Bridgehead is a fair trade coffeehouse, coffee retailer, and coffee roaster chain based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. In addition to coffee and organic teas, it sells soups, salads, sandwiches and snacks made in its own kitchen.[1] In November 2006, Bridgehead was voted Ottawa's "Best Coffee/Tea House" by readers of lifestyle weekly Ottawa XPress.[2]
History
Bridgehead was formed in Toronto, Ontario, originally as Bridgehead Trading, in 1981, by two United Church ministers and two social activists who were concerned with small-scale coffee farmers in Nicaragua.[3]
Bridgehead was the first company to offer Canadian consumers fairly traded coffee, as a group of volunteers sold coffee from the basements of churches in Toronto. The business grew rapidly and was soon acquired by Oxfam Canada in 1984.[3]