Burgerville Term Paper Example

Many business entities operate with the sole goal of maximizing revenue and hence realizing profits. However, firms also exist to serve people in the society. In the recent years, there has a growing emphasis for firms to engage in sustainable business practices that empower people in the society (American Marketing Association, 2013). Specifically, firms have started adopting practices that preserve the environment and promote their business ventures. Firms have realized that engaging in sustainable practices helps they realize many advantages such reducing production costs, and boosting the company’s brand. This paper wants to explore sustainable-led marketing for Burgerville. The paper will also explore how this company has developed various initiatives to boost its sustainable marketing agenda.
First, Burgerville is a restaurant chain operating in south West Washington and Oregon. The firm was founded in 1961 starting with a single shop but the firm has grown to 39 restaurants spread in both Washington and Oregon. Currently, the company operates with a labor force of 1500 workers serving in different capacities within the restaurant chains (American Marketing Association, 2013). Burgerville menu mainly consists of hamburgers, chips, and chicken and halibut fish. Unlike other firms in the same line of business, Burgerville has modified its business operations to ensure it adopts sustainable marketing operations. The modifications of the marketing operations are in line with the company’s mission and culture statements. The company’s mission is to serve clients with love and the company is committed to providing quality and healthy foods. The company main focus is to ensure once the clients sample the restaurant’s services they will reach out, share a smile and create a smile.
The management of Burgerville recognizes that to ensure the company operates according to its sustainable goals; its workers have to be informed on improving their productivity (Burgerville.com, 2015). Therefore, the company has invested in training programs that inculcate essential skills to the workers. Moreover, the company believes motivation is the main ingredient for its sustainable agendas and hence the company has implemented several policies to boost the morale of both employees and its vendors.
The management of Burgerville has implemented the following sustainable marketing initiatives. First, the company has modified its menus to include fresh, natural and healthy foods for its clients. The company believes provision of healthy foods is a sustainable initiative that will improve the welfare of people in the society. In ensuring the provision of fresh and natural food products becomes a success, the company has partnered with several farms within the region. These firms ensure consistent supply of fresh agricultural products. For instance, the company has partnered with Country Natural beef to supply fresh and anti-biotic free beef products. The company has also partnered with Diestel farm, a turkey rearing farm based in California to ensure consistent supply of turkey products. Other essential partners include; Lamb Weston, Liepold Farma, Franz, Oregon Rain and Odysssey Seafood. All these partners ensure the company provides healthy foods to potential customers. Besides sourcing natural agricultural services, Burgerville has employed nutritionists who evaluate the type of food provided to the clients. The role of the company’s nutritionists is to ensure customers are provided with balanced diet menus that promote their health. The company is thus sensitive to the welfare of its
Reducing carbon foot print is one critical sustainable practice. As part of its strategic missions, Burgerville has adopted several policies to boost environmental conservation. For instance, the company purchases wind power credits that are equivalent to the company’s total electricity use. Wind power is efficient and does not pollute the environment. Therefore, Burgerville initiative of using the wind power for the company’s facilities goes a long way in reducing greenhouse gases emissions. Unlike the fossil fuels energy, the wind power is also cost effective hence helps Burgerville minimize operational costs. The wind energy also provides the company with an opportunity to conserve natural resources and hence create a favorable environment for plants, wildlife and the communities. Secondly, the company’s facilities are fitted with large window panes that allow free circulation of air. The large window panes also ensure the company minimizes energy use in lighting the restaurants. The company also has a policy that requires workers to minimize unnecessary energy use with the electrical appliances. For instance, workers are required to switch of lights in well-lit rooms and switch off the A.Cs during cold seasons. All these initiatives are geared towards minimizing energy usage within the company. Moreover, the wind power the company uses is sourced from big wind farms situated with the region.
As part of its sustainable initiatives the company has adopted a program of recycling its used cooking oil from the restaurants to biodiesel that provide clean and environmentally friendly power(American Marketing Association, 2013). Specifically, the company collects used cooking oil from its 40 restaurants and converts it into biodiesel. For instance, in 2007 the company converted 53000 gallons of oil into approximately 40,000 gallons of biodiesel (Burgerville.com,2015). The recycled fuel was use to power diesel-powered car and truck engines.
Besides recycling fuel, the company operates a recycling and composting program. This program involves recycling the company wastes especially from the kitchens into compost manure that is supplied to the community and local farms to boost agricultural production. Moreover, DeSantis (a local compost producing firm) collects debris from Burgerville restaurants and other company offices and uses the waste in producing compost which is used for the company’s gardens and surrounding trees.
The recycling plant also recycles paper, plastics, and glass. The recycled waste is also used for internal purposes. For instance, the restaurant’s menu boards are made from the recycled wood and plastic wastes. 75% of the firm’s packaging materials are also produced from the recycled company wastes (Burgerville.com, 2015). For instance, the milkshake and salad containers are made from recycled materials. All these recycling initiatives provide many benefits for the company. For instance, they help the company minimize operational costs since most of the packaging material is not sourced from external suppliers. Moreover, the company minimizes waste production and hence contributes to the preservation of the environment.
