How Amy’s Kitchen Is Helping The Planet

Wouldn't it be great if you could whip up a quick, healthy meal and save the planet at the same time? Amy's Kitchen sure thinks so. Serving fresh food with intention has long been a main ingredient for the company that proudly proclaims on its website that it was organic before organic was cool. Choosing what's best for its customers, farmers, employees, and the planet is part of its commitment as a brand. Embracing an environmentally friendly ethos, Amy's Kitchen aims to continue its holistic approach to running a $600 million company.

Amy's Kitchen's eco-conscious practices have earned the company a Certified B Corporation distinction, which is given to businesses that use profits and growth to positively impact their employees, communities, and the environment. 

"B Corp certification is an exciting milestone for us, but it's by no means the end," states amys.com. "This is a benchmark that we'll use to challenge ourselves and measure our progress toward improving the well-being of people and healing our planet for a long time to come."

Founder, owner, and CEO Andy Berliner stated in a WeFirst TV video that setting an example paves the way for other companies to follow. "B Corp allows us to make a bigger impact," Berliner said.

As a company, Amy's Kitchen's leadership says it remains on board to decreasing waste and finding efficiencies in its production practices to lessen environmental impact and heal the planet - and it has the power to really make a difference. Amy's Kitchen cooks a million meals a day, serving more than 230 million a year, says Forbes. 

Amy's Kitchen Harnessing the Power of Potatoes To Reduce Climate Change

We've come a long way since Old MacDonald had a farm. Growing potatoes the old-school way with pesticides and synthetic fertilizers can lead to excess atmospheric carbon dioxide and degradation of Earth's soil. But not Amy's spuds. Amy's Regenerative Agriculture Pilot Project aims to support small farmers using regenerative organic practices that potentially trap more carbon than other farming methods. By teaming up with concerns like Jones Farms Organics, a family-owned, fourth-generation farmstead in Colorado, Amy's Kitchen is putting its money where its mouth is when it comes to caring for the planet.

In addition, Amy's Kitchen is working with Mad Agriculture, a nonprofit that boldly declares, "We work from heart to head, poetry to science, financing to markets, and soil to shelf. We meet farmers where they're at in their journey as they transition to regenerative agricultural models. Our four branches ensure that our farmer partners have the financial (Mad Capital), strategic (Mad Lands), connective (Mad Markets), and communal (Mad Revolution) support they need to thrive."

Through regenerative farming, Amy's Kitchen hopes to continue using no synthetic pesticides or fertilizers and improving soil health through crop rotation, biodiversity, and other methods. 

The organic food trailblazer has been serving healthy eats since 1988. The journey began when the brand's co-creators, Andy and Rachel Berliner, searched for organic, vegetarian, ready-made meals at their local grocery store - to no avail. When Rachel went on bed rest toward the end of her pregnancy - yes, that baby would be Amy - Andy was on his own in a quest to find organic, vegetarian, premade meals.

When the couple didn't like the handful of options that were available at the time, they decided to launch their own line. They started with an organic vegetable potpie. "Even though the product wasn't fully developed at our first trade show and we didn't think it tasted right yet, people loved it and they loved the idea," Andy Berliner told WeFirstTV in a video. "Three months later, it was as if we had been in business for years. It moved into all the natural food stores around the country and people were saying, 'Come out with more products.' Our intention was to develop a little business."

The couple initially had just a couple of million dollars of sales in mind to pay bills and stash money away for their daughter's college fund. Health-conscious consumers had a different idea and propelled the little frozen food company into the ready-to-eat stratosphere.

Waste Not, Want Not

Closer to home, Amy's Kitchen has set a goal of preventing 95% of waste from ending up in landfills. Its Santa Rosa, California, manufacturing plant utilizes composting and recycling methods to help achieve that objective. Amy's Kitchen powers 50% of its Santa Rosa facility via a self-constructed solar farm and it saves 12 million gallons of water each year by reusing H2O in the company's kitchens through a closed loop project. The Call4ClimateNow campaign is another cause Amy's Kitchen has adopted. It's a movement to encourage all citizens to contact senators and local legislators to make climate change a top priority. 

"Our climate is under assault, and there is no longer any time to waste," says Paul Schiefer, Amy's VP of Impact and Communications . "We must act now, as companies, communities, and citizens, to make our voices heard and influence real political change. We're taking part in the #Call4ClimateNOW initiative because we believe that by banding together behind a clear message, we can push our lawmakers to solve the climate crisis now. We cannot live with the alternative."

Amy's Kitchen is in good company with this program. Other businesses involved with Call4Climate include Aveda, Burt's Bees, and Ben & Jerry's. "After a summer of climate-fueled disasters including fire, drought, floods, and hurricanes, CEOs feel compelled to act," Climate Collaborative Co-founder Nancy Hirshberg said in a statement.

Amy's Kitchen is also keeping waste out of landfills and putting meals into the hands of the food insecure. In 2020, Amy's prevented 427,000 pounds of food from ending up in landfills and distributed it to those in need.

Approximately 330 million pounds of food is wasted across America each day. The United States Census Bureau reports that as of January 2021, 37.9 million Americans lived in poverty, accounting for 11.6% of the total population.

Meanwhile, back in Amy's Kitchen, everyone is on board with pitching in and saving the planet, including Juliette Stubbs, who was a sustainability intern. In a blog post on amys.com highlighting six key ways to lessen environmental impact, Petaluma, California, native Stubbs said her beliefs about protecting the environment influence her consumer food choices and she urges other Americans to patronize brands that align with their ideals.

"Reduce your single-use plastic, plant a garden or support local community-supported agriculture, recycle, vote, introduce more plant-based meals into your diet, and support companies that are socially and environmentally transparent and accountable," Stubbs suggested.