UK Coffee Week is an initiative by the Allegra Foundation and this year 100% of funds raised will be donated to Project Waterfall.

Project Waterfall was developed to bring clean water to the communities which grow the beans that make the 2 billion cups of coffee drunk in the UK every year. All funds raised will be spent solely on water and sanitation projects as the charity believes that access to water, sanitation and hygiene underpins all other development issues and is therefore a crucial step in breaking the poverty cycle.

90% of the coffee we drink comes from third world countries where over 60% of people lack access to safe water. Project Waterfall is committed to increasing access to clean water and sanitation across these coffee-growing communities.

Following a ballot at their recent National Leadership Conference, Cafe2U franchise partners voted to support UK Coffee Week in 2015 and will be making a donation of 5p per cup for every cup of coffee sold during the fundraising week; Cafe2U head office will then match each donation making a real-time donation of 10p per cup sold. The 60 strong Cafe2U fleet hope to sell as many cups as possible in that week, to raise all the funds they can for the communities which grow the coffee used every day.

To further celebrate UK Coffee Week, special ‘guest’ coffee-based drinks will be brought onto the menu including, Black Forest Latte, Salted Nutella Latte, Alpine Latte and Raspberry Kiss Mocha. These will each trigger a 25p donation to the charity for every cup sold. Franchise partners will also be running competitions and individual special offers, to raise as much money as possible for the charity.

Managing director Tom Acland said, ‘This is the first time that the Cafe2U network has supported a charity which helps coffee growers and we’re very excited to be giving something back to the communities that support our livelihood. Without them, we wouldn’t have a business, so I’d ask everyone to look out for their local Cafe2U vans and get involved. We will be tweeting using the #spreadthesmile hashtag and posting photos of our franchise partners and customers having fun during the week. This is a great opportunity for everyone to join in UK Coffee Week and celebrate everything that is great about coffee!’