Antunes Honored with Global Diversity, Equity and Award

Antunes Honored with the Global Diversity, Equity and Award

A Look into the Antunes Legacy with Chief Purpose Officer

Antunes won the 2024 Global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Award at McDonald’s Worldwide Convention in Barcelona, Spain.

Earlier this year, Antunes was recognized for our efforts in Global Diversity, Equity & Inclusion initiatives. As a purpose driven company, people are our 1st Core Value.

Grateful for the opportunity to continue the Corporate Social Responsibility conversation, we’d love to give our customers and partners insight into the culture at Antunes.

Let’s take a Look into our Legacy

Q&A with Jane Bullock, Antunes’ Chief Purpose Officer

Q: Where do you see the future of Antunes’ purpose being led? And please, describe how purpose at Antunes has evolved.

A: What I would like to see for the future of Purpose at Antunes is for the idea of making a positive impact be integrated into each team members’ position in the company. Everyone is a purpose champion. We all are able to add purpose to our work. Sometimes it is by volunteering at our local community charities. Sometimes it is by designing sustainable packaging or recycling the paper and plastic in our building. Our sales team is continually looking for ways to make our customers job easier or more energy efficient. Purpose can also be helping a team member with a project, smiling a lot or saying thank you. We want people to enjoy working together. People have stayed at Antunes for years because of the people they work with.

Our purpose initiatives have grown and expanded over the last 3 years. As a company we talk about how we make a positive impact on the world often. We look at our Vision statement before every meeting and give an example of how someone has exemplified one of our core values or how they put our purpose into action. What is so special to me is when people from other companies ones ask us how we put purpose into our daily work. I see our company as leaders in the industry, but what would really be wonderful is if having purpose was the norm and not the exception. [Jane Bullock]

Q: How significant was wining the Global Diversity Equity & Inclusion Award?

A: When they announced we were the winner, Glenn and I just looked at each other and tears were streaming down our faces. We were so proud of our team as well as humbled. It gave us satisfaction when we won. All of our hard work and focus on People is being noticed and honored. We were thrilled. Our journey of diversity, inclusion, and equity has been a part of our company since we began in 1955. Team member development, engagement, and feeling respected is what our company has been founded on. We want to be an enduring great company for years to come and it is our team members and future generations of team members who are going keep us growing for years to come. [Jane Bullock]

Q: As Antunes grows, what new CSR, sustainability and DEI initiatives is Antunes team implementing?

A: The area of CSR, Sustainability and DEI is continually changing. It is important for the leadership team to be aware of what new trends are emerging. We know that there are more and more regulations being introduced that will be affecting all companies. We are all responsible to clean up the planet. I often say, there is no plan B. This is the only planet that we have. For Antunes, we are looking to be more metric driven. We want to be able to quantify the impact our initiatives have on our people, our customers and our planet. We want to make sure our initiatives make sense for our business. Also, what I find really exciting is that our team members are very engaged in our sustainability or how we can be more inclusive. We have more ideas than we have time to implement. This is really rewarding to see our efforts reach our team members. [Jane Bullock]

Q: As Chief Purpose Officer, what words of encouragement do you have for other foodservice industry partners to take action on their Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Corporate Social Responsibility and sustainability legacy?

A: Government regulations in each of these areas is only the beginning. It is the responsibility of businesses to raise the bar by doing more to ensure that we have safe and inclusive workplaces. All businesses are responsible to work to reduce our carbon footprint and to reduce waste. We also have a responsibility to give a helping hand to those in need through volunteering and through donations. People want to give a hand up to others. What I hope is that after Glenn and I move on so to speak, we hope that our legacy of giving back and making a positive impact is continued for many, many years to come. [Jane Bullock]

Learn about Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability at Antunes.