Circle K Leads Convenience Channel With 100% Sustainable Coffee
LAVAL, Quebec — Circle K is taking a step forward in its commitment to sustainability by becoming the largest convenience store retailer in the United States to offer 100 percent sustainable sourced coffee blends across its footprint.
To celebrate the initiative, Circle K will offer up to 40 percent off reusable mugs on Earth Day, April 22.
The company's sustainably sourced coffee program is built around three pillars: farm productivity, environmental practices and social development. Its high-quality coffee beans will come from participating farms around the world while providing valuable tools, training and services to coffee farmers and their communities.
Farms where these coffees are sourced actively promote the following:
- No child labor
- No form of slavery or forced labor
- Trainings on applicable local and international labor and employment laws
- Trainings on, but not limited to, critical health, occupational safety topics and worker rights and conditions
- Gender equity
- Soil conservation
- Forest conservation and biodiversity
- Water protection, waste management, efficient energy use
- Environmentally responsible agriculture
"We continue to look for ways to deliver high-quality coffee while reducing our impact on the environment," said Kevin Lewis, global chief marketing officer of Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc., parent company of Circle K. "In the U.S., over the past year, we've reduced case sizes and extended product shelf life, which will minimize the amount of coffee wasted. These steps, combined with the installation of bean-to-cup coffee machines across the U.S., have delivered a 30-percent reduction in total pounds of coffee wasted annually."
The new sustainably sourced coffee blends will be available through Circle K's bean-to-cup machines in both hot and iced versions.
Additionally, while all coffee beans will now be 100-percent sustainably sourced, the quality, taste, aroma and roast profile will all remain the same, the company said.
Laval-based Couche-Tard operates in 26 countries and territories, with more than 14,200 stores.