KCFA Boycott Resolution

RESOLUTION CALLING FOR A NATIONWIDE BOYCOTT OF SAFEWAY STORES

1. WHEREAS Safeway is selling packages of coffee in its mainland stores called “Safeway Select Kona Blend”; and

2. WHEREAS the label of this product tells consumers to “Revel in the unmatched taste of savory beans from Hawaii’s Big Island”; and

3. WHEREAS the label does not give any indication whatever that the package contains any coffee beans not grown in Kona, and reasonable consumers would believe from reading the label that the package contains only Kona coffee; and

4. WHEREAS the price for which “Safeway Select Kona Blend” is being sold is less than one-quarter of the price of genuine Kona coffee beans sold by Peet’s Coffee and Starbucks; and

5. WHEREAS in response to inquiries from the Kona Coffee Farmers Association, Safeway has acknowledged that only some of the coffee beans in its “Kona Blend” are, in fact, Kona-grown, but has declined to disclose what percentage in the package is actually from Kona or the origin of the non-Kona coffee in the package; and

6. WHEREAS on April 11, 2011, Hawaii Department of Agriculture Chairman Russell Kokubun sent Safeway a letter to “strongly urge voluntary compliance with our [coffee labeling] laws in the interest of corporate responsibility and protecting the integrity of Hawaiian coffees…”; and

7. WHEREAS more than three months later Safeway had not responded to Mr. Kokubun’s letter and request; and

8. WHEREAS Safeway’s deceptive labeling of its “Safeway Select Kona Blend” violates basic principles of fair marketing, damages the economic interests of Kona coffee farmers, and harms the historic reputation of one of Hawaii’s premier agricultural products;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED

1—That the Kona Coffee Farmers Association calls on consumers in Hawaii and on the mainland to boycott Safeway Stores until Safeway changes the labeling of its “Safeway Select Kona Blend” to prominently disclose

(a) the percentage of Kona-grown coffee in the package; and

(b) the origin of the non-Kona coffee in the package; and

2—That the Kona Coffee Farmers Association encourages coffee appreciators everywhere who want to enjoy the rich and smooth flavor profile of genuine “Kona Coffee” to purchase only “Real 100% Kona Coffee.”

Adopted this 19th day of July 2011 by the Board of Directors of the Kona Coffee Farmers Association.

Tom Butler, Secretary

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Safeway’s Response of August 31, 2011 to above Resolution here:
Safeway Letter to KFCA-1