Speaking of Sustainability

How supermarkets and suppliers communicate sustainability may be as important as the integrity of the products they’re selling.

It finally happened — even McDonald’s is using the “S” word. Earlier this year, the fast-food giant announced its commitment to purchasing only “verified sustainable beef” by 2016. The Oak Park, Ill.-based company, which sells about 1 billion pounds of beef a year, took a fair bit of flak for the statement as pundits and media outlets weighed in with headlines like this one from CBS News: “McDonald’s commits to ‘sustainable beef’ — whatever that is.”

Cynicism notwithstanding, everyone seems to agree that this is a good thing. Sustainability — the quality of not being harmful to the environment or depleting its natural resources — is what the planet requires, and rather urgently so.

But the raised eyebrows following McDonald’s declaration suggest that consumers are hungry for greater clarification. Which products are sustainable, and what does that mean? The produce department may be the perfect place for supermarkets to begin the dialogue.

In its recent study “Sustainability 2013: When Personal Aspiration and Behavior Diverge,” The Hartman Group Inc. notes: “Consumers see produce as the primary route to a healthy lifestyle. They want to feel assured that these ‘healthy foods’ really are delivering the nutrients they’re looking for.”

The Sometimes Sustainable Shopper

Failure to simply define the sustainability of individual products, as well as the stores in which they are sold, could be contributing to consumer hesitancy.

“While concepts that link to sustainability are still important today to consumers, it is critical to understand more about why consumers state a desire for sustainable products but don’t always buy them,” says Blaine Becker, senior director of marketing for Bellevue, Wash.-based Hartman.

“The opportunity in addressing this gap is significant, since the segment of consumers who care about sustainability is huge: 84 percent of consumers say they sometimes consider it when making purchases,” notes Becker. “And yet, only about 14 percent of these consumers are diehard core sustainability consumers with a true commitment to sustainable purchases.”

The good news, according to Hartman’s research, is the largely untapped 35 percent of consumers who are learning about sustainability, but haven’t begun to buy environmentally and socially responsible products with any regularity. Simply sharing information with them may be the key to closing the gap in grocery stores.

“Consumers want to have faith in companies whose values match their own, a fit that can happen only if those values are communicated,” says Becker. “The communication should be straightforward so that shoppers can quickly and easily understand how buying a particular product will make a difference; it is important to avoid preaching or even trying to educate on complex issues.”

When it comes to produce, for example, “issues relating to natural agriculture and supporting the local economy are most salient to consumers,” he notes.

Ultimately, the Hartman research confirms that the sustainable shopper, like all consumers, wants high-quality, reasonably priced products. They want to feel good about what they’re buying and where they’re buying it. The impact on the local community and how companies treat their employees also matter.

Hannaford Homes in on Sustainability

With just three words, Hannaford Supermarkets makes a powerful sustainability statement in its 182 stores. In 2008, the supermarket chain, based in Scarborough, Maine, began the “Close to Home” program as a way to help customers easily identify locally made and grown products as they shop.

“Local produce is a critical component of our sustainability program,” says Kasey Harris, sustainability program specialist for Hannaford. “The Close to Home (CTH) program identifies local farmers and producers throughout the store. Hannaford works with more than 600 producers in the CTH program and carries thousands of regionally made or CTH products.”

Hannaford estimates that buying CTH produce helps to preserve some 24,000 acres of farmland in the Northeast.

“We are committed to seeking out more of these local legends,” continues Harris. “As a result, we’ve steadily added more and more locally made and locally grown products to our shelves each year.”

Harris says that produce sales at Hannaford stores continue to increase, and that organic produce, in particular, has significantly increased over the past five years. This is consistent with the latest information from the Organic Trade Association, in Brattleboro, Vt., which finds that 81 percent of U.S. families now report purchasing organic at least sometimes.

Sustainability on Every Front

Hannaford also has done well in communicating its food waste. “We are guided by the EPA Food Recovery Hierarchy as a preferred method for making the most of excess food. We have a picture of this hierarchy in every store,” says Harris. “Source reduction — not generating waste in the first place — is always highest on our list, but when we do have excess food at store level, we use this hierarchy as our guide for decision-making.”

Hannaford works closely with Chicago-based Feeding America and local food banks and pantries for donations. Beyond that, approximately 130 of its stores send food waste that’s unfit for human consumption to compost facilities. Hannaford then sells the bagged compost produced from its food waste at its stores.

The sustainability-minded supermarket chain is also moving to zero waste, encouraging all associates to recycle and reduce waste wherever possible in the store. This is particularly important in the produce department, notes Harris.

“In produce, we also continue to work with growers to look at packaging,” she reveals. “How can they reduce the volume of cardboard or minimize Styrofoam? Can we find a better way to package fresh corn than in wood and wired crates?”

In terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions — another hallmark of sustainability —Hannaford is chilling food using carbon dioxide instead of super-greenhouse gas hydroflourocarbons (HFCs).

Grocery Stewardship Certification

Another significant step Hannaford has taken toward advancing and communicating sustainability is to partner with the Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences, in Plymouth, Mass., to launch and implement the center’s Grocery Stewardship Certification (GSC) program in all of the grocery chain’s stores.

Other supermarket chains, such as Weis Markets, in Sunbury, Pa., are following suit. Weis is currently implementing the GSC program in all 155 of its stores, and another 15 supermarket chains are now contemplating the initiative.

Points can be earned for writing a commitment letter that explains why the store is involved in the program and getting employees to sign it, for example. GSC also awards points for having a formalized green team that meets at least quarterly. Further, stores are recognized for carrying and successfully displaying products that are considered environmentally preferable.

“The GSC looks at everything from facilities maintenance to products on the shelves to how engaged our associates are,” says Hannaford’s Harris. “We have seen the amazing business and associate engagement results that come with a focus on the GSC.”

The program is implemented through the use of a workbook that addresses major sustainability issues such as energy, waste management and water management.

Communication, both internally, from store level to corporate, and externally, from store to the consumer, is an integral part of the program as well.

The refrigeration component of the produce department further makes it a hotbed of the coolest sustainable practices. “Efficient refrigeration is very important in terms of keeping produce longer and not letting it go to waste,” says Peter Cooke, program development manager for Manomet’s sustainable economies program. “So, for example, nightshades on refrigerated units keep food fresher longer and cut back on energy use.”

Adds Cooke: “Stores will see savings immediately with the GSC. We document all of it, and they see additional savings over time as they make improvements.” He notes that the average savings per store is $30,000 per year.

Making a Statement

“Overall, consumers say they have trouble identifying companies that are sustainable,” Hartman’s Becker says. “That makes it particularly important for manufacturers and others to be more vocal about their sustainability efforts. They should use animal welfare labels and other certifications, share the health benefits of their products, and talk about how they are working to benefit the environment.”

Some companies, notes Becker, are reticent to toot their own horns, as it were, worried that others will call them out for failing to be perfect on every sustainability score. “While core sustainability consumers might call them out for imperfections, most consumers just want the information. It’s more important to convey that you are trying —with goals and measurements — than to be perfect,” he insists.

“Consumers want to have faith in companies whose values match their own, a fit that can happen only if those values are communicated.”
—Blaine Becker, The Hartman Group