2026 Sustainability Award Winners

Every ingredient has a story that begins long before it reaches consumers. In this case, that story starts with the farmers who grow cocoa and the communities that depend on it.

Rich Products believes a more sustainable food system requires investing not only in responsibly sourced ingredients but in the people behind them. That philosophy is central to Generations of Good, its responsible business strategy that shapes how it approaches cocoa sourcing.

Rich's is committed to sourcing the majority of its direct-add cocoa ingredients used in products sold in the U.S. and Canada through a third-party verified sustainable cocoa program. This commitment supports responsible farming practices, strengthens supply chain transparency and helps create a more sustainable future for cocoa-growing communities.

But at Rich's, responsible sourcing is only the beginning. The company recognizes that long-term sustainability depends not only on how cocoa is sourced but on whether the people growing it have the resources needed to thrive. That's why it has connected sustainable cocoa sourcing to investments that strengthen farming communities.

Women contribute about 40 percent to 80 percent of the labor needed to bring cocoa from farm to market and play a critical role in farm productivity, quality and household well-being. Yet many face barriers to training, resources and leadership opportunities.

To address this, Rich's became a multi-year partner of Equal Origins, a nonprofit advancing gender equity across coffee and cocoa supply chains.

As one of the first corporate sponsors of Equal Origins' Executive Edition program, Rich's has helped agricultural organizations and cooperatives identify barriers and create more equitable opportunities for women in cocoa-growing communities.

The impact is significant. Equal Origins programs have reached farming families in 23 countries and engaged more than 530,000 families in gender-responsive training. More than 350 organizations across 43 countries use the Gender Equity Index, which has been integrated into cocoa supply chains reaching more than 500,000 farmers across 13 cocoa-producing countries.

By pairing responsible cocoa sourcing with investments that strengthen farming communities, Rich's is helping build a more resilient supply chain while supporting the people and communities that make it possible for generations to come.

Superfresh Growers believes a sustainable workforce starts with investing in the people who make its operations possible. The company's commitment to employee well-being, education, safety and professional growth is embedded throughout the organization and reinforced through its participation in the Equitable Food Initiative program.

In 2026, it expanded EFI certification to include most of its cherry acreage, building on the existing certified apple and pear acreage. This expansion reflects a commitment to creating a workplace where employees are empowered to share ideas, solve problems, grow and lead, while also aligning operations with increasing retailer demand for third-party certification and greater supply chain transparency from consumers.

Through EFI, employees have received training that extends beyond their traditional job responsibilities, providing opportunities to develop communication, collaboration, problem-solving and leadership skills.

The company's leadership teams bring together employees from all levels of the organization to identify workplace challenges, recommend improvements and help implement solutions. By giving employees a voice in decisions that directly impact their work, EFI strengthens trust, encourages accountability and fosters a culture built on respect where every voice is valued.

The program also supports employee well-being by establishing systems that proactively identify concerns related to workplace safety, working conditions and employee satisfaction. By addressing issues early and encouraging continuous feedback, the company creates a safer, more engaged work environment while supporting long-term employee retention and development.

For Superfresh Growers, workforce sustainability means more than maintaining a labor force; it means creating opportunities for people to learn, lead and build lasting careers. Through its continued investment in EFI and employee-driven improvement, the company is helping cultivate a workplace community that supports individual growth and organizational success.

Building a more resilient food system requires investing in the health of the land, the viability of farmers and the long-term stability of agricultural supply chains. Target is partnering across the food value chain to help farmers adopt regenerative agriculture practices that improve soil health, strengthen climate resilience and support the production of the food guests rely on every day.

In 2025, Target surpassed its goal of improving 1 million acres of soil health by more than 180,000 acres – an important milestone that demonstrates the scale and impact of this work.

Rather than pursuing a single solution, Target has collaborated with suppliers, nonprofit organizations and industry partners to help accelerate regenerative practices across diverse agricultural landscapes. These partnerships include the Nebraska Soil Carbon Project with Cargill and McDonald's; a Minnesota initiative with MBOLD, The Nature Conservancy and Hormel Foods; projects with Hershey's and United Sugar supporting sugar beet growers in the Red River Valley; the Midwest Climate-Smart Commodity Program with the Soil Water Outcomes Fund and PepsiCo; and Transforming the Farmer-to-Consumer Supply Chain, a collaboration with Danone focused on advancing dairy feedstock production and manure management.

The impact extends well beyond Target. Farmers participating in these programs are improving soil health, reducing input costs and accessing new financial incentives that support long-term business viability.

