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“We have a volunteer task force within produce committed to nothing but sustainability, which meets every month. It does not matter if you’re an analyst or if you’re a vice president...you’re all welcome to be a part of this task force because no one has a bad idea.”
strategy. We talk about how it’s flush with opportunities for growth, growing the top line, but it’s also full of opportunities for cutting costs and being more efficient,” says Consler.
In a fragile economic environment, a sus- tainability mantra fits well because many sus- tainable business propositions generate cost savings and greater productivity. “In the past five years, I know we’ve had over half a bil- lion dollars in revenue from O Organics, Bright Green and Eating Right [Safeway’s brands with an environmentally friendly focus]. These more sustainable products are certainly a growth vehicle for us, so we defi- nitely think it makes a lot of sense in this envi- ronment,” says Consler.
In fact, Safeway’s Lifestyle stores are a Mecca for the kind of consumer Safeway’s sus- tainability strategy attracts. Safeway executives use a term coined over 10 years ago for the quintessential sustainability shopper: LOHAS — Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability. Safeway indexes high with LOHAS shoppers. It has learned from its own consumer studies and other research from third parties that price and value are the key drivers no matter what, and especially in this economic atmosphere. But LOHAS shoppers also rank a company’s sus- tainability record as an important consideration.
Safeway’s marketing and consumer insights group conducts regular research on how peo- ple perceive Safeway, and has been monitor- ing LOHAS customers for a number of years through the Natural Marketing Institute, a Harleysville, PA-based market research firm that provides market analysis and strategic planning. Safeway has found that LOHAS shoppers tend to be more loyal, so green ini- tiatives become significant from a business standpoint, according to Consler.
“We can never forget the end game and we’re here to drive a business and satisfy the consumer,” says Burnham. “If you were to ask me our priorities in produce, quality has been our endgame and how we get there is through sustainable and earth-friendly Best Practices.”
Supply Chain Involvement
Vendor partnerships play an integral role in
— STEVE BURNHAM
the sustainable lifecycle. “Eighty to 90 percent of the environmental footprint is in the supply chain,” says Consler, so Safeway must work very closely with vendor partners on a regular basis to achieve its goals, whether it is teaming up with growers on seed varieties, more sus- tainable practices in the field and packing house, or collaborative pilot testing to improve logistics and reduce shipping costs and num- ber of trucks on the road.
In produce, major efforts are underway to capitalize on the brain trust, the expertise and Best Practices among its vast supplier base, and harvest that knowledge to other suppliers throughout the industry. “We scorecard our vendors, and it’s not just the normal issues related to service level and quality, although those are paramount. Their sustainability prac- tices are becoming more important, and we carry over those Best Practices to make every- body that much more educated and efficient,” says Burnham. Examples involve more effi- cient crop utilization; partnering with local growers to help them exponentially grow their volume out of that field. Safeway commits to that volume, while keeping it local and lessen- ing food miles.
In supporting local growers, “You want consistency and you want the best varieties available,” emphasizes White, noting success with proprietary partnerships to meet Safe- way’s high standards and specifications.
Of course, not all of the requirements are tied to sustainability. GAP and food safety practices are vital. “For right now, sustainabil- ity is more about Best Practices for us than a hard line that it has to be this or that in regards to sustainability because it is always evolv- ing,” explains Burnham.
“There’s such a breadth of application in all our growers with sustainability,” says White. Some are highly advanced, like Gill’s Onions, while others are just practicing old school kinds of growing practices that aren’t wrong. They follow everything by the book with regard to food safety and proper harvesting practices, but there is so much more they can do with water and crop utilization, he explains. “It gets back to that leadership role as an indus-
24 PRODUCE BUSINESS • MAY 2010
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