Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a conversation for both large and small food and beverage businesses. For some companies, CSR is inherent in their mission and for others, it’s a newer endeavor in response to consumers.

Our Chicagoland Food & Beverage Network’s event on May 16 brought together an expert panel to help us better understand the value of CSR. In the end, all attendees agreed that having a social responsibility strategy can differentiate your brand and capture more market share.

Highlights from the panel discussion:

Start with a clear mission

Grant Prentice is Senior Vice President of Strategic Insights at FoodMinds. Prentice believes Corporate Social Responsibility is about telling your company’s story… clearly relaying your mission and/or purpose. Prentice refers to Harvard Business Review, showing that 58% of companies with a strong, communicated purpose experienced +10% growth.

Prentice gave several examples of well-communicated, purpose-driven companies. He spoke of Chobani, “Bringing better food to more people.” Applegate Farms, “inspiring people to think about their food, where it comes from, how it's raised, and how it's made.” He also spoke of Hippeas, “for those who demand great taste and high-quality ingredients.” FoodMinds identifies 14 different factors that influence how people choose their food. Right now an estimated 30-40% of the U.S. population considers sustainability in their food making decisions, according to FoodMinds, and “is a good reason companies can consider a social responsibility strategy.”

From a corporate perspective

Darrell Portz, serves as Vice President of Global Food Safety and Quality Systems at Griffith Foods. Griffith seeks “to blend care and creativity to nourish the world.”  Because this mission affects the entire supply chain of their business, they focus on their company’s three Ps: People (employees and community) Planet (being good stewards), and Performance (strategy & execution for growth).

In 2014, Griffith Foods established an annual Produce for Hunger event. This event feeds needy communities in which they operate. Since 2014, Griffith has delivered 11.2 million meals to people around the world, after all the company has locations in four continents. When devastating flooding hit Chennai, India, they became part of the relief operations by providing water and food. In China, they focus on education by supplying books and volunteers to schools. They’ve also completed and/or started 14 clean water systems around the world. One of their significant corporate achievements is getting nine of their manufacturing plants to producing zero landfill waste.

An unconventional journey to social responsibility

Nancy Himmelfarb, Principal at NJH Sustainability Consulting, is involved in the corporate social responsibility conversation -- though unconventionally. While an attorney at William-Sonoma Company she became interested in the topic. Himmelfarb built internal support below C-level management. The group created the company CSR tagline ‘greening our home’ and used LEED building standards as their next step guide. The team’s first initiatives were simple: create a compost in the company cafeteria. They moved onto more expansive initiatives, like improving packaging material and reducing their carbon footprint.

Himmelfarb notes the many CSR certifications a company can pursue… from more well-known ones like USDA Organic, Fair Trade, and Non GMO -- to other less familiar ones like Rainforest Alliance, Clean Label Project, and 100% Ocean Safe. “Each company,” she notes, “needs to evaluate which ones are most aligned with their business.”

Today, Himmelfarb collaborates with clients, stressing the importance of the Three Vs: 

Value, understanding your stakeholders (inside and outside of the company);

Viewpoint, developing a clear and engaging CSR viewpoints that stakeholders understand, find relevant and agree to its importance to your business;

Vehicles, making sure strategies and messages fit your company, are credible and impactful, and recruit successful external partners.

Himmelfarb’s final advice is to celebrate champions and successes, to be transparent (even if you miss goals), and stress the importance of the journey. Corporate Social Responsibility is a long-term commitment.

Hear more from industry leaders at the Network’s next Innovation Breakfast on June 14. Visit our events page HERE for a full list of offerings.   

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