As the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to be felt across the country, the food and beverage industry is stepping up to give back to those directly impacted by the crisis. In this roundup, we look at the efforts brands are taking to support children reliant on school-provided meals, healthcare workers on the front lines and their own distribution partners.
Harmless Harvest Donates to Distribution Partners
Last week, cold chain solutions provider Universal Pure, the east coast distribution partner for Harmless Harvest, received some exciting news from the coconut water brand: a monetary donation to be distributed across the Universal Pure team working with its products at its Malvern, Pennsylvania facility.
According to Universal Pure, Harmless Harvest reached out with the message saying: “Given the challenges everyone is facing, most especially the frontline workers responsible for organizing, making, packing and delivering Harmless Harvest products, we’ve decided to provide a one-time cash payment for you to allocate as best as you can to the people working on Harmless Harvest.”
Universal Pure’s leadership is “currently working on a plan to best use this gift to reward our Harmless Harvest team members” and is “very appreciative for this kind initiative from the Harmless Harvest team and for our continued partnership with such a wonderful company.”
Harmless Harvest told BevNET the brand would be giving back monetarily to its entire network of distribution partners.
“Now more than ever we want to make sure we are supporting our partners and workers on the front lines,” said Harmless Harvest CEO Ben Mand. “Their work is invaluable in ensuring we can reach and nurture our consumers at a time when they need it most.”
In addition to the monetary donations to its distribution partners, Harmless Harvest has also donated products to national and local food banks, as well as to front-line workers in the healthcare industry.
PepsiCo Launches Give Meals, Give Hope Campaign
Since the wave of school closures across the country due to the pandemic, children have missed over 600 million school-provided meals. To connect children with the food they need, PepsiCo this week launched Give Meals, Give Hope, a fundraising campaign in partnership with No Kid Hungry with the goal to provide all children with three meals a day.
Through the end of the month, PepsiCo will match donations up to $1 million made at NoKidHungry.org/PepsiCoGives.
“We put our heads together to figure out how we could combine our resources, our capabilities, our expertise to not only shine a light on the problem, but also get more people involved in helping to solve this problem that is so massive,” said Chas Cahn, senior director of marketing, foodservice innovation and portfolio transformation, at PepsiCo. “It truly requires a collective effort, we find, across businesses, non-profits [and] citizens to really turn the tide.”
To spread the word on social media, PepsiCo enlisted the help of New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley, New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge and WNBA All-Star A’ja Wilson, who posted videos on social media urging followers to contribute to the cause.
“They’ve just been phenomenal people to team up with to really help not only drive awareness and engagement, but do it from a place of truly authentically wanting to be able to help and get more people on board,” said Cahn.
The new initiative is part of the $45 million initiative PepsiCo announced earlier this month to provide relief from the impact of COVID-19. Through its Food for Good program and partnership with the Baylor Collaborative on Hunger and Poverty and USDA, PepsiCo is leveraging its distribution networks to reach students in rural areas. PepsiCo is also donating products across its brand portfolio, which includes Tropicana, Quaker and Rold Gold.
“A lot of organizations right now are leaning into their strengths, to be able to make sure that they can genuinely, authentically support those that need it,” said Cahn. “Fortunately, PepsiCo knows food and we’re trying to be able to continue to provide that, and we also know distribution to get there.”
Pepsi also partnered with Global Citizen on the One World Together at Home concert, which will be streamed digitally tomorrow night, to celebrate the efforts of healthcare workers during the pandemic.
Liquid I.V. Pivots Marketing Team to Product Donation
Hydration mix maker Liquid I.V. has turned its focus from Coachella to COVID-19, providing products to frontline healthcare workers that were previously allocated to large scale events such as music festivals and Spartan Races.
The brand pivoted its entire marketing team to a COVID-19 Relief Response Task Force within 48 hours of a wave of event cancellations, according to founder and CEO Brandin Cohen. Within the first few hours of the campaign, he said the brand received thousands of requests from medical professionals. It has shipped out over 300,000 servings to more than 214 hospitals, with the goal of donating over two million by the end of the month.
Cohen said Liquid I.V. will continue to deliver products to healthcare workers and organizations through May, at which point it will “reassess the need for products as the outbreak continues.”
