Compass Group UK & Ireland, the UK’s largest food and support services firm, has launched a new and improved range of EatFair products, which will help to support the launch of the Women’s Leadership School for marginalised female farmers in Africa.
Launched in 2013, EatFair is Compass’ delicious range of Fairtrade cakes and biscuits, which has already raised over £150,000 to date. The all-new recipe snack bars have rolled out across hundreds of Compass UK sites and come in seven different flavours such as Rocky Road, Dark Coconut, Salted Caramel Billionaires Shortbread and an Oat, Date and Seed bar. Compass will donate 5p from each bar sold to leadership projects for women.
The new EatFair range has been developed in conjunction with food and bakery experts, and taste tested against similar high street offerings. Drawing on extensive consumer insight, the EatFair team recognised our customers were looking for both healthier and indulgent treat options, so the range now includes choices such as low fat and low sugar bars.
Through the new range, the business has made a commitment to raise £50k for the initiative, led by Fairtrade Africa, and the funds will go towards supporting a school dedicated to women from various farming communities in Cote d’Ivore. The project aims to empower women from cocoa growing communities with the right skills and knowledge as they study a number of modules, covering topics such as leadership, economy and business expertise during a one-year course.
Louise Pilkington, Marketing Director at Compass Group UK & Ireland, said, “Our new look EatFair snack bars are not only delicious, but also ethically sourced. We are committed to raising £50,000 through donating 5p from each snack bar we sell and we hope this will go a long way to improving gender equality in cocoa growing communities through the Fairtrade Africa’s Women’s Leadership school. As a big business we’re dedicated to sourcing ethically and EatFair is the perfect way to demonstrate some of the good work we’re doing.”
Dr TsiTsi Choruma, Chief Operating Officer, Fairtrade Africa, said, “We welcome the support that Compass Group UK & Ireland is offering through sales of their EatFair product which, alongside additional funding, will enable Fairtrade Africa’s innovative Women’s Leadership School, to become a catalyst to help women into leadership roles and contribute to changing social norms.
'Currently in Côte d’Ivoire women make up 68% of the labour force, yet only 25% own land, as such few have roles in business, access to revenue generated from cocoa or even bank accounts. This is why support from Compass Group UK & Ireland is just so vital for us to begin redressing the balance for agricultural communities.”
Compass’ pledge to support leadership projects for women follows on from the business’ Women in Food programme which was launched in April last year and aims to support to role of female chefs in the industry.