Baristocracy Coffee Ltd

Modern Slavery & Human Trafficking Statement

Date	Changes	Review Date
10.04.2019	Document Created	10.04.2021
21.04.2021	Review - importer list amended	21.04.2023
17.10.2024	Review - grammatical changes made	17.10.2026

Our commitment to the principles of the Modern Slavery Act 2015

Baristocracy Coffee Ltd upholds the principles of the Modern Slavery Act 2015, dedicated to eradicating modern slavery and human trafficking.

As an equal opportunities employer (prospective), we are dedicated to fostering a non-discriminatory and respectful workplace for all our staff. We aim to instil confidence in our employees, cultivating a respectful, nurturing environment and assuring them that they can report any wrongdoing without fear of reprisal.

When we come to recruit employees we will ensure our recruitment and people management processes are designed to make certain all prospective employees are legally authorised to work in the UK, safeguarding them from any form of abuse or coercion.

We do not engage in business with any organisation, domestically or internationally, that knowingly supports or is involved in slavery, servitude, or forced labour.

This statement is published in line with section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015.

About Baristocracy Coffee Ltd

We are a small, family-run business. We currently have no employees outside of ourselves. We strive to be open and welcoming to everyone we meet in the course of our business. We strive to learn, review and take reasonable precautions against indirectly contributing to slavery in the speciality coffee growing industry.

We are a small business with two employees who are also the directors of the company. While we currently measure our risk of directly contributing to Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking as very low, we have a framework in place to protect any future employees.

We buy green (unroasted) coffee from coffee growing communities around the world and are very aware that forced labour is an issue in this industry. We assess our risk of contributing indirectly to modern slavery and human trafficking via this supply chain as low to moderate.

We will set out below the measures Baristocracy Coffee Ltd has implemented to reduce this risk within our business and supply chain.

The three main risks we have identified as business owners and part of a supply chain are as follows:

• LOW to MODERATE Indirectly contributing to modern slavery and human trafficking via the green coffee that we buy
• VERY LOW Engaging in any actions as employers that do not meet the requirements of the Modern Slavery Act 2015
• VERY LOW Observing actions, as wholesale providers, to fellow small businesses, that do not meet the requirements of the Modern Slavery Act 2015

Buying green coffee

Baristocracy Coffee Ltd is committed to sustainably and ethically sourcing speciality-grade Arabica coffee. We choose the green coffee that we buy based on these equally important criteria:

• taste and quality
• transparency of supply chain
• relationship between importer and coffee farmers

Our greatest risk of contributing to modern slavery and human trafficking is via our green coffee purchasing. Happily the speciality coffee industry has a lower risk than commodity coffee production because the vast majority of farmers are owner-operators, smallholders and cooperative members. When farms are small they don’t need vast numbers of workers. Specialty grade coffee is finicky and takes skill and patience to grow. Coffee cherries ripen at different times even on the same branch so even picking cherry must be done carefully so unripe fruit can stay on the tree. The vast majority of people who grow the coffee we buy are growing and harvesting their own crops. They are family businesses, just like us. Even so, to mitigate this risk as much as possible we:

Work with importers we trust - Companies that break down barriers for disenfranchised growing communities such as women farmers and groups who have faced discrimination because of their ethnicity.

This trust is based on evidence of the projects they engage in, their activities in-country with coffee growing communities and the opportunities they offer for us to communicate with growers. In May 2024, Alex visited coffee growing communities in Rwanda and Burundi with Omwani Coffee, you can read about his experience here.

We thoroughly vet our supply chains and cultivate excellent, long-term relationships with all our suppliers, from coffee growers and importers to our own wholesale partners.

The three main importers we use are:

Cafe Imports 

Omwani Coffee

Osito Coffee

It is vitally important to us that we honour the work and expertise of the people who grow and process the coffee we buy. We do this by: 

• roasting to highlight the unique and natural flavours of the beans 
• disseminating information about the people involved throughout our supply chain. We want our customers to have a clear understanding of the work that has gone into growing and processing the coffee they are enjoying.

Serving Our Customers

We strive to be a hub of information on speciality coffee. Offering our time and knowledge to our customers and working with them to get the best out of their coffee brewing equipment and beans. As is peculiar to small businesses, we have also become a safe space for our customers to talk with us about the highs and lows of life. Absolutely everyone is welcome at our roastery and we work very hard to be the link between the people growing coffee and those drinking it here in the UK. We know the steps required to report potential infringements of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 were someone to disclose to us. We commit to taking action in this eventuality and ensuring all future staff members are trained to recognise and act on warning signs of modern slavery and human trafficking.

As an employer

Baristocracy Coffee Ltd is Alex Forsyth and Kate Hudson. We are the directors of the company and owner-operators.

In the future, when we employ a person, outside the two of us, we commit to:

• Being a Living Wage employer
• Offering fair, contracted hours which allow for family and other commitments
• Opportunities to learn, progress and upskill in our industry
• Making available to all employees: Staff company handbook; Anti-corruption and bribery policy; Capability procedure policy; Bullying and harassment policy; Equality, diversity and inclusion policy

Embedding the principles & continuous improvement

We will continue to embed the principles by:

• providing awareness training to staff on the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and informing them of the appropriate action to take if they suspect a case of slavery or human trafficking
• ensuring staff involved in procurement activity are aware of and follow modern slavery procurement guidance on UK
• ensuring that consideration of the modern slavery risks and prevention are added to Baristocracy Coffee Ltd policy review process as an employer and procurer of goods and services
• making sure Baristocracy Coffee Ltd procurement strategies and contract terms and conditions include references to modern slavery and human trafficking
• continuing to take action to embed a zero-tolerance policy towards modern slavery
• ensuring that staff involved in buying or procurement and the recruitment and deployment of workers receive training on modern slavery and ethical employment practices
• recording all reported incidents of modern slavery and human trafficking the company receives and taking effective action to tackle them.