Equal Exchange facts for kids
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| cooperative | |
| Founded | 1986 |
| Headquarters | , |
| Products | coffee, tea, sugar, chocolate, bananas, avocados, olive oil |
| Revenue |  US$70,079,000 (2016) |
| US$1,524,561 (2016) |
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| Total assets | US$36,935,863 (2016) |
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Number of employees
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126 |
Equal Exchange is a special company in the United States. It is a worker-owned cooperative, which means its employees also own the business. The company is based in West Bridgewater, Massachusetts.
Equal Exchange sells many delicious products. These include organic coffee, tea, sugar, bananas, avocados, and chocolate. All these items come from farmer cooperatives in places like Latin America, Africa, and Asia.
This company is known for being a Fairtrade business. This means they make sure farmers get a fair price for their products. Equal Exchange started in 1986. It is the oldest and biggest Fair Trade coffee company in the U.S. A cool fact about Equal Exchange is that the highest-paid person cannot earn more than four times what the lowest-paid person earns.
How Equal Exchange Started
Equal Exchange was created in 1986. Three friends, Rink Dickinson, Jonathan Rosenthal, and Michael Rozyne, started it. Before this, they worked at a food cooperative in New England. They wanted to make changes in the food industry.
For three years, the founders met every week. They talked about how to make global food trade better. They wanted to help farmers earn more money and have a stable income.
A New Way to Trade
Their meetings led to a new way of doing business. This new way is called an "alternative trade model." It uses direct trade, which means buying directly from farmers. They also made long-term agreements with farmers. This helped farmers plan for the future.
Equal Exchange also offered prices that were higher than the usual market prices. This is different from how trade usually works. In traditional trade, many middlemen are involved. This can mean farmers get less money for their hard work.
Equal Exchange in the UK
There is also an Equal Exchange cooperative in the United Kingdom. It works closely with Equal Exchange in the U.S. They share many of the same products. They also work with the same farmer cooperatives.
Both companies have the same name. They both sell coffee, chocolate, and cocoa products. In 2017, the UK company became a part of Equal Exchange US. This made their relationship even stronger.
See also
- List of bean-to-bar chocolate manufacturers
- Lorna Young
