Why Amy’s Kitchen’s Community Outreach Remains a Key Ingredient

From its home base in Petaluma, California, Amy's Kitchen oversees the production of up to 1 million meals a day. But President Paul Schiefer admits none of this would be possible without community partnerships - both around the corner and around the world.

"Most of our ingredients do come locally or local-ish, California, Washington, Oregon, sort of Midwest, depends on the ingredient," Schiefer shared on the "Responsibly Different" podcast. 

"But we do get some spices, for example, out of India. And so some of these farther-field communities, which are still part of us in a way, how do we really look to make sure that conditions there are also adequate?"

It's easy to keep tabs on local farmers and regulations. But it's not so easy when they're continents away. For those far-flung farmers, Amy's turned a watchful eye on sustainability and providing them with a living wage.

"And so in those cases, we've been looking at a lot of things like Fair Trade and Rainforest Alliance and other certifying mechanisms just because it's harder to be there day to day," Schiefer added. "I think it's the communities of people we touch throughout the course of managing our business that are so important."

For an institution grown from love and organic ingredients, it's no surprise that Amy's Kitchen would be rooted in the community. It's something that Schiefer says has been a part of the operation's ethos since it started in 1987.

The head of the trailblazing organic food organization noted addressing unique dietary concerns such as gluten-free, vegan, or soy-free diets and being available in places where people can easily access the brand are other ways they give back. With goodness as a foundational principle, Schiefer emphasized how Amy's Kitchen has grown into a $600 million venture but never strays from its core identity of making the best possible choices for its team members, farmers, loyal customers, and the planet.

Amy's is perpetually expanding its menu of non-GMO foods. At the moment, it features 124 vegan meals, 140 gluten-free options, 28 light-in-sodium foods, and more than 200 kosher-certified products. The innovative certified B Corp company also packages its canned goods in non-BPA-lined cans. 

"So that's our broad customer community," Schiefer said. "In our actual local community, the ones that surround our businesses and our operations, we do a lot through both food and monetary donations. I think as a food company, we have such a unique opportunity to provide great meals to people who need it."

Amy's Kitchen continually offers nonprofits seeking sponsorship or donations an opportunity to partner with the organic food line by emailing donations@amys.com.

"Our food donation program's well established," Schiefer added. "Sometimes it's just meet in the moment of where we find ourselves and being nimble enough and agile enough and just knowing that, 'Look, let's just focus on caring and we'll figure out the back end of this later on and we'll just do what's right in the short term.' And that's always been the way we show up for our local community."

Amy's Kitchen Ramped Up Food and Mask Donations During Pandemic

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the community-conscious company gave about 700,000 meals to people in need. "Knowing that there was just a lot of food insecurity and people needed that, [we donated food]," Schiefer divulged. "We did that in partnership with different food banks, different community organizations. It really depended on the location."

Also in 2020, the socially savvy brand donated more than 150,000 meals to older people and children most in need in California communities, along with 6,000 masks for medical professionals. And, since 2020 it has donated more than 2 million meals.

Schiefer revealed Amy's Kitchen has shown additional support by aiding its workers and community throughout the challenges of California's ongoing wildfires. 

"Sadly, two of our three locations have been impacted pretty significantly by fires in the last couple of years," Schiefer said of the California-based enterprise. "There's just so much support that was needed in those moments."

For its employees, Schiefer explained it meant giving them housing, trying to get them into a hotel room, and paying for that. "We were just making sure at least we took where you're going to sleep tonight off the table - at least while they figured out what their next steps were," Schiefer shared. "We provided legal advice to those employees about how to deal with insurance claims and how to try to make the best of what was really a tough situation. But we also tried to again to look at not just our community of employees, but look at the full communities that we're operating in."

The Philanthropic Work Continues for the Non-GMO Food Label

During the Santa Rosa, California, wildfires of 2017, Schiefer says Amy's Drive Thru restaurant morphed into a community hub. "We offered free food to anyone who was displaced, evacuated, lost a home," Schiefer recalled. "I was a first provider. Did that for the full first week. It wasn't even organized because it happened so fast. It was just like, here's food, have it.... It was just doing what we could to get a warm meal on somebody's plate. And then we tried to lean into it, really tried to extend that food support out to some of those different shelters and first providers."

Over the years, Amy's Kitchen has donated to various food banks and community causes that align with the entity's vision. In support of the Black Lives Matter mission, Amy's Kitchen donated $500,000 to organizations supporting Black empowerment and ending police brutality in the wake of the horrific murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery.

In addition to financially contributing to crucial causes, Amy's Kitchen provides employees paid time off to serve as volunteers with organizations in their communities they are passionate about.

"So we're a relatively large employer in the couple communities that we operate. And so for us, they're our partners as much as anybody," Schiefer said. "And we do really try to show up, be that in the school system, or local nonprofits, the parades that happen in your local hometown. It all happens in different ways, but we really do enjoy getting to know the communities that we operate within."