Challenges and Best Practices in the Food Industry: Co-op

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the food industry, focusing on corporate responsibility and sustainability within the context of Co-op Food. It begins with an introduction to the industry's objectives and the importance of adhering to regulations. The main body delves into key challenges, including health and wellness trends, consumer demands for traceable origins, and the impact of Brexit on the food supply chain. The report then evaluates best practices for ethical and moral issues, such as worker engagement, fair pay, and food quality, and highlights the significance of adapting to changing consumer preferences and the rise of e-commerce. Finally, it offers recommendations for the organization to enhance its responsible practices, addressing issues like obesity, organic food trends, and the importance of continuous improvement to achieve long-term sustainability and maximize efficiency. The report emphasizes the need for strategic decision-making and the adoption of ethical codes to ensure the organization meets its goals.

Food Industry

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
1. Key challenges faced by food industry in relation to corporate responsibility and
sustainability................................................................................................................................1
2. Evaluate Best practices for ethical or moral issues within food industry................................3
3. Recommendations for the organization to make them more responsible in their sector.........6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Food industry is complex and diverse business because it is the most consumed item for
the worlds population. This industry has four main objective is to satisfy their customers, provide
safety, clear information and they have to maintain commercial viability. These objectives will
be achieved through effectiveness of food industry (Aider and et.al., 2012). This sector has to
follow related laws and regulation in order to provide health safety. For the better understanding
of this concept, this report choose Co-op Food which is Co-operative Food retailer company of
UK. It was founded in 1850 and currently they have more than 4050 shops across the nation.
This report include various topics such as key challenges which is faced by the food industry in
relation to corporative responsibility & sustainability. Along with this, need to evaluate best
practices within chosen sector and make some recommendation to improve their business in
order to maximise production or profit margin.
MAIN BODY
1. Key challenges faced by food industry in relation to corporate responsibility and sustainability
Food industry is the border term because is the most consumed item and it is necessity of
the people. In this industry, businessman has to face various challenges at the time of performing
their role & responsibility. In the business environment, whole sector will be affected due to
some factors and it further affect the production and profitability. In the UK, there are various
activities happen which affect the economy such as Brexit, health concern and other
environmental factors. There are various challenges which food industry has to face in order to
maintain sustainability or done their corporate responsibility. Some of it discussed below:
 Health and wellness will continue to drive innovation: Consumers are more concern
regarding their health & safety. Accounting to one research demand of healthy ingredient
will increase such as omega oil, probiotics etc. which is healthy and attract customers to
eat with fitness. As per the report of Food Drink & Franchise world, consumer choose
gut-friendly food, kimchi, kefir etc. These ingredients become more important in today's
life because people want to eat taste food with healthy items (Chellaram and et.al., 2014).
So food company has to change their food menu or cooking methods according to market
or consumer demand. It will increase efficiency or effectiveness of the food sector if they
flexible with the changes. In context of Co-op Food, top management have to develop
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strategy which provide sustainability and helps in achieving corporative responsibility
where organization have to follow ethical practices, regulations and workplace health &
safety etc.
 Traceable to origin: Nowadays consumers are more concern about provenance of their
food and wanted to know about each ingredient and its origin. So food sector has to
provide proper information and maintain a good supply chain to distribute food to the end
consumers. So Co-op Food company has to provide each and every information which
make their customer aware otherwise customer will never satisfy with the product. So
this is the biggest challenge faced by the food organization to change their working
method accordingly. Company have to provide true or fare information through following
ethical practices and giving information regarding origin of ingredient helps in following
rules and regulation which provide suitability & helps in achieving corporate
responsibility. To satisfy their customer needs and expectation helps the organization to
face any kind of challenges and provide market growth.
 Meet free continuous to expand market share: Customer mentality will change
according to time where they wanted paid their attention on various aspect such as ethical
or animal products. It will change the buying habit of the consumer which affect the food
company. For example: In the 2018, sale of plane based food item were 20% and non
dairy milk sales were reduce 9% to 6% in cows milk. Due to health consciousness and to
live fit will change the mentality of consumers regarding food (Dos Santos and et.al.,
2013). They prefer to eat less meat and wanted to identity their food details whether it is
vegetarian or vegans. Top level management people ensure that they build strategy where
they incudes vegetarian item in their food portfolio. In context of Co-op Food, manager
have to analyse their customer demand it order expand their market share. If organization
don't have any knowledge then they are not able to consider it. Customer preference will
change very fast which become challenge for the organization to meet their expectation.
Food sector has to ensure that they perform as per the customer requirement which
complete their corporate responsibility and provide suitability in the economy. So
manager of Co-op Food have to analyse market trend and customer requirement for
effective or efficient outcomes. It will help the organization to build strategy and take
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decision which fulfil their corporate responsibility through generating profit and maintain
sustainability.
