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<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n\u201cWe had to rethink the quality myth that artisanal foods need to be packaged in robust containers in order for consumers to buy them,\u201d says Sarah Richmond, Operations Director at Clif Family Winery. \u201cWhile everyone loved the look of our chocolate tin containers, the cost of goods was high, and they were very labor intensive to produce. More pressingly, the containers added to the product\u2019s carbon footprint in a way that didn\u2019t align with the organization\u2019s values. Finding an alternative that customers would still love was Sarah\u2019s challenge. With the help of local fabricators, internal support, and a customer base who was receptive to clear and transparent communication, she made it happen, by switching to a lightweight recyclable paper container made in the USA with a Food Grade liner and compostable inner pouch \u2013 all of which aligned with the company\u2019s Sustainable Purchasing Guidelines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cProduct margins actually increased because we were able to eliminate hours of labor on the production floor with the preprinted paper tubes and decrease logistical costs by collaborating with local suppliers and co-packers who were aligned with our carbon footprint goals.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Small Wins Scale to Major Victories<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n With a small win under their belt, Sarah and the team decided to tackle an even heavier challenge next \u2013 wine bottles. Heavy glass bottles are a marker of quality in the wine industry, which meant that considering a change to the vessel was met with internal resistance in the organization. But for a winery that ships a lot of wine, these bottles were weighing both on the company\u2019s logistics bill and its carbon footprint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After a successful trial of the lightweight glass in December 2022, they began to fully transition their wine portfolio to lighter packaging. It inspired the team to also move away from the decorative foil on the top of the bottles, previously deemed a necessity from a design standpoint and branding opportunity. In fact, they found customers didn\u2019t miss them, and if anything, removing the decorative foils set them apart on a crowded shelf. They went on to remove the heavy metal bike cog appliques from the bottles as well, which were made in Argentina. Another win-win for reducing cost and their climate footprint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cReplacing the bike cogs with a screen printed alternative and transitioning to lightweight glass, allowed us to reduce our case weight by almost 8 pounds, which was a cost savings we could pass along to our customers.\u201d In addition, by using less materials they were able to better maximize pallet layouts and reduce transportation costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since these successes, the team has also started shipping orders themselves rather than using a third-party shipper, which allowed them to continue to improve quality and reduce fulfillment costs. Additionally, they implemented ground shipping as their default shipping method rather than 2-day air for more than 96% of their shipments \u2013 a shift that can reduce carbon emissions more than 90% on a per package basis [Check out the SME Climate Hub Action Guide \u2013 \u201cReduce Emissions from Freight and Goods Transport<\/a>\u201d]. The additional transit time associated with ground shipping opened the door to introduce a fully recyclable insulated thermal shipper box to protect the wine during transit. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Taking charge of their fulfillment allowed them to seize additional opportunities. Key wins include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n When it comes to packaging, their philosophy asks, \u201cWhat can we remove while still upholding the quality of our brand.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n By communicating proactively with customers throughout these trials, the team was able to make the transition with essentially no pushback. While there can be friction amidst the balancing point of sustainability and design, Sarah says the two are becoming more fluid within the company. The team has even been able to mobilize their co-packers and suppliers as allies, who are now helping take steps like printing best buy and harvest dates directly on jars and packaging instead of adding this information on a sticker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Codifying Climate Wins<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Recognizing the team sport nature of their climate wins, Sarah worked to codify supplier and purchasing considerations across the organization. Adding clauses around resource consumption, pollution prevention, and waste minimization to Clif Family\u2019s Supplier Code of Conduct formalized Clif Family\u2019s communication with their suppliers around expectations to measure, prevent, and minimize air emissions. They now only work with US manufacturers, vendors and suppliers for all of their food packaging, which must be recyclable, compostable or made with a minimum of 30% Post-Consumer Waste (PCW).\u00a0 For copackers, or the suppliers who manufacture and package Clif Family products, Sarah developed and implemented a Copacker Agreement to communicate and scale packaging wins across their product portfolio. The SME Climate Hub offers action guides<\/a> and templates<\/a> to help communicate climate expectations to suppliers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Documentation has also been important for internal communications and expectation setting. These guidelines are memorialized and communicated to all employees via Clif Family\u2019s Sustainable Purchasing Guidelines. They provide employees with a shared understanding of not only Clif Family\u2019s values and philosophy, but how to apply them across everyday purchasing decisions spanning everything from ingredients to office supplies, to promotional collateral.