Foodstuffs North Island CEO Chris Quin and Foodstuffs South Island General Manager Property and Retail Development Roger Davidson with LIC Director Dr Alison Watters.
The Foodstuffs Co-operatives were named Co-operative Business of the Year at the Cooperative Business New Zealand Annual Awards 2020 that were held in Christchurch this evening.
The Foodstuffs Co-operatives, which are two co-operative business entities that collaborate on key initiatives, were recognised for their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Strategy among other achievements.
The Co-operative Business of the Year Award is presented to a member business that has made a significant and positive impact within the co-operative community during the year. The award celebrates the success of the co-operative business model and showcases the value of how co-operatives return benefits to members and local communities.
The Foodstuffs CSR Strategy focuses on four social promises:
- Access to healthy and affordable food
- Creating meaningful work for their people
- Supporting local communities to thrive
- And being industry leaders in sustainability.
Multiple initiatives were implemented to enact the strategy over the year including signing up to the Climate Leaders Coalition and the New Zealand Plastic Packaging Declaration. Foodstuffs South Island rolled out “Food In The Nude”, a programme to remove plastics from the supply chain and produce departments. Additionally, Foodstuffs North Island has started construction on a new Auckland-based Support and Distribution Centre that will have the largest solar panel array in New Zealand.
With the arrival of COVID-19, Foodstuffs implemented new initiatives through the CSR strategy including an additional 10% allowance for waged team members throughout lockdown and the establishment of a fund that distributed more than $1.3 million to 55 social organisations to help New Zealanders facing tough times.
Additionally, over the past year, Foodstuffs owner-operators collectively contributed $7.4 million to their local communities and the equivalent of more than eight million meals were provided through food rescue partnerships.
Cooperative Business New Zealand CEO Roz Henry says: “Concern for the community is one of the international co-operative guiding principles and it is fantastic to see how the Foodstuffs Co-operatives are living this principle by going over and above to support their members, employees and communities while also committing to being a more sustainable co-operative.”
The other finalists in this category were NZPM (Plumbing World) and Ravensdown.
