Cooking Up a Sustainability Program from Scratch
Developing a sustainability reporting program for Flying Food Group to meet the requirements of key customers.
The mission
Of the “three pillars,” the economy is usually the last one people think of when talking about sustainability. Though economic aspects are an important part of a sustainability program, tangible evidence of how sustainability can benefit a company’s financial strength is hard to come by. However, our work with Flying Food Group (FFG), a provider of exceptional meals for the world’s premier airlines and leading retail brands, demonstrates this case perfectly.
Although FFG had incorporated sustainable practices for many years, they hadn’t formally documented or communicated them. When one of their biggest customers started requiring sustainability and supplier diversity and inclusion (D&I) performance to be reported — and quickly — FFG partnered with us to lead the planning and development of comprehensive, actionable programs.
We began by developing program goals and positioning statements for both their D&I and sustainability efforts. To build out their sustainability program, we performed a materiality assessment to define parameters and priorities that best represent FFG’s social and environmental challenges and opportunities.
Using priority indicators from the materiality assessment, we established baselines so FFG can track progress and set goals as their sustainability program progresses. Along the way, it was important to ensure that FFG’s sustainability program would align with their customers’ expectations, requiring us to gather, compare, and align their customers’ key sustainability metrics with their own.
What we did
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Materiality assessment
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Survey development
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Meeting facilitation
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Reporting strategy
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Data collection
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Data analysis
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Data management
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Project management
The results
Through our work establishing a reporting framework, FFG has ensured its financial wellbeing by retaining its key customers. Not only did we help FFG respond to external requirements, but demonstrated how sustainability integrates across an organization, as opposed to a stand-alone program. Gaining an understanding about the positive impacts sustainability has on a business inspired FFG to establish an internal philosophy and commitment to sustainability practices throughout their entire organization.