Recently, the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) named Revolution Foods #2 on their 2012 Inner City 100 List of Fastest-Growing Inner City Companies. This recognition provides a great opportunity for us to reflect not just on the impact we have had on student health and wellness over the past six years and 41 million meals, but also on the high quality jobs we have created over that same period.

When we hired our first few team members in 2006, we solidified our belief that creating good, fair jobs is as important a component of our social mission as providing healthy school meals. Creating a work environment where people show up to work healthy, motivated, and committed to a job well done is a key component to creating good jobs.

We believe in:

1. Supporting our communities – we start all our hiring efforts in the school communities that we serve. Hiring parents from our school partner community ensures both that we are contributing to the vibrancy and economic vitality of the school, AND has the additional benefit of a quality control mechanism. Team members working on the production line know the meal they are preparing might go to their own son or daughter.
2. Providing opportunities for growth – when we opened our Houston culinary center in 2011, we empowered an entire team of culinary and delivery team members to travel to Houston and train their counterparts. For four of the six team members who conducted this training, this was their first time on an airplane. Talk about moving up! I can tell story upon story about team members like Aida who joined our company as employee #8 to start a culinary career. Entering as a prep cook, Aida has been promoted to positions of increasing responsibility, and she is now a production supervisor after five years of dedication and hard work. I am proud of people like Joe, who joined our Los Angeles team as a delivery driver over four years ago. From day one, Joe demonstrated strong leadership skills, and he was promoted to Dispatch Manager, a position that holds the great responsibility of ensuring the timely delivery of over 15,000 meals per day to schoolchildren throughout the greater Los Angeles area. Joe currently manages a team of 15 drivers and receives a salary and full suite of vacation and medical benefits
3. Fair wages and benefits – we believe in paying everyone a fair wage. Everyone in our company starts well above minimum wage, and we ensure that everyone who works full time has access to affordable health and medical plans, paid vacation time, and sick leave. We do this to ensure that team members and their families are able to be healthy and adequately rested so they can be present and productive while at work.
4. Ownership at all levels – we believe team members work smarter and demonstrate ownership over their jobs when they are, well, owners. Employee ownership helps everyone to be aligned around growth goals, financial sustainability, and ensuring a high quality product goes out the door each day.

The health of our nation is in a critical state – 42% of adults are predicted to be obese by 2030. At the same time, the health of our economy is in jeopardy. It is our responsibility and strong belief that as taxpayers, business leaders, and parents, we must create jobs and career growth opportunities to our nation that will fuel our economic health as well as the physical health of today’s younger generation.