Jamaica Blue
During 1998, in partnership with the Jamaican Government, Foot started an upmarket chain of coffee shops called Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Shops Limited (Jamaica Blue). The flagship location opened in Mayfair, London, in mid-January 1999. Jamaica Blue sold and used Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee and served locally supplied Jamaican foods, cakes and crafts; Air Jamaica transported all the coffee at a discount price and even flew shipments of Jamaica's own St Catherine's peak spring water. Most of the staff were of Jamaican descent or had a Jamaican connection. Many high profile customers frequented the location including the then Mayor of London Ken Livingston, Suggs, Ian Brown, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Joe Strummer and the rocksteady musician Alton Ellis. Foot set up the shop not to make money but to help the small coffee farmers in Jamaica who were suffering due to a surplus of Blue Mountain coffee created by financial instability in Japan, the main purchaser of Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee. In the end, the location was poorly chosen and the overheads were too high. Jamaica Blue closed its doors in late 2001.
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