TransFair contest winners tour Costa Rica
TransFair contest winners tour Costa Rica
A group of award-winning retailers and food distributors have returned from a Fair Trade tour of Costa Rica. The tour was hosted and managed by Hannah Freeman, produce accounts manager for TransFair USA, based in Oakland, CA.
Ms. Freeman said that the tour was the result of a retail merchandising and a distributor sales contest TransFair conducted in the United States last October to coincide with National Fair Trade Month.
Those winning the March 4-11 trip were retailers Kristin Millward, Bonnie Himes and Renia Peddicord of Giant Eagle Supermarkets in North Huntingdon, PA; Diana Crane and Roxanne Winship of PCC Natural Markets in Seattle; and Tristan Snow-Cobb and Suzette Snow-Cobb of Green Field's Market in Greenfield, MA.
The distributor sales contest winner was the New England division of Albert's Organics, based in Chesterfield, NH. Karen Ernest and Katherine Linton represented Albert's in Costa Rica.
On the tour, Sarah Christensen joined Ms. Freeman as a TransFair host.
Ms. Linton of Albert's told The Produce News March 15, "The trip was amazing. It was beautiful and educational and really incredible and a once-in-a-lifetime type of thing. What I learned was that we in this country tend go to the grocery store and only buy and eat. We give no thought to what is happening before the product comes to you. This was an eye-opening experience to look into what happens before something gets to the grocery store. It definitely will make me give more thought to the things I buy and how [they fit] into Albert's."
She said that Albert's New England division does "especially well with Free Trade bananas." These generally come from Ecuador, although she said that a current banana shortage has made them unavailable.
Ms. Linton said that Albert's also handles Free Trade mangos from Peru and Haiti.
Ms. Freeman said that the tour was the result of a retail merchandising and a distributor sales contest TransFair conducted in the United States last October to coincide with National Fair Trade Month.
Those winning the March 4-11 trip were retailers Kristin Millward, Bonnie Himes and Renia Peddicord of Giant Eagle Supermarkets in North Huntingdon, PA; Diana Crane and Roxanne Winship of PCC Natural Markets in Seattle; and Tristan Snow-Cobb and Suzette Snow-Cobb of Green Field's Market in Greenfield, MA.
The distributor sales contest winner was the New England division of Albert's Organics, based in Chesterfield, NH. Karen Ernest and Katherine Linton represented Albert's in Costa Rica.
On the tour, Sarah Christensen joined Ms. Freeman as a TransFair host.
Ms. Linton of Albert's told The Produce News March 15, "The trip was amazing. It was beautiful and educational and really incredible and a once-in-a-lifetime type of thing. What I learned was that we in this country tend go to the grocery store and only buy and eat. We give no thought to what is happening before the product comes to you. This was an eye-opening experience to look into what happens before something gets to the grocery store. It definitely will make me give more thought to the things I buy and how [they fit] into Albert's."
She said that Albert's New England division does "especially well with Free Trade bananas." These generally come from Ecuador, although she said that a current banana shortage has made them unavailable.
Ms. Linton said that Albert's also handles Free Trade mangos from Peru and Haiti.