Panasonic's employee cafeteria serves a menu using MSC- and ASC-certified seafood once a month. On the days when the menu is served, a banner reading "Sustainable Seafood" is hung in the cafeteria, and in addition to the menu, pamphlets and panels explaining the critical situation of marine resources and MSC- and ASC-certification are also lined up.
This initiative began in March 2018. To date, approximately 3 meals using sustainable seafood have been served in company cafeterias (as of the end of November 8).
Why is Panasonic, a general electronics manufacturer, offering menu items using sustainable seafood in its employee cafeterias? We spoke to Kosuke Kino of Panasonic's CSR and Citizenship & Culture Department about this initiative.
--When did this initiative to serve sustainable seafood dishes in employee cafeterias begin?
It started in 2018 and has now been introduced at 48 locations nationwide (as of the end of December 2020). To get employees interested and to encourage them to try the food, it is held once a month as an event.
The employee cafeterias are run by a different food service company for each location, and each location has their own CoC certification to handle certified seafood.
Company cafeterias usually offer around 10 different menu items, and if more than 20% of the customers choose one item, it is considered a popular menu item. Therefore, when offering menu items using sustainable seafood, we aim for 20% of the items to be selected.
This is because we believe that if people don't eat it, they won't be interested in it. To that end, we ask the food service company to develop menus that are not only tasty but also look good and are healthy, and we ourselves distribute pamphlets, display panels, and post announcements on the intranet about the critical situation of marine resources and the importance of sustainable seafood as a countermeasure, as well as the fact that our company is the first in Japan to start serving it in company cafeterias.
As a result, the sustainable seafood menu items have gained a reputation for being delicious every month, with the sustainable seafood menu items always making up more than 30% of the menu in the head office employee cafeteria and often exceeding 20% at other locations, and the sustainable seafood menu items are almost always sold out.
Food served in the company cafeteria(Photo courtesy of Panasonic)
--How do each company decide on their menu and the seafood they use?
The menu is left up to the school lunch company, but they think about what kind of fish is in season and then look for certified ingredients that they can procure. Many of the fish are different from the ones usually used in the company cafeteria, so in that sense, I hear it's quite a challenge.
There are other sustainable seafood certifications besides MSC and ASC, but we chose MSC and ASC because they are the only ones officially recognized by WWF as ensuring sustainability. Introducing it to the employee cafeteria is just the start, and we think the goal is to educate employees about the critical situation of marine resources and sustainable seafood, and to change their consumption behavior. Therefore, we are particular about promoting the logo and providing information so that employees will know about MSC and ASC certification and choose these certified products outside the company on a regular basis.
--What led you to decide to serve sustainable seafood in your employee cafeteria?
Panasonic has been engaged in social contribution activities to protect the richness of the ocean for about 20 years. It started with environmental education and has expanded to activities such as ocean conservation. Since 2014, we have been supporting oyster farming in Tokura, Minamisanriku, as part of our support for the recovery from the Great East Japan Earthquake.
The direct trigger for this initiative was that the recipient of the support became the first in Japan to obtain ASC certification in March 2016. If we can support "production," we thought that supporting it through "eating" (i.e. "consumption") would be a more sustainable initiative.
Through this support, I also learned about the critical situation of fishery resources, about sustainable seafood as a countermeasure, and about the progress being made around the world and public awareness of this issue. However, in Japan, both the efforts and awareness of this issue are very low. This was a major factor in my decision.
When we started looking into this, around 10% of the world's total wild catch was MSC certified, and we had also seen data showing that in Germany, 67% of the general public knew about sustainable seafood and were conscious of it when buying fish.
Since then, the proportion of MSC members worldwide has increased to over 15%, but Japan has fallen further and further behind. On the other hand, it was said that if Japan, which eats so much fish, could change, the world could change dramatically.
At the time, the company was considering measures to encourage employees to participate in social contribution activities in the run up to its 2018th anniversary in 100, and we thought that introducing sustainable seafood to the employee cafeteria would be a program that would allow employees to easily contribute to society by simply selecting the menu. Another big point was that this activity would allow the company to contribute to achieving SDGs Goal 14, "Conserve and sustainably use the oceans and seas."
Since 2014, Panasonic has been supporting the revival of environmentally friendly oyster farming in Tokura, Minamisanriku, and in March 2016, the Tokura Oyster Production Division became the first in Japan to receive ASC certification.
--With the goal of tackling ocean issues, why did you come up with the idea of a company cafeteria?
There was talk of us wanting financial support to spread the word about sustainable seafood, but donations from companies inevitably depend on business performance and can be unstable, so we felt that we needed a sustainable system that went beyond donations alone.
One of the reasons why sustainable seafood has not caught on is that it is not widely known among the general public. If it were introduced in chain restaurants and commercials were aired, it might catch on quickly. However, there is still not much demand for menu items using sustainable seafood, and costs inevitably increase due to certification fees, so I thought it would be difficult to spread the word on a business basis unless consumers understood the social value of sustainable seafood and developed an image of it being delicious.
On the other hand, I thought that a company cafeteria would be an effective place to communicate. In the case of a company cafeteria, employees are willing to listen to the information provided by the company. I thought that a company cafeteria would be the perfect place to communicate the critical situation of marine resources, the existence of sustainable seafood as a countermeasure, and the benefits to society of purchasing products with MSC and ASC certification marks.