At the same time, regenerative agriculture helps strengthen supply chain resilience by improving the ability of agricultural systems to withstand changing climate conditions while protecting natural resources for future generations. By bringing together farmers, suppliers, conservation organizations and industry partners, Target is helping create a more resilient, sustainable food system. Surpassing soil health goal is an important proof point, but the broader success lies in demonstrating that collaborative, landscape-scale partnerships can accelerate regenerative agriculture and deliver lasting environmental, economic and supply chain benefits across the food industry.

Through its Recipe for Change sustainability program, The United Family is committed to making every day a better day for team members, guests, communities and the planet.

In 2025, its efforts delivered measurable environmental impact by diverting 1.89 million pounds of food waste from landfills through the Organix Recycling Program, recycling 15,656 tons of cardboard and more than 1 million pounds of plastic and keeping 20,000 electronic devices out of landfills through responsible e-waste recycling.

It also collected 212,500 pounds of used cooking grease for conversion into biofuel, sold 574,836 pallets for reuse and promoted sustainable shopping habits through the sale of 180,561 reusable bags.

The United Family's commitment extends beyond environmental stewardship into community engagement and education. It supports local beautification and sustainability initiatives, including partnerships with Keep Andrews Beautiful, Keep Odessa Beautiful, Keep Lubbock Beautiful and more.

Each year, the company also spearheads a student-led Earth Day art project, helping raise awareness about recycling, waste reduction and environmental responsibility among students in Lubbock, Texas. Through volunteerism and community outreach, team members contributed 7,000 hours of service to local causes.

The United Family also strengthens community well-being through food recovery and donation programs. In 2025, 100 percent of stores participated in food donation efforts, resulting in 977,013 pounds of food donated to local food banks, while additional donations supported organizations such as the Humane Society with items like pet food.

By combining waste reduction, resource conservation, community partnerships and sustainability education, The United Family is creating lasting positive impact for communities and the environment.

The Winn-Dixie Company, in partnership with Relocalize, has introduced an autonomous ice micro-factory at its Plant City, Florida distribution center, a centralized hub serving customers across the state.

The initiative addresses a challenge many treat as unavoidable. Although water is widely available, producing and transporting packaged ice is surprisingly inefficient. In North America, trucks move about 22 billion pounds of ice every year, creating a significant cost and environmental impact.

The Winn-Dixie Company is reimagining how a grocery retailer sources one of its most basic products by partnering with the climate-tech company to manufacture the grocer's SE Grocers Party Cubes ice locally and on demand. The fully autonomous, robotics-run production facility reduces the long-haul trucking, warehousing and cold storage traditionally required to distribute ice across Winn-Dixie's footprint.

The results are measurable. By manufacturing ice at the point of distribution rather than shipping it from distant production facilities, Winn-Dixie can reduce transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions tied to ice delivery by up to 97 percent. At full capacity, the Plant City micro-factory is projected to avoid about 16,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions annually, equivalent to the carbon absorbed by more than 260,000 trees a year.

The on-demand model also reduces water waste during production, while the packaging is certified plastic-negative, helping remove more plastic from the environment than it uses.

The innovation also is designed to scale. Since launching in April 2026, the program has expanded to 12 Winn-Dixie stores in Florida, with more locations planned. Because the micro-factory model is modular and adaptable, it offers flexibility to support future growth and extend its environmental impact over time.

Winn-Dixie's partnership with Relocalize demonstrates that sustainability and operational efficiency can go hand in hand. By producing ice locally, Winn-Dixie reduces unnecessary transportation emissions and water waste while delivering a fresher, high-quality product to neighbors.

As a visible green innovation customers can experience firsthand, the model offers a scalable blueprint for Winn-Dixie's continued work to build a more sustainable supply chain.

Tops Friendly Markets has embedded sustainability into every aspect of its operations through innovative food waste reduction, recycling, energy efficiency and community partnerships that deliver measurable environmental and social impact.

In 2026, Tops has recycled 157,447 tons of cardboard and newspaper, 2,732 tons of plastic bags and stretch film, 2,533 tons of used cooking oil and 5,545 tons of organic materials, significantly reducing landfill waste while advancing a circular economy.

Recognizing that the most sustainable food is food that is eaten, Tops has developed multiple initiatives to keep edible food out of landfills. Through its Fresh Recovery Program, operating in all 130 New York stores in partnership with Feeding New York State, Tops donated 1.6 million pounds of food to local food banks and pantries, with every pound tracked and reported.

Through its partnership with Flashfood, available in 84 stores, customers purchase products nearing their best-by dates at discounts of up to 65 percent. The program has saved shoppers more than $8.9 million while preventing over 3.3 million pounds of food from entering landfills.

For food that cannot be donated, Tops expanded its Food Waste De-Packaging Program with Denali, separating packaged meat, dairy, bakery, prepared foods and other organics from packaging to create compost. Recovered material increased from 25,320 pounds to 87,720 pounds in just over a year and the program has expanded to 20 stores.

