Setting Benchmarks with Sustainable Food

Steve Savell is an expert professional with a background in software development. He has served in leadership roles within large manufacturing and food companies. At Bush Brothers & Company, he led the Information Service department for 15 years before taking his current role as director of external affairs, governmental affairs, and sustainability. Steve manages the organization’s regulatory and legal group in this multifaceted position while driving impactful sustainability initiatives. His strategic insights and dedication continue to be instrumental in shaping the company’s growth and responsible practices.

In an interview with Food Business Review magazine, Savel shares his insights on the challenges and emerging trends in the food sustainability industry and the experiences he has gathered in the domain.

Could you tell us about your journey so far in the industry and the roles and responsibilities in your current position?

Until a few years ago, my career has been primarily technology focused. I came up in the software development world, working for large manufacturing and food companies.

Later I joined the Bush Brothers & Company and led the information service department for 15 years before I stepped into my current position as director of external affairs, governmental affairs, and sustainability. I manage our organization's regulatory and legal group, and I've been executing it for four years.

What are some of the challenges that are prevailing in the food sustainability Space?

From a sustainability standpoint, as a food and beverage company, we must be mindful of our products' carbon footprint and how our consumers are using them. We also have to go upstream and rethink how to control it as much as possible in the manufacturing stages.

As a food company that takes raw materials from the agricultural world for products, we feel equally responsible for the farms where the raw materials have been grown and understand how it moves through the food service chain.

Considering other directions of the product chain, it goes from distribution centers to customers' pantries, and eventually, the package gets disposed of. There are many touch points along the flow chart of products that we are directly and indirectly responsible for.

What are the practices within the food and beverages industry that are supporting the sustainability efforts of organizations out there?

One of the challenges of a manufacturing organization is to analyze the corporate value and vision to operate in this world. We are a small, 110 plus years of family-owned business operating in rural areas. We are concerned about the people in our communities and natural resources. We operate in a safe, ethical, honest, and transparent manner.

We have come across genuine ways to tell about Bush Brothers & Company in a way that we stay true to our core values and maintain the best practices inside and outside of our organization

Generally, we are focused on manufacturing the highest quality product and placing it into the market at a consistently fair price. We are evolving as a community; consumers are interested in understanding the heart of the company they buy products from. The transition from being humble about our products to telling our story has been an exciting experience for us. We are deliberating how to reflect our narrative in a way that gives the right message with a bit of humility.

We have come across genuine ways to tell about Bush Brothers & Company in a way that we stay true to our core values and maintain the best practices inside and outside of our organization.

In terms of leading your team towards these practices within the organization, is there any particular strategy you follow to implement among your team members?

The strategy is to look at ourselves and understand the vision to operate in the 21st century. We are primarily a U.S.-based organization with a global viewpoint on our operations. Innovation is essential to have the right impact and branch out of traditional business operations.

One of the crucial parts of my work is to listen to our customers' queries. We do it through surveys and ask detailed questions about the tasks they want us to complete. Whether it's sustainability, carbon emissions, or environmental concerns, they ask us about our sourcing, practices, and policies.

Understanding the needs of customers, I discuss, with the management and employees, the assets coming to us from outside and combine those ideas with the values to position ourselves in the market.

It is vital to prioritize sustainability-driven methods to operate a business. Having a strategic conversation to weave those assets into the workflow and marketing tactics will positively impact the community.

What would be a piece of advice that you'd like to share with your fellow peers out there?

My advice is to be honest with yourself. It is essential to be open to discussions with people on different sides of the argument and be aware of the possibilities regardless of the consequences.

Thinking about the value of the community becomes paramount for us. Community means the planet and the people that live on it; operating a business in a way that adds to its well-being through what we already do is the vision we should follow.