At Alara we have spent over 30 years working out and implementing how we can create a sustainable food production system.
It’s our challenge to ourselves that fulfilling these foundational elements of sustainability makes us the most sustainable food manufacturer on earth.
This is divided into four ‘pillars’ of Sustainability:
Environmental
Economic
Social
Governance
Economic
The next fundamental pillar of sustainability is the economic foundation. The measure we use is ‘cash on delivery’ or C.O.D. This means we do not have a creditor ledger and pay for all of our goods and services on delivery and approval.
We do this for three reasons:
Firstly, it values food properly. Before Alex Smith started Alara, he lived for a year without using any money, but he found it was impossible to live without food. This taught him that food is a much more valuable commodity than money is.
Secondly, cash flow is the reality of all business. We exist as a food business in a bio-diverse network of both suppliers and customers. Valuing, appreciating and supporting our suppliers is a key step for us to establish valued relationships with them.
Lastly, we use C.O.D to encourage us as a business to minimise ‘economic’ waste. We can’t rely on our suppliers to provide us with cash flow to cover us when we make mistakes. This means we have to carefully consider opportunities before we take them on.
Social
The social pillar of Sustainability is understanding, appreciating and valuing both our employees and the community in which the business is based.
We have an internal human rights policy to reflect our commitment to looking after our employees and workers in the supply chain. We have mandatory procedures in place to make sure basic human rights are respected. These include: employment is freely chosen, freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining are respected, working conditions are safe and hygienic, child labour shall not be used, living wages are paid, working hours are not excessive, no discrimination is practised, regular employment is provided and no harsh or inhumane treatment is allowed.
We conduct due diligence throughout our business on our own facilities and on suppliers to
proactively assess, identify, prevent and mitigate actual and potential adverse human rights
impacts to stakeholders across our value chain. Due diligence tools we rely on include, but are
not limited to, human rights impact assessments, human rights compliance surveys and
compliance reviews. When adverse human rights impacts are uncovered due to our business
activities or from linkages to our operations, Alara is committed to taking timely and transparent
action to remediate in a fair and equitable manner in line with the UNGPs.
Aside from our internal policy, we have also undergone a SMETA audit (click here to download the full report). Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit (SMETA) is one of the most widely used ethical audit formats in the world and its aim is to assess the standards of labour, health and safety, environment and business ethics of a company.
The well-being of our local community is also a top priority. This is the reason we work with local (central London) food banks, including Food For All, the UK’s largest free meals provider, to send out free meals. We are now also sending food to Ukraine to support those in need.
We encourage community engagement too by hosting free parties here in our factory.
The Camley Street Harvest Party is an annual event taking place every September that hosts up to 1000 guests. All food, drink and entertainment at the party are entirely free. We use food from the Alara Permaculture Garden around the factory and engage with other neighbouring food businesses to contribute. Many amazing developments have sprung from the party, not least, our amazing plan to develop the most sustainable urban development in the world in King’s Cross.
The Wassailing Party usually takes place in February and we also host it here in our factory. Similar to our Camley Street Harvest Party, we offer free food, drink and entertainment but the theme is slightly different. At this party we gather to “wake up” the fruit trees and have a good harvest. It is a great experience you will not be able to live elsewhere.
Governance
Governance is the formal relationship that Alara has with society. Everyday, 250000 people eat food from our factory – This is a very privileged and intimate trust that customers have with the business. To reinforce this trust, we have decided to publish all of these audits on our website. This offers a review of the hygiene, quality and ethics of the business.
Related page: Audits