BEST Award winner, 2010 – Sustainable Food Systems
BEST Award winner, 2008 – BEST Practices for Sustainability: Large Organization
When we started out in 2000, we knew what was most important: be a neighborhood store, a friendly place to shop, a supportive food and farm partner, and a vibrant, equitable place to work. New Seasons Market, a locally owned and operated grocery, is now nine stores strong across three counties, employing over 1700 people. From the very beginning, we have been committed to sustainable business values and practices. More than a business model, this is the basis of who we are as people engaged in a local and global community. It’s a passion and a way of life that we believe in supporting—from farm to people to compost and back to the farm. We believe in the full circle.
Water efficiency:
- Reduced food waste through good inventory, ordering and production practices
Waste reduction:
- Diverted 5,169,390 pounds of food waste from the landfill in 2009 with composting efforts
Alternative transportation:
- Purchases one-third of all products from Oregon, Washington and Northern California, which causes items to travel shorter distances to stores
Purchasing practices:
- Purchases one-third of products from local producers
Encouraging sustainability in others:
- Maintains a regional food economy that supports small-scale family farms and preserves farmland, which helps keep farmers on the land
- Promotes the use of organic farming methods
Promoting social equity:
- Two full time staff nutritionists offer consultations and teach a variety of free wellness community classes
- Increased minimum wage for employees to $10 per hour
Community service:
- Each of New Seasons’ nine stores has three to five organizations that it donates fresh food to on a weekly basis
- Gave grants to 15 farmers-markets to subsidize and install food stamp machines to increase access to affordable and nutritious foods
- Partnered with Food Works to support youth managing a one-acre farm on Sauvie Island, a project that has been active for the last six years
- Donated 10 percent of after-tax profits to local community, this benefited 605 non-profit organizations in 2009
