Top 20 Rank: 2
Rank among: Food Services: 1
For years now Starbucks has paid fair-market prices to Third World coffee farmers and helped develop ecologically sound growing practices. Starbucks is also a regular on FORTUNE's annual list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For. It's green, it's humane, it's politically correct, it sells a popular product and provides a comfy place to hang out and consume same - what's not to like? Certainly investors have no complaints: If you had put $1,000 into Starbucks stock when the company went public in 1992, you'd have been $52,718.10 to the good at year-end 2006, vs. just $3,515.30 for the S&P 500.
More: See how Starbucks rates in 8 key areas.
