We’re all about Lifting the Vibe!
We believe that business can be a tool for doing good. We’re all about Lifting the Vibe! Doing the right thing by the Earth, People, and the Ocean is important to us – we are beach-loving hippies at heart, and always have some new projects on-the-go to try and make a difference where we can. Here’s what we’ve been up to since the Raglan Food Co journey began …
Earth
Saving the Bees
We wanted to do something about the global issue of bee population decline, so throughout 2016 we sponsored 14 permaculture beehives around NZ for Kiwi families who applied to be good ‘bee guardians’. The beehives were made locally in Tauranga by a wonderful couple who really care about bees…and at the end of the year, we ordered a 15th hive for our own garden! Click here to learn more about how the Bee Friends project is doing good, and to see some of the hives.
Tree Planting
The water quality of NZ’s streams and rivers is a growing concern due to intensive farming, and we absolutely love the vision Million Metres have of planting trees along waterways to protect natural habitats, filter pollutants and prevent erosion. We sponsored 2,143 trees over 2017 by pledging 50 cents from each Big Yoghi jar sold over fundraiser months. Click here to learn more about how our tree planting project is doing good.
Recycling
We’re committed to using glass jars for our main product ranges – even though glass is more expensive and trickier to ship. That’s because glass has an infinite life-cycle, and can be recycled over and over again without decreasing in purity or quality. Our jars are made from up to 92% recycled glass – how cool is that!
Wainui Reserve
The water quality of NZ’s streams and rivers is a growing concern due to intensive farming, and we absolutely love the vision Million Metres have of planting trees along waterways to protect natural habitats, filter pollutants and prevent erosion. We sponsored 2,143 trees over 2017 by pledging 50 cents from each Big Yoghi jar sold over fundraiser months. Click here to learn more about how our tree planting project is doing good.
Animal Protection
We are a team of animal-lovers, and believe that animals should be treated with respect & kindness. Since 2017 we’ve been monthly sponsors of the local Raglan animal sanctuary, Paws Awhile. In 2020 we also adopted two orangutans, Rocky & Rickina, through The Orangutan Project.
RFC Community Fund
We enjoy helping out with the cool things that are happening in this special place, so we’ve created the RFC Community Fund as a way to support & promote some of the awesome local projects that align with our values!
The RFC Community Fund gives out $5,000 of grants per year – the size of each grant varies depending on the needs of the project. If you’d like to apply for a grant, head here!
People
Vibe Lifter Program
We’re all about lifting the vibe at Raglan Food Co, and know so many kiwis are too, so we’ve introduced the Vibe Lifter Program! Members of the public can nominate individuals who are doing great things for their community or environment.
It doesn’t matter if their project is big or small, nominees go in the running to win a $2,500 grant (plus a year’s supply of our delicious products!) to support their initiative, and the winning nominator wins a year’s supply too! If you want to nominate someone, head here!
RFC Local Charities
We make sure that none of our extra yoghurt goes to waste. We’ve donated our products to all sorts of great charities over the past years – some of the ones we send regular donations to include Ka Pai Kai, Eat My Lunch, (both feeding kids in lower decile schools), Lifewise Merge Cafe (feeding the homeless), and Kaivolution Food Rescue.
Fair Wage Company
Our team of yoghurteers are important to us and we believe the minimum wage isn’t the right standard to go by when paying people, considering how living costs keep rising. So we’ve created our very own Fair Wage policy, where our starting rate in the company is set at 10% above the NZ minimum wage. This means that even those first starting out in our company in entry-level production or dispatch work are able to have a good standard of living.
Team Wellbeing
We do our best to take care of our team’s overall well-being and have a number of initiatives in place. We regularly have team catch ups & getaways, we have flexibility around work hours and working from home, and give team members access to an Emergency & Well-being Fund where staff can apply to have health related expenses covered by us if they fall outside ACC.
The Game Changers Challenge
In September 2020 we ran the Game Changers Challenge. We challenged three couples who usually ate meat and dairy to go plant-based for the entire month! We teamed up with some amazing kiwi brands to provide each couple with all the tools and resources to do so – all meals were covered and they even had a weekly consult with a naturopath and bloods done at the beginning and end of the challenge.
To find out more and to see how the contestants went, click here!
Syrian Refugee Fundraiser
When we first heard about the awful situation going on in Syria, we knew we wanted to do something to help. So we got together all with our awesome foodie friends and raffled off some yummy goodie hampers, raising $1,775. This was put towards a soup kitchen effort in Lesvos, Greece, to feed the new arrivals.
The Lifewise Big Sleepout
Seb & Tesh slept on the streets in Auckland in July 2017 to fundraise for youth homelessness, raising over $2,000. Homelessness is a growing problem here in NZ, and we believe that everyone deserves a warm, safe place to sleep – the experience of sleeping outside on cardboard made that belief even stronger.
Ocean
Ocean Protection — KASM
As surfers living in a beach-town, we love the ocean and don’t like the idea of big corporations mining our seabeds for profit. In October 2016 we helped Kiwis Against Seabed Mining (KASM) to protect our oceans by donating $2,500 towards the great work they’re doing. Since then we’ve continued doing good, making regular monthly donations to chip in.
Maui Dolphins
We make sure that none of our extra yoghurt goes to waste. We’ve donated our products to all sorts of great charities over the past years – some of the ones we send regular donations to include Ka Pai Kai, Eat My Lunch, (both feeding kids in lower decile schools), Lifewise Merge Cafe (feeding the homeless), and Kaivolution Food Rescue.
1 Million Pieces Campaign
As surfers living in a beach-town, we love the ocean and don’t like the idea of big corporations mining our seabeds for profit. In October 2016 we helped Kiwis Against Seabed Mining (KASM) to protect our oceans by donating $2,500 towards the great work they’re doing. Since then we’ve continued doing good, making regular monthly donations to chip in.
Learn more about this project here!
Sea Cleaners
Our team of yoghurteers are important to us and we believe the minimum wage isn’t the right standard to go by when paying people, considering how living costs keep rising. So we’ve created our very own Fair Wage policy, where our starting rate in the company is set at 10% above the NZ minimum wage. This means that even those first starting out in our company in entry-level production or dispatch work are able to have a good standard of living.
Surf Life Saving NZ
There are many passionate surfers on our team, so it felt like a natural fit for us to join the ‘Between the Flags’ supporters club with a monthly donation to Surf Life Saving. We also support them with donations of yoghurt for special events. They are there for swimmers and surfers when they need it most and we are grateful for the amazing work they do.
Kiwis Clean Aotearoa
‘Kiwis Clean Aotearoa’ was founded by Desmond Watson in January 2019 – who after being disheartened by all the litter he was seeing, resigned from his day job and has since been travelling around Aotearoa cleaning rubbish from our beaches & waterways, with only his car and sleeper cabin in tow! Raglan Food Co was super impressed with Desmond’s efforts and we’ve been giving Kiwis Clean Aotearoa a monthly donation since reaching out to him in 2020.
