOT vegetable margarine, Real chocolate NOT chocolate flovaoured coating.
And if you're still Wishing4 your first experienc of this, just contact us now....We're very kind, and happy to grant your Wish4 free !

Cultivating Fairtrade in Dublin

Today was World Humanitarian Day, and in Dublin the Cultivate Centre hosted an open day in the old ENFO offices in Suffolk Street at which Concern aid workers and others were discussing what they do, and inviting everyone to have a FREE fairtrade coffee. Concern is a great organisation, but few people know of Cultivate which is the irish centre for development of Transition Towns, and sustainable communities. All in all an excellent event. Hopefully as a wealthy (oh yes, even in deep recession that's a fact !) people, we find it in our ? hearts ? (and elsewhere) to do the right thing more regularly. So, a fairtrade toast (wine, coffee, vodka even) tonight to Concern, Fairtrade Mark Ireland, and Cultivate.

New Irish get fairtrade faster

Another day talking to retailers on the ground about new Fairtrade products. Most revealing is the fact that the Wish4 Fairtrade range was most enthusiastically welcomed by a newcomer to Ireland. A very friendly manager at Costcutter, born somewhere outside of europe/USA.

Although Fairtrade is now taught in every national and secondary school in the land, shop managers seem mostly unaware, and are missing out on a chance to convert €000's in their annual sweet sales to €000's in Fairtrade sweet sales. And all those local students are their future customers too.

Fairtrade Twitterings

After all these months, and over 400 tweets, I finally discovered the little button that gives you access to the DIRECT tweets that you receive from others. Like getting a reply to your message. Turns out I had a load of these, and embarrassingly had never followed up on them. So, apologies to Green Party minister Ciaran Cuffe, for those of you watching in Ireland, and to the likes of Shrewsbury Fairtrade Town, and certianly to Bangor Fairtrade Town for those of you watching in UK.

It showed me how useful Twittier can be in bringing together like minded people, and after a free trial of 'Tweet Adder' I think I'll be even more able to enjoy the growing international enthusiasm for Fairtrade.

I even came across a couple of overseas suppliers, and although Malawi has few twitterers, it is a special place for me, and one I would love to serve in a more practical way by helping develop small enterprises.

If I can do it to a standard approved by Enterprise Ireland, I guess I should be able to contribute to entrepreneurship in Malawi.

Not quite sure how that might work out, and meantime we have to focus on the day job which is all about getting college catering outlets well prepared for new terms with plenty of Wish4 Blueberry Muffins etc.

A day on the Fairtrade road

Spent a day on the road selling yesterday. Not done that for a few years. I was mostly greeted with interest and courtesy, and just once with a 'well we wouldn't be interested in that boy' ! The Fairtrade message takes longer to get into shop managers minds (and onto shelves) than into the customers minds.

We all know we say things we never act on, but for these people, its their decisions that are holding up sales of Fairtrade products. Even in a Fairtrade town, shop owners can be clueless.

I was in a Costcutter store where the white sugar sachets by the take away coffee were Fairtrade, but the coffee wasn't. The manager seemed oblivious.

All of which convinced me of the opportunities out there.

The highlight of the day was the call on a garden centre cafe who loved our products, AND were meeting their coffee supplier later to make the switch to Fairtrade !

A match made somewhere in Africa...Fairtrade Coffee AND a Fairtrade Honey & Fruit Flapjack.

Fairtrade at Electric Picnic

Preparations are well underway for Ireland's Electric Picnic festival in September. The organisers promote Fairtrade, which is great, and the Wish4 Fairtrade chocolate muffin is the Official Muffin of Electric Picnic this year. Amnesty will have supplies available in their 24 hour BINGO tent !

New Fairtrade Distributor for Ireland

Today we can announce that Simply Wild have been appointed by Wish4 Fairtrade as distributor for Ireland. Based in Naas, Simply Wild have developed a good track record in distributing top quality food nationally, so we look forward to growing the business with their help. Another step forward is the listing of Wish4 products by the Barrys Group in Mallow. This gives Costcutter store owners the chance to expand the range of Fairtrade products they sell. The most important being the chance to offer a Fairtrade muffin with the Fairtrade coffee to go which most stores have today. Bewleys and Rob Roberts, Java Republic etc cannot (or will not) supply the snacks, so here is the best chance customers have to complete their Fairtrade 'snack stop' !

