Doing Business Responsibly - Food & Beverage
The environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues that Food & Beverage (F&B) businesses face have evolved significantly in recent years. Increased scrutiny from regulators, investors and customers means that doing business responsibly and sustainably is no longer a choice, or even just the ‘right’ thing to do; it is key to financial performance and future survival.
Clearly, a return to growth will be a priority post-pandemic, not least for F&B businesses that have been among the hardest hit by sustained periods of lockdown. But all indications are that COVID-19 has made a focus on sustainable operations more, not less important – that investor capital and customer loyalty will flow to those businesses that are best prepared to withstand future systemic shocks (including climate change) and seen to be making a positive contribution to society.
In ‘Doing Business Responsibly: Food & Beverage’ we consider a range of options for businesses seeking to operate sustainably and build back better. We explore:
Becoming a B Corp
One way for your business to mainstream purpose and responsibility into the DNA of your corporate governance and structure.
Modern Slavery
And what you can do to mitigate the risks in your supply chain.
Charitable Foundations
And how you can help support the wider community with them.
Your Environmental Impact
How you can shape your commercial contracts to support the move towards a low carbon economy.
We have supported many in F&B as they have sought to tackle the challenges of the COVID-19 restrictions. We understand the difficulties you have faced and believe that taking measures now to enhance your ESG credentials will strengthen your business now and for the long term. Our experience guiding clients through these issues, together with our own commitment to doing business responsibly, make us well placed to help other businesses at all stages of the sustainability journey.
Please find our link below to ‘Doing Business Responsibly’. We hope that you find the guide insightful - please get in touch with us to discuss sustainability in the context of your business.
For more information, or to discuss the themes in our Doing Business Responsibly guide, please get in touch with Kerry Stares, or Sarah Rowley.
Our thinking
David Coates
Charles Russell Speechlys advises shareholders of eCommonSense on sale to ECI Software Solutions
eCommonSense is a technology solutions provider focused on the construction and building materials supply sectors.
Mark Bailey
Resilience vs. Recovery - How the Facebook outage highlights important lessons
The recent Facebook outage disrupted all of its key global platforms, including Instagram and WhatsApp.
Caroline Greenwell
Caroline Greenwell quoted by Food Navigator on how organisations can avoid the greenwashing trap
New reviews on misleading claims in early 2022 will pressure companies to provide concrete evidence of their sustainability credentials.
Lara Haidar
The United Arab Emirates Joins the Madrid System
Hamish Perry
Charles Russell Speechlys advises the founders of Compandben on the sale of the business to TopSource Worldwide
Compandben is one of the longest established international providers of employment solutions.
Jamie Cartwright
Supply chain going flat
Caroline Greenwell
Caroline Greenwell and Peter Carlyon write for New Law Journal on the issue of companies exaggerating their green credentials
The extent and impact of greenwashing by companies, the reputational damage where they’re caught out and potential regulatory action.
Bart Peerless
ESG investment and the challenges for trustees
What challenges does the ESG revolution present for trustees of private family trusts?
Caroline Swain
2020: Influencer, 2021: Creative Director – what could go wrong?
Emma Humphreys
Coded messages for landlords and tenants
“What does the code of practice mean for landlords and tenants? Read more here”
Bart Peerless
Bart Peerless and Matthew Radcliffe write for eprivateclient on ESG investment and the challenges for trustees
What challenges does the ESG investment revolution present for trustees of private family trusts?
Jason Saiban
Jason Saiban writes for Food Manufacture on the food industry's climate change challenge
The key challenge will be how the environmental targets are actually met.
Megan Paul
Grab the tail by the horns - Why is tail spend so critical in today’s outsourced portfolio?
It’s usually invisible, but in all likelihood, you’ve got tail spend.
Olivia Gray
Consumers’ unwitting assumptions: A [wh]iskey business in brand competition
Olivia and Anna look at the Liverpool Gin Distillery Ltd v Sazerac Brands LLC case and the question of 'indirect confusion'
Mark Hill
Mark Hill writes for In-House Community Magazine on solutions templating, a new priority for in-house legal teams
Removing the burden from legal teams, contract managers and administrators.
Hannah Connors
Stewardship: word of the moment, guiding principle for past generations and shining light for the next
If stewardship is an old idea, why are we talking about it now?
Simon Weil
Social Investment Tax Relief (SITR)
Social Investment Tax Relief (SITR) allows individuals to help social enterprises grow by offering a tax relief on investments.
Olivia Crane
Olivia Crane quoted by SoGlos on the increasing issue of cyber fraud being faced by businesses in Gloucestershire
Cyber fraud has cost Gloucestershire businesses around £369,800 in the last 13 months.
Richard Davies
Tattoos, athletes and image rights
Campaigns featuring athletes often include visible tattoos and a number of recent legal cases demonstrate the issues that may arise.