We also felt that this initiative could become a movement that transcends our industry and not just our company. Many large companies have employee cafeterias. We thought that by introducing this initiative to other companies, it could become a new form of social contribution in which companies work together to tackle major social issues.
The company cafeteria(Photo courtesy of Panasonic)
Personally, I thought it was important for the general public to be involved. In the past, individuals could be involved in the environment, such as by switching home appliances to eco-friendly ones to reduce power consumption. However, most home appliances have been replaced with eco-friendly ones, and I felt that there were fewer things that individuals could contribute to society. In the context of CSR and ESG investment, I think that there is an increase in social contribution activities by companies, but I thought that there was a need for more initiatives that individuals could get involved in.
We learned about the critical situation of our fisheries resources, companies were now being asked to contribute to the SDGs, we were thinking about initiatives that went beyond the boundaries of our company, and we were wondering what activities individuals could do. A combination of various factors led us to decide to offer sustainable seafood on the menu in our employee cafeteria.
--The company cafeteria itself is run by a food service company, but how did you get them to agree to this initiative and build a cooperative relationship with them?
In order to provide MSC- and ASC-certified fish, the food service company that operates the cafeteria needs to have CoC certification. Our company has about 100 employee cafeterias and about 40 food service companies, large and small, are involved, but when we first started our efforts, none of the companies had CoC certification.
To begin with, most people had no idea about the term "sustainable seafood" or MSC/ASC certification. Even when we explained the background of our initiative, some people had negative opinions about the increased costs and changes to business operations, and at first, it didn't resonate much with them.
One of the companies that participated in the Olympic procurement committee showed interest. The Olympics require strict sustainability in the food they serve. If they have to do it during the Olympics, I think they thought it would be a good opportunity to practice.
Furthermore, rather than simply leaving it to the school lunch company, we proposed that we would also take part in measures to encourage employees to eat the meals, such as explaining the program and promoting it to them. This proposal gained their understanding and support, which I believe made it possible for us to introduce this program for the first time in Japan.
Furthermore, with interest in sustainability on the rise, I think it was also key that we were able to share a win-win story by explaining that this would also improve our image as a leading company that is committed to the SDGs.
A monthly event will be held where a menu using sustainable seafood will be served.(Photo courtesy of Panasonic)
We also took the lead in thoroughly coordinating with the company's human resources and general affairs departments, which are actually in charge of the employee cafeteria. Usually, it's the social contribution or environmental departments like us who are interested in introducing sustainable seafood, but in most cases it's the human resources and general affairs departments that actually act as the liaison with the food service company and operate the employee cafeteria. This means that if the social contribution or environmental departments simply propose the idea to the human resources and general affairs departments, the burden on the departments becomes too heavy, and the consideration can stall or they can give up.
In order to avoid such internal problems, I first reached an agreement on the direction with the general managers of the relevant departments within the company, then explained and discussed with the managers of each base individually, and if they had any questions or problems, I decided that they would first ask me. I also explained the situation directly to the food service companies and listened carefully to their issues and problems, which I think was one of the reasons we were able to proceed to the introduction.
--The system is being introduced at your company at a rapid pace, but how do you plan to expand it in the future?
I believe that if other companies adopt this initiative, it will lead to activities that will have a greater social impact. Currently, as far as I know, there are seven other companies besides ours that serve MSC- and ASC-certified fish in their company cafeterias.
Among these, we supported the introduction of the system at four companies: DENSO, ENEOS Holdings, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance, and Tamura Corporation. DENSO contacted us after seeing our press release, and has introduced the system at almost all of its approximately 4 locations. Another company introduced the system after receiving a proposal from a partner catering company.
We also work with a design company to allow other companies to use our sustainable seafood promotional banners and flyers, making modifications to their company names, etc., and we provide support to help them make use of them when they first introduce our products.
The importance of sustainable seafood is communicated in the company cafeteria(Photo courtesy of Panasonic)
In the future, we would like to set up a corporate network that brings together companies that have introduced sustainable seafood in their employee cafeterias or are considering doing so. We plan to share know-how such as how to overcome the hurdles involved in introducing sustainable seafood, how to smoothly cooperate with related internal departments, how to reduce the workload and costs required to obtain certification, and how to appeal to employees.
To create a large social impact, we believe it is necessary to collaborate with food manufacturers and food distribution companies. Currently, sustainable seafood for sale is handled in large quantities by companies such as AEON, but the market for sustainable seafood for commercial use, such as employee cafeterias, is still small, so there are currently few ingredients that meet commercial specifications, which places a burden on school lunch companies.
For example, they are individually packaged, and each one has to be opened one by one, which is very time-consuming. By creating a network and distributing a large amount, we think it may be possible to have commercial standards created.
We also believe that by creating a corporate network, we can expand our business by providing support for obtaining CoC certification at low cost and distribution support to small school lunch companies that have difficulty securing ingredients.
I think our activities are quite unique among the companies that are working on the enormous "ocean challenges." We do not compete with companies or industries that handle seafood, but rather see our activities as opportunities for partnerships with all companies.
In that sense, there is still a lot we can and must do. If we continue this activity diligently, we can contribute to raising awareness of sustainable seafood in Japan. There are things we can do to address major social issues, even though it is not our main job. With that in mind, we continue our activities.
Kino Kosuke
Panasonic Corporation Brand Strategy Headquarters CSR & Citizenship Department
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