 BREXIT: Currently UK import 30% food item from EU and remaining 10% from the
rest of the world. If any situation occur in the EU then it will directly affect the UK
because it is totally dependent for food consumption. There are various factor which
affect the food sector and it will be happen after Brexit incident. Import charges
increased such as tariffs, value of pound will be changed trade and checking across the
broader (Gaonkar and et.al.,, 2014). Exchange will increased which affect the economy
of the country as well as affect the whole food industry. These challenges face by the
organization which affect the sustainability and build difficulty at the time of completing
their corporate responsibility.
Above discussed factors affect the food industry in order to provide sustainability or
complete their corporate responsibility. For this, Co-op Food company has to develop various
strategy in order to implement and achieve market as well as organizational efficiency. In order
to face these challenges organization have to take strategic decision and timely improve their
practices which is beneficial for the company. By adopting ethical or code of best practices
organization successfully achieve their goals & objectives which further helps in maximising
their efficiency or effectiveness.
2. Evaluate Best practices for ethical or moral issues within food industry
Best practices: It is a method or techniques which followed by the organization to
perform their task in order to achieve high efficiency as well as effectiveness. It include various
legal or ethical practices which they required to perform in order to increase productivity or
profitability. Every organization have to follow code of best practices in order to satisfy their
stakeholder and achieve business goals & objectives. Some of the best practices discussed below:
 Engage workers: With the help of employee engagement, manager of the company
have to regular engage, meet or communicate with each other. Mostly employees does
not have any further interest in the companies activities. They just want their salary
every month. So management have to develop employees interest in the organizational
vision. For example: Co-op Food company done various activities to engage with
employees and make them part of the business vision. It will increase responsibility,
performance, productivity and identify their talent (Guo and et.al., 2017).
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 Rewards: In this practices, organization provide various monetary or non monetary
benefits because it will encourage or motivate the individual to perform well in order
achieve high efficiency. Through recognition their employees feel them more valuable
and attached with the organization. It positively impact the organization and it will
increase the loyalty regarding company. So Co-op Food company follow this practice
in order to increase their employees participation through providing various benefits on
the basis of their performance.
 Committed to the organization: In the business, employee relation is most important
otherwise management will waste their time to resolve their workplace issues and other
conflict. Manager have to ensure that staff members follow the common goals in order
to increase their efficiency as well as effectiveness. Otherwise it will fail to develop
strategy and decision making process.
 Clarify the goals and objective of the company: It is manager's duty that clear
organizational goals & objectives in order to increase their productivity or profitability.
Employees have to clear with organizational vision, mission or objectives and it will
further helps the manager to develop strategy for the further decision making process
(Lebovka, Vorobiev and Chemat, 2016).
 Focus on team efforts: Organization have to give extra efforts to build effective team
and make them capable to achieve their task in effective manner. Manager also ensure
that, team members not distracted worth objective or their goals which make them off
track. So manager of Co-op Food company develop strategy in order to follow best
practices for the organization.
 Conduct regular meeting: Through conducting regular meeting with staff member
will develop good relation among the employees and manager. It is the best practice
which is important to follow. Here manager develop strategy, planning, allocate
resources and provide alternative solutions in order to increase efficiency as well as
effectiveness.
Above mention best practices follow by the Co-op Food company in order to increase
efficiency as well as effectiveness. By using best practices in the organization, Co-op Food able
to achieve competitive advantage, increase productivity, reduce cost and increase profit margin,
develop innovative ideas which helps in increasing product quality or reduce wastage.
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There are various ethical or moral issues which organization has to face when they are
not follow the code of best practice. Some of the ethical issues are discussed below which face
by the food sector and it will affect the productivity as well as profitability (Lim, Antony and
Albliwi, 2014).
 Fair work fair pay: It is the biggest issue faced by the workers that they does not get the
fair pay as per their work. That's why most of people still living below poverty line. For
this governmental develop minimum wage payment which helps the workers to get dare
amount according to their efforts. Workers are more exploit so most of the employees are
dependent on federal or state benefit program.
 Decent food product: Restaurant has to produce decent food which is not hurt the
feeling of few group of society. For example: In some restaurant they served beef related
food which is not healthy for the customer because cheep beef having lots of bacteria and
fat. Currently restaurant focuses on high quality ingredient such as salt, sugar etc.
Manager of Co-op Food company done various research that served food in their
restaurant is decent or not according to the market. If not then they have to modify their
menu accordingly.
 Fast food or obesity: Due to high obesity in the food will increase heart disease, diabetes
and short lifespan in the people. It will increase the life time of an individual who have
obese and also increase health care cost (Sebastiani, Montagnini. and Dalli, 2013).
Currently rate of obesity will increased which is not good so restaurant manager have to
produce less fat item with innovative ideas and ingredient which is healthy and make
food more tasty.
 Rise in organic food: Nowadays most of the health problems occur due to food so
restaurant find by using organic food which helps the organization to make food more
taste along with healthiness. For the health of consumer, most of the restaurant use
organic items even nowadays people also wanted healthy food without any preservatives
which harm the human body.
