Client background

A middle-market manufacturing and kitchen design company provides top tier products and a unique suite of services to support their clients in the restaurant supply, beverage, hospitality, janitorial and licensed branding industries. They’ve been in the business for more than 90 years by maintaining a forward focused and adaptable approach in an ever-changing business environment both internally and for their clients.

The business challenge

Throughout new growth-related pursuits, the company was frequently asked to provide environmental, social and governance (ESG) metrics and information as part of the RFP process with potential business partners. This wasn’t unusual given the increased scrutiny on the sustainability of a company’s upstream and downstream supply chain.

At the time, the company did not have an efficient or standardized way to access or interpret the ESG information needed to furnish these requests. In addition, they did not have a clear understanding of the existing ESG-related practices and procedures that could be incorporated into RFP responses or communications to key stakeholders. This resulted in inefficient use of time and resources, as well as responses to RFPs submitted that may have omitted the most relevant and pertinent ESG information.

The start of an ESG journey

Baker Tilly industry specialists met the company where they were on their ESG journey, which began with an ESG assessment to identify what ESG elements mattered most to the company. From there, a policy and framework were developed for critical and transparent communication to the company’s key stakeholders. The team took the following approach:

1. Identification of company’s key stakeholders (i.e., the parties most interested in or impacted by the ESG program)
2. Leveraged an existing ESG framework to collaboratively identify the ESG elements or topics most relevant (i.e., material) to the company’s target industries and to key stakeholders
3. Outlined ESG disclosure topics and needs
4. Reviewed existing ESG policies, procedures and practices to draft ESG policies for internal and external communications
5. Created an ESG assessment workbook to further assist the company in gathering pertinent ESG information and metrics relative to their industry and current stakeholder needs
6. Categorized the ESG disclosure topics to equip the company for gathering complete and accurate data (i.e., auditable) and for storing the data in a centralized location

Building a sustainable future

In early 2021, the company created an ESG policy document and completed an ESG assessment workbook. These deliverables will assist in building a strategic ESG program and prioritizing future ESG initiatives. Overall, the initiatives will create a valuable impact within their organization as part of their long-term strategy and facilitate the communication of decision useful information to key stakeholders.