Farm Fresh and #doDifferent
Often corporate social investment programmes are box-ticking exercises which, though doing some temporary good, do nothing to genuinely change the circumstances for those they aim to help. Changing circumstances means genuine empowerment for people to build on and thrive.
One company has seen an opportunity to #doDifferent and include a social investment and empowerment programme as a key part of their own business strategy.
UCOOK is a South African food service company. They offer customers a range of meal kits with each ingredient correctly portioned and ready to be cooked. They have also recently introduced ready to eat meals and produce boxes. All this is conveniently delivered straight to your door.
The core focus of UCOOK is social and environmental sustainability, and this drives their offerings and processes. They would like to give customers confidence that their food is ethical and sustainable, encouraging customers to be more mindful of the origins of their food.
Part of this approach is sourcing their produce from the Philippi Economic Development Initiative (PEDI). PEDI is a non-profit organization which provides training, processing facilities, and market access to emerging farmers. They facilitate the AgriHub, a network of 65 small urban farms around some of Cape Towns underprivileged areas, for which they provide routes to market – often the key factor to success of emerging farmers.
UCOOK source their organic produce from PEDI, providing farmers stable and ongoing supply contracts which will allow them to grow and develop. In return, UCOOK are able to offer their customers delicious and nutritious organic produce which makes a positive environmental and social impact.
Additionally, UCOOK has provided PEDI with logistical support, food safety training and packaging equipment. All this contributes to genuine empowerment of small-scale farmers, changing the economic circumstances for many within the surrounding communities.
Given the choice, we would all like to eat food which is more sustainable. UCOOK have made it easy to do that. And by choosing UCOOK you can #doDIfferent and support emerging farmers and their communities.
Find out more here.