Burgerville sustainable initiatives are not only based for external purposes but also within the internal structures of the company. For instance, the company operates an affordable healthcare insurance plan for its temporary and permanent workers. Unlike other firms that have distanced themselves from providing healthcare programs for their workers, Burgerville has taken the bold step despite the financial challenges to provide a healthcare insurance program for its workers. The company recognizes that many workers in the country are faced with the heavy burden of financing their healthcare programs. Many workers cannot afford the expensive healthcare services offered by medical facilities. Therefore, the Burgerville affordable insurance plans goes a long way in ensuring workers health is well catered for. The insurance scheme covers both the workers and their families. It helps them reduce their annual premium costs. Moreover, the healthcare plan covers for various medical conditions such as dental, vision, life and full medical care. This insurance scheme has made Burgerville become the first Fast-food restaurant to provide a medical scheme for its workers. The management of the company believes this initiative provides many advantages to both the company and its workers. For the workers, it ensures their healthcare welfare is well catered for. Moreover, the insurance scheme acts as a motivation elements that propel workers to increase their productivity. It makes workers feel the company cares for their welfare. On the company side, the insurance scheme is part of sustainable initiatives that focus on promoting the welfare of the company. The scheme also enhances the brand of the company as members of the public feel the company had adopted several initiatives that promote the welfare often people.
Sustainable activities are also embedded on the company’s organizations culture. Quite often, firms have a cultural policy that acts as a representation of the firm’s believes and values. However, Burgerville has restructured its cultural policy to ensure it promotes inclusion and diversity. Specifically, the company has invested in people’s growth through educational and training programs. The company also operates a mixed workforce structure. The company believes the mixed workforce structure ensures workers from diverse background integrate and share ideas that not only improve their productivity but also creates a favorable working environment. The company also strives to maintain a favorable working environment by adopting mechanisms that ensure both senior level managers and workers can freely interact and raise any issues that affect their welfare at the workplace. Through this integrative organizational culture the company had realized an increased workers performance and hence a growth in the overall company productivity. Therefore, Burgerville organizational culture acts sustainable initiatives that improve the relations between the company and its workers.
Many firms operate corporate social responsibility programs that are geared towards improving the social welfare of the people. Although these programs contribute to the empowerment of the society, many firms use them to advance their business agendas. However, Burgerville has used corporate social responsibility programs to advance its sustainable marketing agendas. For instance, the company partners with several schools within the Oregon region to educate learners on the importance of preserving the environment. The company uses these schools to inform learners on how they can take part in promoting environmental sustainability through supporting programs such as tree planting and conserving electricity. The company has also partnered with several with not-for-profit organizations especially those that promote environmental conservancy to launch projects that sensitize people to conserve the environment. Moreover, the company helps these organizations raise funds that improve the welfare of the communities. In a bid to motivate many people to take part in the funds drive initiatives, the company has an established a program that allows members of a community group to earn 10% of their sales from supporting the community empowerment projects. These initiatives have not only helped improve the brand of Burgerville but they have also helped attracting customers and other external stakeholders such as investors. Through these initiatives, the company has also earned various awards and recognitions from environmental conservation entities.
Sustainability does not only focus on taking internal changes in a business operations but also contributing to external programs. For instance, Burgerville has been instrumental in campaigning for adoption of environmental conservation legislations. Specifically, the company has supported the federal and state governments programs that center on environmental conservation. Besides that, the company provides financial and material support for organizations that campaign for a sustainable environment.
As mentioned earlier, Burgeville has partnered with several firms that supply the company with various agricultural products. However, the partnership with these supplies is subject to various conditions. For instance, the company strives to engage with suppliers who are reliable and use natural farming methods. The company is keen on ensuring its customers do not take chemically-induced products Moreover, the company only engages suppliers who are strategically located near the company’s restaurants. The essence of the location factor is to reduce the transportation distance between the farm and the restaurants hence ensuring the restaurants receive fresh products. Besides that, the company routinely reevaluates these supplier partnerships to ensure the company only engages with suppliers who are reliable and promote the sustainable agendas.
It is thus clear; Burgerville is keen on implementing its sustainable initiatives. Fortunately, these initiatives have brought many benefits for the company. For instance, through the energy conservation and recycling programs have helped the company to reduce operational costs and hence the saved funds have been channeled to other r worthy company projects. Secondly, the sustainable initiatives have helped the company establish an enviable brand in the market. Consumer growth has increased and this has translated to increased revenue earnings. Finally, the sustainable initiatives have helped establish cordial relations with the company’s stakeholder such as government, non-governmental organizations and potential investors(American Marketing Association, 2013).

References

American Marketing Association, (2013). Burgerville: A Sustainability Marketing Case Study - American Marketing Association. [online] Available at: http://www.ama-pdx.org/events/burgerville-a-sustainability-marketing-case-study/ [Accessed 22 Apr. 2015].
Burgerville.com, (2015). The Business Case « Burgerville. [online] Available at: http://www.burgerville.com/sustainable-business/the-business-case/ [Accessed 22 Apr. 2015].