“We receive stories every day from first responders about the impact our product has on their performance while they work to keep us safe and we don’t intend on slowing down as long as we’re needed,” he said. “In unprecedented times like these, we must point our resources in the direction of helping the most amount of people as possible. This is our true north and we call it CTW, or Change The World.”
The brand has partnered with organizations such as Direct Relief, Operation Gratitude, Meals on Wheels and the LA Foodbank to distribute its products.
The Liquid I.V. is balancing its donation initiative with a new product launch and expanded distribution. Last month the brand launched a new flavor, Strawberry Cake, in collaboration with music producer Steve Aoki, and last week rolled out three flavors of its Hydration Multiplier to 1,750 Target stores.
“Beyond proud of our team for stepping up in the face of adversity over the last few weeks while executing some of our biggest launches this year,” said Cohen. “Having really strong plans, contingencies and concise communication ensures we’re all moving in the same direction even when we cannot be together.”
Other Good News From Around the Industry:
- Huel founder Julian Hearn launched #pledge30, a campaign to mentor small businesses with advice from top company CEOs through 30 minute phone calls. Other leaders who have pledged to participate include Steven Bartlett, CEO and founder of Social Chain, Alan Barrett, CEO and founder of Grenade and Marisa Hordern, founder of Missoma. Brands can apply to be chosen for a call with Hearn through the brand’s website.
- Keurig Dr Pepper launched its Fueling the Frontline initiative, donating Keurig brewers, coffee and other beverages to hospitals and healthcare workers nationwide, reaching 250 hospitals to date.
- CIROC partnered with Sean “Diddy” Combs for a 9-hour virtual, TeamLove Dance-A-Thon, donating $1 million to deliver PPE to healthcare workers through Direct Relief.
- VOSS Water donated 690,408 bottles of water to multiple organizations providing relief to those affected by COVID-19, with 480,000 850 ml bottles sent to New York via the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City. Voss is also donating three “Clean Care Packages” per day containing 24 330ml bottles of VOSS water and hand sanitizer to consumers in need who send a direct message to @VOSSWorld on Instagram.
- After postponing the opening of its Texas location to this summer, travelling pop-up grocery store Pop Up Grocer launched the Pop Up Grocer box, containing a surprise selection of beverage and snack products, donating $5 per box to Feeding America.
- Dtox Juice launched a “Dtox for Defenders” initiative, delivering cold-pressed juice to front-line workers in metro Atlanta. It has started a Go Fund Me campaign where it is matching every donation to increase the amount of juice delivered to workers.
- Prairie Farms is quadrupling the value of its cap codes for its Our Caps Your Cause initiative from 5 cents to 20 cents, donating $200 to food banks for every 1,000 codes found under its milk gallons’ caps that consumers redeem online.
- Norwalk, Connecticut-based hemp-infused spirits maker SoNo 1420 is using its alcohol base to produce hand sanitizers free to the public.
- Functional beverage brand Tempo is donating 10% of sales to the University of Chicago Medicine COVID-19 Response Fund.
- Oxygen-enhanced water maker Oxigen has committed to donating $140,000 worth of product to hospitals, police and fire departments.
- HyVIDA has donated hundreds of cases of its hydrogen and magnesium-infused sparkling water to hospitals and healthcare facilities across the country, and is donating a case of water for every case purchased on Amazon.
- Hammer + Sickle vodka launched a social media contest, asking followers to send in images of themselves enjoying the brand’s vodka for a chance to win a $100 prize. For every submission received, it will donate $5 to the USBG COVID-19 and Emergency Bartender Relief Fund through May 30.
- Herbal tonic maker Sunwink donated 2,000 bottles to hospital staff across New York City through Founders Give.
- Vegan energy drink maker Pink and Blue has donated over 20,000 cans to Feed America, Three Square Meals and local hospitals around Southern Nevada.
- Beverage distributor Crescent Crown Distributing announced a collaborative effort between its Arizona and Louisiana locations to donate over $450,000 in relief aid to support bars, restaurants and workers impacted by the pandemic.
- Sparkling Ice launched Cheers to Heroes, an initiative in which consumers can nominate someone working on the front lines to fight the COVID-19 pandemic for a chance for them to win $10,000. The brand also committed to donate $400,000 to “unsung heroes” through various initiatives.