SOGO's"Food and Beverage Safety Network": Ensuring Consumers'Food Safety.
Pacific Sogo Department Stores Co., Ltd.
“We are the first department store with a 100% passing rate of the government’s F&B sanitation inspection, resulting in a 21% increase in revenue and a 7% growth in the number of transactions. Management standards have risen and shoppers are reassured.”
INTRODUCTION
Recently, food and beverage have risen to importance in retail. In 2016, 20% of SOGO’s revenue came from the F&B sector. However, Taiwan’s food safety scandals pose a threat to the people’s health. Therefore, in 2016, SOGO upgraded our merchandise safety project to develop a “Food and Beverage Safety Network”, strengthening the quality of our merchandiseThe Goal, Mission and Background Determined to develop a management model for the retail industry, SOGO’s “Food and Beverage Safety Network” incorporates ESG (environmental, social, governance) factors to combat food safety concerns. We are the first to act on government policies, and promise to set an example in the industry.
FRAMEWORK AND STRATEGY
The Food and Beverage Safety Network is composed of:- The Food Safety Cloud Network: Information Transparency. We voluntarily disclose management results, our 2,000+ food assessment reports, and the source of the ingredients used on SOGO’s CSR Official Website: (www.sogo.com.tw/csr).
- The Internal Management Network: Management Precision. All our suppliers signed our CSR Code of Conduct, advancing our supply chain management, equipment and environment inspection, and employee training. We recruited 69 F&B brands to take part in this innovative program. IE: CNY dishes’ take-out containers examinations; 72 weekly sanitary evaluations.
- The External Educational Network: Raising Awareness. We have conducted food safety educational training on 10,000+ employees through events, competitions, and media exposure. IE: Held the Far-Eastern Top Talent for New Life Competition for ten consecutive years to promote culinary education, cultivating a total of 2,000 teenagers.
Uniqueness of the Approach
To promote the “Food and Beverage Safety Network”, SOGO combined the resources of the industry, the government, and institutions. Following are the 3 characteristics of the network:
- Most Transparent: 22 types of F&B information disclosed, the most extensive in the country.
- Most Comprehensive: 30 projects implemented, customized towards different stakeholders.
- Industry Leader: First to respond to policies. IE: first to apply for F&B sanitary evaluations, first to send out CNY dishes’ take-out containers for examination.
ACHIEVEMENT AND IMPACT
SOGO has taken actions that are unprecedented in the industry, and the “Food and Beverage Safety Network” is one of them. We are the first department store with a 100% passing rate of the government’s F&B sanitation inspection, resulting in a 21% increase in revenue and a 7% growth in the number of transactions. Management standards have risen and shoppers are reassured.FUTURE DIRECTION
“SOGO’s Food and Beverage Network” is in coherence with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals, “Good Health and Well-Being” and “Responsible Consumption and Production”. In the future, SOGO will continue to emphasize the concept of “Food Hygiene” to protect the health of our customers. We will also partner with food banks under the goal of achieving circular economy. Moreover, SOGO will continue to be involved in environmental related issues. IE: SOGO’s Melamine Tableware Replacement Plan in 2017 to prevent melamine resin’s risk on health while reducing the use of plastics.
The stylish and high-end retailer SOGO was founded in 1987, and joined the Far Eastern Group in 2002. As a 30-year leading department store, SOGO is committed to be the best enterprise in the world, and the best enterprise for the world. Under the spirits of “New Life Initiative” and the value of “SOGO’s Six Keys to Sustainability”, SOGO brings our strength as a distribution channel into full play and collaborates with all our stakeholders.