 Shift toward e-commerce: Most of the industry such as electronic, toy & games,
automotive, retail, appliances etc. are already shift to the e-commerce side. But food
sector is very new and they slowly take efforts to shift. Various organization invest in this
area or introduce e-commerce to provide various facilities which satisfy the customer,
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their need and expectation. For example: Amazon or other company provide facility to
deliver food & beverages on customer's door step. As per the current scenario, customer
more likely to prefer online shopping rather then physically visit the store. It will reduce
their time as well as efforts. But, it will become issue for those restaurant or organization
which is not able to adopt it.
 Anti sugar movement: Under this movement, WHO and FDA take necessary action in
order to reduce sugar consumption because it will affect the human body which is not
good. Most of the manufacturing organization add sugar in their products in order to
increase sweetness and taste of food (Tansey and Worsley, 2014). It is the biggest issue
that consumer want sweetness in their food but they does not wanted to see sugar on label
along with this, they do not wanted to see artificial sweetness. Basically, customers show
their concern regarding their health so food sector organization have to find way to solve
this issue.
From the above discussed issues which ethically or morally affect the organization at the
time of performing their task. For this, manager have to develop various strategy and conduct
research regarding market trend and consumer preference or taste. These factors or issues affect
the whole food sector company. So organization has to follow best practices in order to achieve
high efficiency or effectiveness along with customer satisfaction and health. In context of Co-op
Food company, they have to develop strategy which provide huge market growth and customer
satisfaction.
3. Recommendations for the organization to make them more responsible in their sector
There various recommendation which is helpful for the food organization to follow and it
will helps in increase their efficiency and effectiveness.
 Most of the food sector organization focuses on taste or quality food which is good but
according to the current scenario they has to follow some healthy instruction.
 Food company has to use organic ingredient at the time of preparing food along with this
they have to ensure food safety or quality.
 Organization have to follow all the food safety rules and regulation along with
legislation.
 Develop a proper team for the inspection of food and its quality because customers health
is the preference.
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 Process of preparing food also need to evaluate for hygiene and quality of food.
 Organization have to use e-commerce services in order to increase product demand which
further increase the production of profitability.
 For the expensive of business they have to analyse the potential local market for the food.
 Timely conduct the food control system to check their food quality or if any improvement
required then modify as fast they can do (Wallhäußer, Hussein and Becker, 2012).
 Organization have to follow food & safety rules and regulation in context of quality food
which satisfy customer's expectation and needs.
 Food sector have to target their customer as per the consumption such as children and
young people have more capacity to eat.
 Along with this, they have to done effective marketing or promotional strategy in order to
attract more customer and maintain existing.
 Packaging should be attractive or unique which help the customer to identify from very
far without even seen brand or product name.
 Promote their product through social median which is the best platform to promote their
product.
Above mention recommendation helps the Co-op Food company to improve their
practices and it will further increase the efficiency as well as effectiveness. It will help the
organization to satisfy their customer which increase productivity and profitability. Basically,
food sector organization have to make sure that they use or produce quality product which
provide them huge success in the market.
CONCLUSION
From the above discussion, it has been concluded that food industry has to make sure that
food organization follow the best practices in order to achieve their vision or objectives. Every
business develop a code of best practices which include various laws, regulations and policies.
Along with this, food sector face various challenges which affect productivity or profitability. So
manager have to develop strategy and take effective decision to maximise their profit margin. In
addition, ethical or moral issues affect the business so they have to follow proper management
practices for the sustainability or helps in understanding their corporate responsibility.
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REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Aider, M., and et.al., 2012. Electro-activated aqueous solutions: theory and application in the
food industry and biotechnology. Innovative Food Science & Emerging Technologies.
15. pp.38-49.
Chellaram, C., and et.al., 2014. Significance of nanotechnology in food industry. APCBEE
procedia. 8. pp.109-113.
Dos Santos, C. A. T., and et.al., 2013. A review on the applications of portable near-infrared
spectrometers in the agro-food industry. Applied spectroscopy. 67(11). pp.1215-1233.
Gaonkar, A.G., and et.al.,, 2014. Microencapsulation in the food industry: a practical
implementation guide. Elsevier.
Guo, Q., and et.al., 2017. Microwave processing techniques and their recent applications in the
food industry. Trends in Food Science & Technology. 67. pp.236-247.
Lebovka, N., Vorobiev, E. and Chemat, F., 2016. Enhancing extraction processes in the food
industry. CRC Press.
Lim, S. A. H., Antony, J. and Albliwi, S., 2014. Statistical Process Control (SPC) in the food
industry–A systematic review and future research agenda. Trends in food science &
technology. 37(2). pp.137-151.
Sebastiani, R., Montagnini, F. and Dalli, D., 2013. Ethical consumption and new business
models in the food industry. Evidence from the Eataly case. Journal of business ethics.
114(3). pp.473-488.
Tansey, G. and Worsley, A., 2014. The food system. Routledge.
Wallhäußer, E., Hussein, M. A. and Becker, T., 2012. Detection methods of fouling in heat
exchangers in the food industry. Food control. 27(1). pp.1-10.
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