Under the terms of the agreement, Selecta will provide 240 machines offering leading brand hot and cold beverages and confectionery products at the group's head offices in Victoria Street, London, as well as at 26 of its UK stores, 20 service buildings and nine distribution centres. Selecta will also manage all aspects of the service including technical support through its dedicated Customer Care Centre, while the company's merchanding staff will visit each site regularly to ensure that all machines are fully stocked and maintained.

 One of the key features of Selecta's vending offer to the John Lewis Partnership is the provision of a variety of Fairtrade products. Working closely with Cafedirect, the UK's largest Fairtrade hot drinks company, Selecta has created a solution that offers hot beverages of the highest quality such as premium bean-to-cup coffee, fresh brew tea and delicious drinking chocolate.

Also included in the vending offer at each site will be refreshing cold beverages from the Coca Cola and Britvic and confectionery products from Mars, Cadbury and Nestle.

"We are delighted to have been chosen to provide this exciting and innovative vending offer to the John Lewis Partnership," says Selecta sales and marketing director Jonathan Barr. "The popularity of Fairtrade and premium hot beverages in general is on the increase and through our relationship with Cafedirect, we have been able to supply the John Lewis Partnership with the best quality products at each of its company sites."

"John Lewis' partnership with Selecta and Cafedirect makes perfect sense," says Scott Coles, Cafedirect's head of sales. "Cafedirect is the Fairtrade brand of choice, and increasingly companies are recognising the value of a partnership with us and the high quality products we provide. Our unique way of trading means that our products are supplied directly from our grower partners in the developing world. Together we share a passion to ensure that the best quality coffees, teas and hot chocolate drinks are produced. We always pay a premium on top of the world market price or the minimum Fairtrade quaranteed price - whichever is the higher. By investing 60 per cent of our profits into training and development programmes our growers have become true experts and we pioneered a minimum price for tea to protect tea growers in the same way. John Lewis and Selecta have reconised the power of our direct model and their support means growers get a better deal and customers get a better cuppa."