Urban Remedy

About Urban Remedy

Urban Remedy is a plant based organic food company on a mission to reimagine the food system and teach the world that food is healing. All of Urban Remedy's ultra-fresh and ready-to-eat meals, snacks and cold pressed juices are organic, non-GMO, gluten free, dairy free, low-glycemic and anti-inflammatory. Urban Remedy is sold at over 330 Whole Foods Market locations, 600 Kroger locations and 500 Canadian locations. Founded over 10 years ago, with over 120 employees, they are also a certified B Corporation meeting rigorous standards of environmental and social performance, accountability and transparency.

The challenge: implementing a data-driven culture on sustainability reporting

Urban Remedy is a female-founded, B Corp Certified food supplier with sustainability values built into its DNA. The business had management buy-in for best-in-class sustainability practices from the start but lacked the resources and tools to implement a data-driven strategy for its sustainability reporting. When its investors, Manna Tree Partners, provided KEY ESG for all their portfolio companies, it created an opportunity for Urban Remedy to become more data-driven about its sustainability strategy. Urban Remedy began using the KEY ESG platform to submit data for ESG Data Convergence Initiative (EDCI) reporting. This includes a range of appropriate metrics on HR, workplace turnover, carbon emissions, net zero targets. Alongside this, waste management is of particular importance for Urban Remedy, and they are always looking for creative ways to dispose of their un-used food produce. Methods they have used have included crackers made of upcycled carrot pulp, or donating compost from their food waste to farms in California. Using KEY ESG’s software helped the business communicate clearly around their waste reduction strategies and track the progress of their programmes.

The solution: KEY ESG provides the structure and support to achieve their sustainability ambitions

Caitlin Heffley, Head of Customer Service at Urban Remedy, who leads the sustainability reporting function, commented that “KEY ESG has helped us get organised and get the data together to tell a compelling story around our sustainability strategy.”

Urban Remedy has built its brand around the use of top quality, organic products and having a data platform in place which supports their commitment to sustainability and enables them to communicate their values is crucial. As the awareness around sustainability and organic produce grows among their customers, it’s more important than ever that Urban Remedy is able to substantiate their commitment to the values that underpin their brand.

Caitlin goes on to comment that KEY ESG’s customer support team has been incredibly helpful in getting them internally aligned on their sustainability reporting: “without KEY ESG we wouldn’t have been able to get our 2023 EDCI report together so easily.”

Implementing a structure around their sustainability reporting has also allowed Urban Remedy to lay a baseline for where they are today and begin to set targets of where they want to be in future. To this end they have shared the report generated in KEY ESG’s reporting module with an external consultant to reveal where they can improve and develop an action plan. Cailtin says: “KEY ESG has enabled us to turn our sustainability data into an action plan and we are excited to see where this leads us in 2024 and beyond.”

Next steps: continuing to build on Urban Remedy’s sustainability reporting process and strategy

As Urban Remedy scales across the US and internationally, it will be vital to keep a close feedback loop to ensure their sustainability values are continued throughout their supply network. To this end, Caitlin and her colleagues across the business will be building out Urban Remedy’s Scope 3 carbon emission calculation and using this as another method to stay close to their suppliers. Caitlin also confesses that she “loves the reporting module” and hopes to continue to use this for more frequent internal updates to keep their employees, investors and customers informed of their progress.