As
corporate social responsibility becomes a bigger issue across the US, the restaurant
industry’s biggest corporations have taken the lead on standing out as far as that
is concerned. Starting off, McDonald’s, the world’s largest food franchise, is
widely known for its long running efforts with the Ronald McDonald House
Charities. This charity has risen over $170 million that goes toward an effort to
help families with sick children have good living accommodations at little or
no cost. In addition, to help with customer’s health concerns, the franchise
implemented more fruit in the menu. This includes the option for children to
have fruit with their Happy Meal and the Fruit N’ Maple Oatmeal that is now
served on the breakfast menus of US and Latin American stores.
Other
companies also make moves toward more CSR movements. Starbucks initiates many
community service projects and incorporate them into the work environment of
the employees, the partners and even the customers. According to their “Global
Responsibly and Sustainability Report”, the company has participated in over
191,000 hours of community service. One of the biggest initiatives that they
have are the various youth outreach programs that they have, such as Youth
Action Grants that have done things from helping high school and middle school
kids in Baltimore to their own community center for children in Malaysia.
However,
I was most impressed with Coca-Cola’s RAIN efforts in Africa. They started a six-year
long program that had to goal of providing clean water to 2 million African
people by 2015. Already, $30 million have gone into this project. They seem to
have a goal of water sustainability around the world that I actually found
extremely inspiring.
Actually
most of the large corporations such as the ones that I listed had their full
report and CSR initiatives on their web pages so consumers can see the things that
they are doing. Small restaurants like Chipotle and Olive Garden do not have
these things so easily accessible, however hopefully they will follow the lead
of the larger businesses that are in the industry.
Cited Sources:
McDonald's 2011 global sustainability scorecard. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/content/dam/AboutMcDonalds/Sustainability/Sustainability Library/2011-Sustainability-Scorecard.pdf
Ronald mcdonald house. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://rmhc.org/what-we-do/ronald-mcdonald-house
Reasons to believe 2010/2011. (2011, December 29). Retrieved from http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/sustainabilityreport/performance-highlights.html
Ronald mcdonald house. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://rmhc.org/what-we-do/ronald-mcdonald-house
Reasons to believe 2010/2011. (2011, December 29). Retrieved from http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/sustainabilityreport/performance-highlights.html
Year in review:fiscal 2010. (2011, March 7). Retrieved from http://assets.starbucks.com/assets/2660085bf62e4246a91a8024f500cb37.pdf
I think it is so great that large corporations, take the initiative to start charitable foundations. I like how many corporations have social responsibility programs that span worldwide, rather than just domestically. I wonder why some major restaurants that you mentioned do not have these kinds of programs? Do you think it is because they have not made enough profit to fully sustain them? Do you feel that more people are inclined to go eat at places that DO have these types of organizations?
ReplyDeleteI do believe one cause may be because of profits. The bigger corporations had these types of things available on the website as opposed to smaller corporations, which I had a more difficult time finding information on. Also I think that people are more inclined to go to these places when their efforts are promoted. I feel like people are more likely to give their money to a company if they feel the company will then in turn help society, but this can only be done when they are made aware of the fact that a company does these things.
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