BIGGBY Coffee celebrates supplier award for sustainability and farm-direct sourcing

BIGGBY Coffee is using a supplier award to make its sourcing story more tangible for drinkers. Paramount Coffee’s Human Rights and Social Responsibility Award from the University of Notre Dame puts a spotlight on traceable, farm-direct coffee and the labor standards behind it, not just a polished sustainability label. For a franchise system with more than 450 locations across 13 states, that is the kind of distinction customers can actually read in the cup.

Notre Dame handed out the honor during its Third Annual Sustainability Celebration on Earth Day, a milestone event that also marked 10 years since the university first published its Sustainability Strategy. The school said five campus partners were recognized through awards tied to ecological, human and economic health. In that framework, Paramount stood out because Notre Dame said the partnership allows the university to serve coffee sourced directly from farms with traceable supply chains, a setup that supports both the land and the people working it.

BIGGBY tied the recognition to its own Farm-Direct model, which it says began in 2018 after Bob Fish took a closer look at conventional coffee sourcing. The company says One BIGG Island in Space, or OBIIS, visits every farm and seeks producers that treat workers equitably, use sustainable practices and invest in their communities. BIGGBY says the effort is part of a long-term push to reach 100% Farm-Direct coffee by the end of 2028, with the company currently at 50%. Fish said the partnership with Paramount has been in place since 1999, giving the message a rare bit of history in a category that often relies on vague sustainability language.

Paramount brings its own credibility to the table. The Lansing, Michigan company is employee-owned, and its BIGGBY-branded products are marketed as 100% Farm Direct coffee. It was also named a finalist for the Specialty Coffee Association’s 2026 Sustainability Award, a list chosen first by SCA staff and then by previous award winners. That kind of recognition matters because it suggests the relationship is being judged both on campus and inside specialty coffee itself.

What buyers can take from all this is straightforward: BIGGBY is trying to ground its coffee claims in named suppliers, traceable farms and stated labor expectations. What they cannot assume is that every cup in every store is automatically covered by the same standard just because a partner was honored. The award is strongest as proof that the chain wants its sourcing story to be interrogable, not abstract, and that is exactly where coffee transparency now gets judged.