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Coordinating Throughout the Organization<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOne of the challenges for any small business is we don\u2019t have one dedicated person who oversees sustainability,\u201d says Linzi Gay, President of Clif Family Winery. \u201cIt ends up being a little bit of all of our jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Though the 90-acre farm and winery has been B Corp certified since 2023, the process of establishing a robust internal system to explore, plan, execute and measure sustainability efforts continues to evolve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe do a lot of things related to sustainability, but we don\u2019t necessarily spend a lot of time quantifying those things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Making the SME Climate Commitment<\/a> helped focus Clif Family\u2019s climate work. Linzi and the team knew they needed a good baseline, targets, and measurement strategies, but initially, they didn\u2019t have a system in place to track the packaging efficiency changes. As part of their B Corp certification, they instituted an environmental management system, which allowed them to better document changes and goals across the organization. As they\u2019ve continued tracking these impacts, the team took the extra step to bring in a consultant to help put emissions numbers to the work they were doing. This helped create a useful framework for the team to make progress with logical steps, goals, and accountability. This also allowed Clif to report<\/a> to the SME Climate Hub in 2023. For businesses without the resources for consulting support, the SME Climate Hub Carbon Calculator<\/a> and it’s upcoming resources can be useful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Clif Winery identified a few key insights and results of their sustainable wine packaging efforts from 2022-2024:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Combined, these reductions equal\u00a042.2 metric tons of CO2e\u00a0avoided,\u00a0which is equivalent to taking\u00a010 cars off the road for one year or allowing 700 seedlings to grow for 10 years!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finding the balance between doing the work and measuring the impact<\/u><\/em> has been challenging but rewarding. It\u2019s helped them back up some of their packaging choices with data, especially around the fact that perceived markers of quality and price point may not be as accurate as industry wisdom suggests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s important for the consumer and it\u2019s important for us to be able to put a little more authenticity around the story we\u2019re telling. It\u2019s also important to lead the discussion on sustainability in our close-knit community in Napa.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rather than measurement for the sake of reporting, Clif focuses on measurement as a tool for management. In their fulfillment warehouse, they weighed all trash, compost, and recycling at the end of every day back in 2022. Since doing this, they\u2019ve been able to recycle 96% of their waste, compost 2%, and send the remaining 2% to the landfill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For Linzi, Sarah, and the rest of the team, their first focus is on selling more products, but having these additional narratives and backing actions has also been beneficial for building their brand and credibility in a crowded market. However, they still have room to grow, especially as a small team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFor us, the challenge is keeping the rigor on it. We all have other jobs and other things to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Outside Pressures Helped Motivate Change<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSome of our food packaging was made oversees,\u201d Sarah says, remembering early packaging change conversations, \u201cand so much of that supply chain was disrupted during COVID.\u201d This, she says, was part of the catalyst for the organization to start building relationships with U.S. manufacturers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But it wasn\u2019t just supply chain tangles and delays that led to the switch. Customers were also starting to ask better questions and demand more transparency from manufacturers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSome retailers have become very specific with their standards, and it\u2019s getting tighter,\u201d Linzi reports. Being B Corp certified has helped them overcome many of those barriers, but they are still working constantly to improve, and those efforts now extend into their supply chains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe created a Supplier Code of Conduct,\u201d Sarah says, \u201cthat outlines our high standards for supply chain expectations.\u201d These expectations continue to evolve as well, and have led to valuable, mutually beneficial collaborations that promote transparency and accountability within the supply chain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But even before global disruptions, the team was thinking about small internal steps, like consolidating staff office supply orders to reduce packaging waste and setting expectations with employees about the importance of this work. These simple efforts, Sarah reports, have led to behavior change and created meaningful buy-in among employees. And there are always multiple layers of return to their upgrades. Moving jam production in-house, for example, helped reduce food waste, improved product quality, and created a heavenly smell that helps employees stay connected to the products and their customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Going forward, the team is continuing to play an active part in conversations around wine bottle reuse, which they see as the next radical step in disrupting packaging waste reduction for wine. Though they see the possibility as a heavy lift, they are also hearing a lot of buzz about it locally and may participate in a wine bottle reuse trial in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Share Your Story<\/strong> In the food and beverage industry, packaging must convey both the qualities of the product and the values of the company behind it. Clif Family Winery, which produces and ships both wine and food items, has instilled their values in their packaging by rethinking the makeup of the product packaging itself. Their sustainability journey has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1124,"featured_media":71894,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[167,166,72],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sme-es","category-food-drink-es","category-sin-categorizar"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"![\"\"](\"https:\/\/smeclimatehub.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Clif-Family-Napa-Noir-Dark-Chocolate-Bar-1-1024x683.jpg\")
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As a small business, Clif Family Winery provides invaluable insights on taking climate action. Interested in sharing your own climate journey for potential inclusion as a business spotlight? Make the SME Climate Commitment<\/a> and get in touch<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"