Sustainability efforts may have been more challenging for foodservice operators due to the pandemic, but Canadian purchasing behaviours are still motivated by sustainably sourced ingredients. [1]
Consumers want to know the exotic flavours they are enjoying have been produced in a sustainable way, says Jill Houk, culinary director at ofi. “Putting sustainability, collaboration and transparency at the heart of new dishes is key.”
Sustainability sits at the core of ofi’s business model, from its offices to its farms and third-party supply chains. Its initiatives cover a range of aims, including improving economic opportunities throughout the supply chain, creating safer workplaces, educating farmers and their communities, and much more. Adds Houk, “Through our sustainability commitments we are helping to live out our purpose to “Be the Change for Good Food and a Healthy Future.”
For example, under its sustainability strategy Coffee LENS (standing for Livelihoods, Education, Nature at Scale) ofi has committed to improve the livelihoods of 200,000 coffee households through access to higher-value markets and technical support by 2025. Similarly, ofi works with a range of companies throughout the industry to bring about real change for the better. Through a partnership with Mondelēz International, Partnerships for Forests (P4F) and The Nature Conservancy (TNC),ofi is scaling up efforts to halt deforestation and restore degraded land in Pará, Brazil to promote the cocoa agroforestry.
Plus, ofi is active in implementing initiatives of its own. In 2021, the company launched its Cashew and Hazelnut Trails, commitments that call for collaboration in improving transparency and labour conditions in nut growing communities and throughout the supply chain.
[1]Canada’s Food Price Report 2022, [report], 2022.
