Case Study: NSF Support Boosts Mother Parkers Sustainability Strategy

Mother Parkers®, one of North America’s leading coffee and tea suppliers, is committed to a forward-thinking environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategy. Working in partnership with NSF, their strategic pillars and initiatives were aligned to meet internal mission points and customer needs.

For over a century, Mother Parkers has set out to create "a better beverage experience for customers and consumers." With headquarters in Mississauga, Ontario, and a production facility in Fort Worth, Texas, it provides private-label (own-brand) solutions for some of the world’s largest retailers and food service companies. It also manufactures its own brands, including Higgins & Burke™ Tea, Martinson® Coffee, and partner brands such as Marley Coffee®, all in multiple formats.

Founded in Ontario in 1912 as a small wholesale grocery distributor, the company remains a privately owned, Canadian-based family business. Now in its fourth generation, it nurtures longstanding sourcing partnerships and strong customer relationships.

Mother Parkers proud heritage has always embraced progress and innovation. It has consistently driven business growth by investing in new technology and product innovation, from its creation of a rectangular tea bag to the development of its K-cup compatible EcoCup® pods.

Mother Parkers has set itself the highest environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards. Over recent years, its carefully considered sustainability strategy has included:

• Developing and sourcing safe products and packaging that maximize the use of renewable and/or recycled materials.
• Building long-term relationships with suppliers of high-quality products, enabling them to reinvest in infrastructure and communities.
• Conserving energy and materials by reducing, recycling or eliminating waste.
• Ensuring safe working environments that support employee wellness.
• Respecting communities so they are enhanced economically, socially and environmentally.

Alongside these initiatives, as Shannon Higgins, Director of ESG, explains, "We recognized the need to communicate well with our stakeholders, providing them with details of our ESG performance. Some of our customers were asking for this information."

The company's challenge was to report accurately and comprehensively, with the added objective of improving its CDP accreditation rating to reflect its responsible management of climate and environmental issues. "We were doing a lot of good things but weren't reporting them as effectively as we could," says Higgins. "We needed to pull it all together."

In 2022, Mother Parkers engaged NSF for support.

While the collaboration between Mother Parkers and NSF began by improving the beverage company's CDP accreditation rating, it has blossomed into a deeper ongoing relationship. The thorough materiality assessment has laid solid foundations on which to build Mother Parkers’ future sustainability program – revising its focus on key pillars, such as emissions, energy, water and wellness.

Christien Parrott, Director of Sustainability, Strategy and Implementation, comments, "We continue to learn from the partnership – it's not just NSF doing the work for us."

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For more information, please contact us at Foodcasestudies@nsf.org.