Two decades ago, a coffee revolution started in Providence. It was not about frothy drinks or selling CDs. Rather, it was about a local entrepreneur sharing the success of the local business with the farmers who supplied the raw material to U.S. brewers.
But first to the beginnings. In 1984, Charles Fishbein and his family had established a cookware shop on Providence’s East Side. They subsequently expanded into the retail center at Davol Square, although the shop showed little promise. On the other hand, the coffee business did hint at a future.
So the Fishbeins opened the Coffee Exchange on Wickenden Street to sell whole bean coffee and the accoutrements for it, such as mugs and coffee-brewing supplies. To demonstrate the coffeepots, they would brew up samples of coffee each day. With customer interest guiding him, Charlie started selling full-size cups of coffee along with snack items from some neighborhood bakeries. The business flourished and the Coffee Exchange has been a landmark for 24 years.
In 1988 Charles’ brother, Bill Fishbein, took a trip to Guatemala to tour the coffee-growing areas. He came back a changed man. The poverty of the people living in the coffee-producing countries was dramatic. And with no source of income other than from harvesting coffee beans, their livelihood was dependent upon dealing with traders from abroad who were paying them literally pennies per pound.
With a mailing list from a coffee roaster, Bill Fishbein contacted other U.S. coffee merchants with an idea. Why not earmark a few pennies per pound and help the coffee-farming families improve the quality of their lives? Ultimately the industry would benefit from more dependable resources.
Support from the business community was overwhelming, and an international nonprofit organization was founded, now known as Coffee Kids. Charlie Fishbein credits his brother with “becoming the social conscience of the coffee industry.”
In 2002, Bill Fishbein was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Specialty Coffee Association of America. Coffee Kids has helped an estimated 200,000 to 300,000 people in the coffee-producing countries. In addition, it has become an influence on Coffee Exchange’s business.
The retailer – which has roasted the coffee it sells on the premises since 1991 – buys virtually all its beans from small farmers in the countries receiving help from Coffee Kids. This is done through a cooperative of 22 roasters and a consortium of 1,000 stores, cafes and bakeries across the country. The awareness extends to sustainable agriculture, as the farmers practice sustainable methods and are either certified organic or transitional, which is practicing organic methods during a waiting period which takes years to receive certification.
“We have seen through our work with Coffee Kids the dramatic effects of pesticide-free farming on the health of the farmers,” said Charlie Fishbein. “If we think of these farmers as farm families instead of ‘growers’ or ‘producers’, our awareness is enhanced even more.”
There are other field-to-retail programs that have been established since Coffee Kids but some affect the per-pound price of beans, which make them difficult to operate in the marketplace. Charlie Fishbein feels his family’s involvement in the group’s ongoing work has enhanced Coffee Exchange’s focus on his customer.
Sitting over coffee in the venerable Federal-period café on a frosty winter afternoon, his tables were filled with an eclectic mix of patrons. Several laptops were being put to work by professionally dressed businesspeople using the Exchange’s Wi-fi access. Friends chatted over coffee while others were taking a midday break. Only two iPod-wearing student-types were in attendance.
As Charlie Fishbein puts it: “There is a feeling you get in this café that you get nowhere else in the country.” •
Dining Out with Bruce Newbury (bruce@ brucenewbury.com) can be heard on TalkRadio 920 WHJJ-AM Fridays at 6 p.m. Saturdays at noon.
