Pura Vida Coffee and Compass Group Announce Strategic Partnership

07/12/07 Pura Vida Coffee and leading food service management company Compass Group have entered into a strategic five-year partnership, the organizations announced at Pura Vida's tenth anniversary celebration in Seattle.

Compass Group will present Pura Vida's triple certified coffee, tea and hot chocolate as official Fair Trade options to its customers across all lines of business in North America. Pura Vida will also serve as preferred partner to Compass Group in new business sales activity.

"By aligning with Compass Group, Pura Vida will receive mass exposure to customers of one of the finest food management companies in the world," said Jeff Angell, president of Pura Vida Coffee. "We're thrilled to be partnering with a company with such a broad reach and outstanding reputation."

For years, growing awareness of the Fair Trade issue has been gaining momentum with Compass' customers from coast to coast. Five years ago, Compass Group started a pilot program offering Pura Vida to select higher education clients. Now, with a strategic partnership in place, all lines of Compass' North American business will be able to make ethical, sustainable beverage decisions with Pura Vida products. Clients such as Manhattanville College and Washington Mutual now offer Pura Vida in their facilities.

"Compass sells a million-and-a-half cups of coffee throughout North America each and every day," said Dee Pettit, vice president of retail strategies for Compass Group North America. "Pura Vida provides outstanding products and the mission behind the company is truly exceptional and authentic. With Pura Vida's new model of sustainability in coffee, this partnership is aligned with our culture and our socially responsible initiatives."

In addition to offering Fair Trade Certified products, Compass Group will also donate $0.25 per pound of coffee purchased to Pura Vida's Create Good fundraising program. Create Good provides education, health care, nutrition, clean water, and economic opportunities for at-risk children in coffee-growing communities.

"Of all the companies offering Fair Trade Certified products today, Pura Vida truly stands out as a leader," said Paul Rice, president and CEO of TransFair USA, the only independent, third-party certifier of fair trade products in the U.S. "They've made an exclusive commitment to Fair Trade, and in doing so they've proven that the Fair Trade Certified business model works."

Compass Group has a rich history of giving back to the communities within which it does business. Compass Group is committed to agricultural sustainability and supporting local farms, the reduced use of antibiotics in chicken and pork, and the purchase of sustainable seafood.

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