SUSTAINABLE HARVEST COFFEE IMPORTERS RANKED AMONG
INC. MAGAZINE’S FASTEST GROWING COMPANIES IN AMERICA

Sustainable Harvest Top-Ranked Coffee Company in Oregon, Second Nationally

 

PORTLAND, Ore. – September 18, 2007 – Sustainable Harvest Coffee Importers, a Portland, Oregon-based importer of certified organic, fair trade and shade grown coffee through unique relationship-based, socially-conscious business model has been ranked among Inc. Magazine’s Inc. 5000, which lists the fastest growing companies in America. Sustainable Harvest was also the top-ranked coffee company in Oregon, and was second among coffee firms nationally.

“We have always worked to be leaders in building a transparent and equitable supply chain,” said Sustainable Harvest Coffee Importers President and Founder, David Griswold, “As consumers become more aware of and concerned about where their food and drink comes from, our founding principles have translated to business success.” 

Sustainable Harvest is known in the specialty coffee world for its innovative approach to opening channels of communication between roasters and growers. In order to ensure the highest-quality product, Sustainable Harvest has established offices in Africa, Latin America and Mexico to carry out grower education programs, training farmers in producing, picking and processing coffee and facilitating communications with roasters. Its focus on technology has helped the firm reduce costs while bringing more value to its roaster clients and grower partners.

Sustainable Harvest commercializes about one of every five pounds of fair trade and organic coffee sold in North America.  It serves leading specialty roasters and retailers like Green Mountain Coffee, Whole Foods Markets/Allegro, Tully’s Coffee, Peet’s Coffee & Tea, and many others. Due to its award-winning Relationship Coffee business model, company purchases of fair trade coffee from small grower cooperatives will exceed $17 million in 2007.

The Inc. Magazine award is the second major award for the company in 2007. In June of this year, Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski honored Sustainable Harvest Coffee Importers as the winner of Oregon’s 2007 Exemplar Award for Sustainability in Small Business, recognizing the social, environmental and economic impact created by Sustainable Harvest’s coffee sourcing practices in Africa and Central and South America.

About Sustainable Harvest Coffee Importers
Founded in 1997, Sustainable Harvest Coffee Importers is a Portland, Oregon-based green coffee broker providing top roasters in North America and Europe with the highest quality certified organic and fair trade specialty coffee.  The company is dedicated to improving coffee supply chain practices by pioneering a new paradigm for global trade called Relationship Coffee and reinventing the purpose and actions of the middleman by building systems for transparency and traceability. Sustainable Harvest is one of only a few coffee importers in the world sourcing exclusively from small family farmers and cooperatives, which represent 100,000 growers in 12 countries. The company invests nearly half of its gross operating margin back into the supply chain to train and support farmers and facilitate supply-side activities. For more information on the company, visit www.sustainableharvest.com.
About the Inc 5000 List
The Inc. 5,000, an extension of Inc. Magazine’s annual Inc. 500 list, includes many businesses that are too big to grow at the pace required to make the Inc. 500, as well as a host of smaller firms. Taken as a whole, these companies represent the backbone of the U.S. economy.

 

Media Contact:
Amy Brown
amyb@seed-pr.com
503.341.3795