2008 Guatemala Cup Of Excellence

[Tim Dominick]

Target had some of their SO coffees packaged in cans, real sporty packaging.

The Target up our way has a really good specialty food section. Green and Black chocolate priced $2 less than the natural food stores lures me back and cheap wine to boot, Veuve Cliquot for $29.50 at Christmastime. I got some of their house brand nuts and chocolates in a gift basket give them credit for good marketing/packaging and a solid product inside.

I think they have a market for top-tier coffee. It is an upscale big box by comparison and popular with a more discerning customer base than WalMart or Kmart.

The CBI crew, as Schooley mentioned, are top notch coffee people. They work for a pretty big outfit where Paul has 20+ years of experience as a roaster/buyer. It would be easy for them to ignore the rest of us or blow us off entirely, yet I find them to be among the most helpful and approachable people in the industry.

I agree Mark, anytime we can deal a blow to commodity coffee we're making progress. I'm really glad to see Target doing something other than hanging their hat on fair trade certified.

[Matt Milletto]

I would agree that CBI is a great outfit and I am glad a company like Target is focusing on quality coffee ... they have quite a customer base to potentially educate.

[Mark Prince]

There's no Targets in Canada (or at least BC / Vancouver); nor is there any Fred Meyers. But we do have Walmarts... heck, doesn't Antartica have a Walmart?

I don't know how Target markets themselves. I always perceived them as a kind of in-between Walmart and Bon Marche Nordstoms or similar. In Canada, we have The Bay (Hudson's Bay Company), a company with a 400+ year history, and I guess they're about as upscale as we get in terms of some of the products they offer. They have fine foods sections, but their coffee has always lacked. I guess The Bay is like Bon Marche or Nordstroms.

The Bay does have some upscale coffee machines and espresso machines (not much in terms of grinders though). How's Target on that front?

It's pretty cool if a department store takes this culinary coffee thing seriously. AFAIK, it's not happening here in Canada, and I can't wait to see how Target markets these CoEs.

Mark

[James Hoffmann]

Just while we're all a little OT, I note with some sadness that a former CoE buyer in the UK - Waitrose - seems to have stopped buying. Waitrose are the nicest grocery chain in the UK - lots of local produce, priced fairly rather than cheaply. They weren't roasting themselves and I must check to see whether they are still selling CoE coffee. If they aren't buying any more they either haven't turned it over in time, haven't seen any benefit or maybe got burned when someone told them they were the only people selling the tainted Honduras stuff from a couple of years ago.

With Target I hope they find a way to move the coffee so they can continue to participate in the auctions.