Fairtrade Buy 2 get 1 FREE

Well, its not exactly Tesco taking over the world, but today marks the first ever Wish4 fairtrade Buy 2 Get 1 Free offer. Only available in SuperValu Kinsale, but nonetheless an interesting idea. Its on 'til June 12th, so we'll see how it goes. If you want it in your local Tesco, Dunnes, Superquinn, Sainsbury, Wal Mart or Morrisons, you'll have to ask them for it !

Fairtrade growing out of Ireland

Having returned from the London Fairtrade Festival last week, its back to figuring out how to build up Fairtrade distribution in Ireland. Currently one distributor has a collection of wonderful fairtrade brands, but the products are not getting into the multiples or the BWG/Musgraves type foodservice acccounts. Strange, as the products all sell well in their type of outlets elsewhere.
Wish4 has made good progress in UK colleges and universities, but in Ireland, getting to these outlets is a very fragmented process; There is no central student buying groups to help the process. And there are more catering contractors per head of population than is necessary for a market this size.
Having helped launch Tipperary as a Fairtrade Town last week, and seen the demand and interest on the ground, we continue to hope that more of the powerful buying people in Musgraves, BWG, Aramark, Compass, Kylemore etc will be encouraged to look again at where their products are coming from, and who is being exploited in the process. In most cases the answer is 'we dont know' ! And I for one wonder if its a case of 'we dont care' ?

London Fairtrade Festival

Wish4 is participating in the 10th anniversary party of Dubble, right by Tower Bridge in London May 7 - 9th. Great excitement as this is our first outdoor event outside of Ireland where we live !
Good excuse to use the newly re-instated Swansea - Cork Ferry. Not sure if it serves Fairtrade coffee.
Great chance to show the discerning London audience just how tasty Wish4 products are, and why they are now available from SUMA and others, including new outlets around Cambridge from Cambridge Food Company.
Other new outlets selling Wish4 include Salford College in Manchester who are buying Fairtrade products from Main Line Wholesale Ltd in Manchester.

Fairtrade or is it ?

As predicted Haiti has disappeared out of the headlines, and off the screens. Until today when I heard the irish government is giving about €20m to a fund for long term reconstruction. Thats good, until you compare it with the extra €10,000,000,000 it gave to the dodgiest bank in the land on the same day.

Somewhere buried in the nonsense of what passes as good-sense in the commercial world is Fairtrade. And its still growing despite the cooling down since Fairtrade Fortnight. In my town the Fairtrade bananas have been put away for another 50 weeks, and despsite the good words of the top CEOs, retail buyers continue to ignore the fantastic efforts of grass roots customers to increase the range of Fairtrade products on the shelf.

I met a seriously influential buyer last week at the Food & Drink Expo in UK who really doesn't understand what Fairtrade actually means, has never visited any of the suppliers of his amazingly cheap products, but who makes decisions worth thousands of livelihoods every day !

Luckily young people DO travel more these days, and DO see what is going on, so I think there is hope, and I'll be spending an evening in Liverpool today with an NUS group that is serious about getting its behaviour to line up with its declared values. Something much harder to do than you think !!

New Fairtrade Video

Wish4 has created its first 30 second Fairtrade video commercials. Nothing flashy, but its amazing what you can do in 5 minutes these days. We hope it helps to support the Fairtrade growers we work with.

Fairtrade in Dublin

All systems go in Dublin now ! Special offers of Fairtrade Coffee and a snack are all over the place, but only the select few, like NUDE in Suffolk St, and Nosh n Coffee down in Cork have Fairtrade Coffee AND Fairtrade snacks from Wish4 ! Wishing4 more !

Wish4 Fairtrade Mints

Wish4 Fairtrade Mints

Fairtrade ad

Now we're into making Fairtrade commercials. Animoto is the recommended software

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Nice music too !

Starbucks in Stansted

Lots has happened recently, like the Kraft takeover of Cadbury, but in our smaller world we have started working with 6 new distributors in UK, and have earned a visit to Kinsale by an overseas Fairtrade producer for Feb 26th. We are also giving away some exellent deals on our unique Fairtrade Confectionery Box of assorted toffees and vanilla fudge, so if you know anyone who likes that kind of thing ? Contact us ! And remember Fairtrade Fortnight starts Feb 22. Get organised....and ask us for help....