Tops also pioneered customer-facing composting through its From Scraps to Soil initiative with Farmer Pirates Compost. Building on commercial composting at 18 stores that has diverted 455,289 pounds (228 tons) of organic waste, community composting pilots in Hamburg and North Tonawanda now engage 56 households and have already composted nearly 5,300 pounds of food scraps.

Energy efficiency is another cornerstone of Tops' sustainability strategy. Beginning with 26 stores, Tops implemented advanced energy modeling to optimize HVAC, refrigeration and lighting systems. The initiative expanded to 42 stores, delivering immediate operational savings, with 12 stores achieving first-year energy reductions of 1.8 percent to 5.76 percent while unlocking additional utility incentives and refrigeration retro-commissioning opportunities.

Kayla Gutfran has helped make sustainability at Vermont Smoke & Cure not only an environmental commitment but a people-first workplace practice. Through her leadership in human resources, training, engagement and community programs, she has helped cultivate a healthy, resilient, member-centric culture that supports the team inside the smokehouse and the Hinesburg community.

Her impact is measurable. Vermont Smoke & Cure has maintained strong year-over-year workforce stability, averaging above 95 percent fill/retention rates, with employee engagement close to 90 percent. These results reflect a workplace culture where team members feel supported, included and invested in the company's future.

Gutfran also has built the infrastructure to make that culture sustainable. She received her DDI certification to lead internal leadership development, helping supervisors and emerging leaders strengthen the skills needed to support, coach and retain their teams.

She helped implement Paylocity to elevate training, communication and employee development, creating a more consistent and accessible platform for learning and growth.

She has championed English classes to better support team members, improve communication and create more opportunity across the workforce. Her focus on development, growth, health and wellness has been instrumental in making Vermont Smoke & Cure a place where people can build long-term careers.

Gutfran's leadership also extends into community sustainability. In 2026, she helped organize Vermont Smoke & Cure's participation in Vermont Green Up Day, coordinating team members across two shifts to help clean up Hinesburg as part of Vermont's 56-year statewide tradition.

Year-over-year she has also supported community giving efforts, including the NRG Food Drive Competition, where the team donated 380 pounds of food and household goods to the Hinesburg Food Shelf, then added 1,000 more sticks for a total contribution of 440 pounds, surpassing the prior year's 336 pounds.

The team has also supported A New Place's Annual Celebration of Trees with a Vermont Smoke & Cure "Go Further" tree to help raise funds for local families experiencing homelessness.

Vermont Smoke & Cure's purpose is to help people "Go Further." Gutfran brings that purpose to life by investing in the people who make the company's products, strengthening the culture that keeps its workforce engaged and creating meaningful ways for the team to give back.

Over the last decade, Wegmans has transformed how waste is managed across its operations through a Zero Waste initiative focused on keeping materials out of landfills and putting them to better use through food donation, composting, recycling and reuse.

The initiative began in 2016 as a single-store pilot in Canandaigua, New York, where associates rethought how materials moved through the store and achieved an 82 percent recycling rate within the first 10 months. The pilot proved that meaningful waste reduction was possible with the right processes, training and employee engagement.

Following its success, Wegmans expanded the program to one store per division in 2017, refining best practices and proving the model could scale. By 2021, Zero Waste had been implemented across all Wegmans stores, embedding sustainability into daily operations throughout the company.

The results have been significant and measurable. Wegmans increased its company-wide recycling rate from 64.4 percent in 2016 to more than 80 percent in 2022, exceeded 85 percent in 2024 and achieved an average recycling rate of nearly 89 percent in 2025.

The biggest factor in achieving such a high recycling rate is rescuing food that is no longer saleable but still good for human consumption. In 2025, Wegmans donated more than 36.8 million pounds of food through its food rescue and donation programs, helping reduce waste while supporting neighbors experiencing food insecurity.

Strategic partnerships have been critical to the program's success. Wegmans works with Natural Upcycling to divert food waste from landfill and transform it into valuable resources. At the Wegmans Organic Farm, a partnership with CRDC Materials gives hard-to-recycle agricultural plastics a second life as durable building materials.

Most importantly, Zero Waste is powered by employee ownership. Every day, Wegmans employees make decisions that support food donation, recycling, composting and waste reduction efforts. Their commitment has transformed Zero Waste from a single-store pilot into a companywide culture of accountability and continuous improvement.

Wegmans remains committed to its long-term goal of sending zero waste to landfill while demonstrating that sustainability can be successfully integrated into daily retail operations at scale. Through measurable results, innovative partnerships and the dedication of its employees, Wegmans continues to demonstrate leadership in sustainability across the food industry.