Safeway
To Market Sustainability, Focus on What Consumers Love, Not What They Hate
4 years ago - Early marketing for products promising sustainability was all about what they “weren’t.” Tofurky wasn’t meat. Soy milk wasn’t dairy. Solar wasn’t coal. Positioning against the negative helped companies attract consumers who were revolting against the polluting impacts of standard manufacturing practices and products. But doing so ignored what potential customers still wanted, whether a product was sustainable or not: delicious taste, high performance, reliable quality and comfort, and overall satisfaction. Consider the ominous ads for the first Prius, which started running in 2001. The only virtue they extolled was fuel efficiency, and portrayed oil drills as monsters.
Dairies Resuming Home Deliveries: A Sustainable – and Sustainability – Strategy?
4 years ago - The milkman is making a come back. In a dozen or so communities around the U.S., dairy trucks sporting happy cows and nostalgic farm scenes are showing up at doorsteps to drop off fresh milk, cream, butter and eggs. Is that a sustainable strategy? And what does it do to promote sustainability?
How Beyond Meat Is Turning the 'Meat' Aisle into the 'Protein' Aisle
4 years ago - Is your grocery store’s meat aisle becoming obsolete? If it’s started carrying Beyond Burgers and sausages, it might be. That’s not because meat as we know it — the kind made from animals — is disappearing (at least not yet). Rather, the credit (or blame) goes to entrepreneurs such as Beyond Meat’s Ethan Brown, who argues convincingly that “protein aisle” is not only the more accurate way to describe the offerings there, but also the best location for his own Beyond Burger, a “muscle” made from peas that is so succulent and juicy you’d swear it came from a cow.
Why We've Got Beef with Some of the US' Largest Food Companies
6 years ago - This week, the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) released a report — authored by myself and UCS analyst Lael Goodman — that scored 13 fast food, retail, and food manufacturing companies on their deforestation-free beef commitments and practices.
Where’s the Deforestation-Free Beef? New Scorecard Finds No Stand-Out Leaders
6 years ago - A new scorecard released today examined thirteen global fast food, retail and food manufacturing companies and found that even the top-scoring of the group are failing to protect South American tropical forests from being converted to pasture for cattle. The clearing of tropical forests contributes about 10 percent of all global warming emissions, and beef production is the largest contributor.
Back to the Roots 'Ready to Grow' Thanks to $5M Seed Round
7 years ago - Back to the Roots®, an Oakland, California startup spearheading a movement to reconnect people with food, announced today that it has completed a $5 million strategic seed financing round, led by Tony Robbins’ and Peter Guber’s startup accelerator, Agency of Trillions, along with additional new angel investors. Previous investors — TOMS founder Blake Mycoskie, Annie’s founder John Foraker, and Clif Bar CEO Kevin Cleary — also joined the round.
Whole Foods, Wegmans Top Greenpeace Scorecard for Sustainable Seafood
7 years ago - Greenpeace released the ninth edition of its Carting Away the Oceans (CATO) report today, ranking 25 supermarkets on the sustainability of their seafood procurement. Whole Foods ranked first for the third year in a row, followed by Wegmans, Hy-Vee, and Safeway in the “good” category. In total, 80 percent of evaluated retailers received passing scores overall.Supermarkets were scored across four areas:
AP: Your Seafood May Come From Slaves
7 years ago - Major seafood-selling brands such as Safeway, Walmart and Sysco are potentially benefiting from slave labor, a new AP investigation has unveiled.
Safeway to Sell World’s First Fair Trade Certified Seafood, Improve Communities at the Same Time
8 years ago - Last week, Safeway and Fair Trade USA announced a partnership to launch Fair Trade Certified™ seafood into the North American market. The program addresses both social and environmental responsibility in fishing communities across the globe. In March, Safeway will debut the world’s first Fair Trade fish – wild-capture tuna from small-scale fishermen in Indonesia – in its Northern California, Portland and Seattle Division stores.
Safeway, 99 Cents Only Fined for Improper Hazardous Waste Disposal
8 years ago - Safeway has agreed to pay nearly $10 million to settle allegations that its grocery stores improperly disposed of hazardous waste and customers' medical information in California. In a separate settlement, Los Angeles-based 99 Cents Only Stores will pay more than $2 million to settle retail hazardous waste disposal violations in California.
More Than Half of Global Suppliers Commit to 100% Sustainable Palm Oil
8 years ago - Suppliers of more than 55 percent of the world’s palm oil have committed to produce or trade 100 percent deforestation-free palm oil in response to demands by global brands, who in turn were responding to investor pressure, according to Ceres.General Mills, Kellogg and Safeway are among the several food and beverage firms, supermarket companies and grocery store chains to commit to responsibly source 100 percent of their palm oil in response to shareholder resolutions.
The 'CVS Effect' in Effect: Apple, Disney and Chipotle Step Up
9 years ago - Five major brands have just made news for decisions that buck the bottom-line mantra. Could this be momentum for the "CVS Effect"? Take a look and see if you agree. And note too how brands are joining with allies on these issues, while one brand — Chipotle — is potentially breaking major new ground.Feb. 28: Apple CEO defends doing the right thing — not just the bottom line
Food Companies Seek Federal GMO Labeling Standard, Challenge Washington's Campaign Finance Laws
9 years ago - The Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) — which represents food-industry giants including Coca-Cola, MARS, Kellogg, P&G, McDonald’s, Mondelez International, Starbucks, Hershey, General Mills and roughly 300 others — announced this week that it will petition to the chief U.S. food safety regulator and Congress to enact a single federal standard for the labeling of genetically modified (GMO) foods.
Whole Foods, Safeway, Trader Joe's Top Greenpeace's Newest Seafood Sustainability Scorecard
9 years ago - Greenpeace today released its 2013 Carting Away the Oceans (CATO) report, which evaluates and ranks supermarkets on their sustainable seafood policies.
Reusable Transport Packaging: Good for the Planet, Operational Efficiency and Brand Protection
9 years ago - Packaging. The term evokes images of wrappers, tubs, pouches and other types of product encasements we see on store shelves every day. Meanwhile, transport packaging such as pallets, cardboard boxes and plastic stretch wrap remain largely hidden from shoppers’ view.