ABOUT

Perry Odak is the President and CEO of Wild Oats, a Boulder, Colorado, based natural foods supermarket chain with more than a hundred stores around the US. Wild Oats has made a commitment to Fair Trade and does an excellent job educating customers about the value of buying Fair Trade products.

INTERVIEW

"Making sure that we take care of our small farmers and not make profits on their backs is important to me."

I was born and raised on a small dairy farm in upstate New York. I understand how hard people have to work to make a living. Making sure that we take care of our small farmers and not make profits on their backs is important to me.

I came to Wild Oats in March 2001. The board asked me to come in and bring the company to the next level. We have reengineered every part of this company, and coffee was a piece of the reengineering. One of the principles I brought to the company was that any time we change anything, we need to look at whom we are buying from, how it is bought, the price, and its impact on the environment.

"Through our purchases we have a major impact on the organic industry and the Fair Trade industry."

Wild Oats is sixteen years old. It is a billion dollar corporation. We have some 105 stores that we currently operate and we have another 50 stores in development. Through our purchases we have a major impact on the organic industry and the Fair Trade industry.

Business today shapes the world in the ways that churches historically have shaped the world. As a manager of a substantial business, I believe that I should use our purchasing dollars to change the world in a positive way. I must satisfy not just the stockholders but all the stakeholders--the farmers, the intermediaries, our employees, our customers as well as our stockholders. As senior manager I have a duty to do that.

"I saw was an opportunity to help stem that by switching to Fair Trade."

When I went to Central America to visit the small farmers, I saw communities being torn apart because farmers were not making enough money to keep the families on the farm, to keep communities together.

Children were going to Mexico City or trying to cross the US border because they were not making enough money. The world price of coffee was at an all time low. What I saw was an opportunity to help stem that by switching to Fair Trade, which meant paying almost five times the world price of coffee as part of the Fair Trade program.

"Consumers write to us to thank us for doing the right thing."

Our customers love Fair Trade. They love the quality of the coffee, they love that it is fairly traded. The first year we introduced Fair Trade organic coffee, our sales went up twenty percent from the previous year. The best way I can summarize about how people feel about it, is people voted with their dollars. Consumers write to us to thank us for doing the right thing.

"Our ability to affect the world is happening with our own suppliers."

Ninety-five percent of our coffee today is Fair Trade certified. The five percent which is not Fair Trade, we buy from small local roasters. We believe in supporting local farms, local people in the communities where we operate.

Recently, a local roaster with whom we work told me that they had decided to become Fair Trade certified. It is very gratifying that we are seeing the effect of our purchasing. Our ability to affect the world is happening with our own suppliers.

"At Wild Oats we believe that one of our responsibilities is to educate the consumer about where their food comes from and how it grows."

At Wild Oats we believe that one of our responsibilities is to educate the consumer about where their food comes from and how it grows. The educating starts with the Fair Trade certification labels that are on the products that we sell. It is also on all the signage which is throughout the store.

We tell consumers about how their product is produced, what is in it, what is not in it, the lack of hormones, antibiotics, etc. It is part of our mission that people can come through these doors and feel comfortable that we sell the cleanest food that is possible to buy.

"We have made the decision that Fair Trade products will be sold at the same price as non-Fair Trade products"

We have made the decision that Fair Trade products will be sold at the same price as non-Fair Trade products. We do not believe that we should be making anymore money on Fair Trade product.

Other Fair Trade products we sell are bananas, tea, mangoes, and pineapples. Our organic Fair Traded bananas outsell our conventional bananas two to one. People are making their choice to buy organic Fair Traded bananas over conventional bananas. Our goal is for all of the tropical products that come from Central America or outside this country one day to become Fair Trade.

When we cannot get the organic product that we need in our Wild Oats stores, we then provide non-organic conventional product so that the consumer who wants to buy that product can buy that product. When the price spread is great, we will offer both organic and conventionally grown products so the consumer has a choice.

"Fair Trade makes sure that the farmers are always receiving a fair price, no matter what the world price is today."

TransFair has a very tough job. I believe our job is to make their job easier. We work hand in hand with TransFair to encourage our suppliers to pay a fair price for the commodities that we are buying and to buy Fair Trade. Working together we can make this system work even better and even faster.

When people come through our doors they expect to buy fresh produce year round, whether it is January or June, so we need to source products from around the world. Globalization sometimes creates very competitive environments that really depress prices of goods. We do not believe that we should be making profits on the backs of small farmers when these prices are very depressed. Fair Trade makes sure that the farmers are always receiving a fair price, no matter what the world price is today.