trading cooperative . for uk trading cooperative see equal exchange trading . equal exchange type cooperative founded 1986 1986 headquarters west bridgewater massachusetts united states products coffee tea sugar chocolate number of employees 102 website equalexchange.coop equal exchange is a for profit fairtrade worker owned cooperative headquartered in west bridgewater massachusetts . equal exchange distributes organic gourmet coffee tea sugar bananas avocados cocoa and chocolate bars produced by farmer cooperatives in latin america africa and asia . founded in 1986 it is the oldest and largest fair trade coffee company in the united states . the highest paid employee of equal exchange may not make more than four times what the lowest paid employee receives . 1 equal exchange is currently when collaborating with cranberry pecan and almond farmers in the united states . contents 1 history 2 caf s 3 see also 4 references 5 external links history edit equal exchange was founded in 1986 by rink dickinson jonathan rosenthal and michael rozyne . before founding equal exchange dickinson rosenthal and rozyne were managers at a food cooperative in new england and were actively involved in american food industry reform . for three years prior to equal exchange s birth the three founders met once weekly to discuss how global food trade could be changed to increase incomes and stabilize economic situations of farmers . 2 the meetings resulted in the development of an alternative trade model that utilized direct trade established long term contracts and offered higher than market prices to small coffee farmers . this differs from the traditional trade model in which buyers go through a series of middlemen to purchase coffee beans from plantation farmers . 3 caf s edit equal exchange operates two caf s in the united states . the boston caf located in the historic north end serves equal exchange tea coffee and espresso drinks as well as locally sourced pastries sandwiches and other lunch items . 4 the seattle caf serves equal exchange coffee and espresso drinks exclusively . 5 see also edit list of bean to bar chocolate manufacturers references edit equal exchange about our co op our story . equal exchange . retrieved 20 november 2015 . simpson charles r. ; rapone anita summer 2000 . community development from the ground up social justice coffee . human ecology review . 7 1 46 57 . retrieved 20 november 2015 . equal exchange caf . equal exchange co op . retrieved 20 november 2015 . equal exchange espresso bar . equal exchange co op . retrieved 20 november 2015 . external links edit official website v t e fair trade core topics history of fair trade fairtrade certification fair trade and politics fair trade impact studies fair trade debate alternative trading organization trade justice trade justice movement sweatshops body shopping worldshop federations fairtrade labelling organizations international world fair trade organization network of european worldshops european fair trade association fine fair trade federation international resources for fairer trade irft certification fair trade certification flo international standard setting and producer support flo cert inspection & certification international fairtrade certification mark fair trade certified mark labeling initiatives asociaci n del sello de productos de comercio justo fair trade association of australia and new zealand fairtrade mark ireland the fairtrade foundation association max havelaar france stichting max havelaar max havelaar stiftung switzerland fairtrade canada fair trade usa formerly transfair usa alternative trading organizations alter eco artisans du monde caf direct ctm altromercato divine chocolate equal exchange equal exchange trading rainforest alliance gepa the fair trade company handcrafting justice serrv international traidcraft twin trading ten thousand villages veja sneakers campaigns fairtrade town list of fairtrade settlements fairtrade fortnight make trade fair no sweat world fair trade day media black gold 2006 film brewing justice book category fair trade retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title equal exchange & oldid 724754707 categories alternative trading organizationscoffee brandsfair trade brandsfood manufacturers of the united statesworker cooperatives of the united statescompanies based in massachusettsorganic chocolatehidden categories vague or ambiguous time from august 2011 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 11 june 2016 at 07 46 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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