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About Sweet Street

Our Environment – Landfill Free

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Our desserts go beyond just quality ingredients. They represent a sincere dedication to our planet, community, and employees. Through socially responsible procurement practices, we strive to ensure a sustainable environment for generations to come. This commitment extends to our partners and customers alike. 

Recycling & Waste Reduction: 

We recycle cardboard, aluminum, metal, plastics, and paper instead of sending them to landfills. Waste is either recycled or used fuel to generate electricity at a nearby power plant, reducing waste hauling by nearly 1000 tons over 2 years. We’re committed to becoming landfill free! 

Energy Conservation:

Our bakery prioritizes energy conservation and continually seeks ways to reduce our environmental impact. Recent initiatives include installing variable frequency drives to lower fan speeds (electricity reduction), and using heat from our product cooling system to heat plant water year-round. 

Greener Packaging:

We produce frozen desserts shipped around the world and we must deliver these in the finest condition with zero food safety issues. In addition to meeting food grade standards, over 95%of our plastic packaging is recyclable number 1 or 6. We have reduced the size of our packaging, and our mailing carton is made from recycled material. In fact, 46% of the fiber used to make all of our corrugated packaging is recovered/recycled. Our corrugated packaging suppliers are certified by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative.

Sustainability:

  • Our palm oil is both organic and certified sustainable by RSPO (Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil). This certification guarantees that our palm oil products adhere to rigorous standards of sustainable production. 
  • We incorporate more than 35 sustainable chocolates in our bakery. Although these chocolates may not carry “certified sustainable” labels, our suppliers offer similar certified chocolates at a higher cost.

Our suppliers adhere to sustainable practices, essential for ensuring the ongoing global sourcing of cocoa beans and enhancing the well-being of farmers and their communities. These initiatives encompass:

  • Crop protection and productivity – Supporting long-term stability and success through improved efficiency, cultivating higher quality seedlings and generating sustainable increased yields for farmers.
  • Advancement of Women – partnering on projects to help overcome barriers for women cocoa farmers.
  • Addressing Child labor – working towards a supply chain where no children are submitted to dangerous or forced work on cocoa farms.
  • Financing & Loans – empowering families in impoverished communities to earn a living wage via cocoa-growing.

Sustainability is at the core of everything we do. Through recycling, energy conservation, and eco-friendly packaging, we’re reducing our environmental impact. Our socially responsible procurement practices ensure that our desserts meet top quality standards while supporting a sustainable future. Partnering with suppliers committed to sustainability helps empower cocoa farmers and communities, safeguarding our resources for future generations. 

Click Here for more details, and to download our Social Impact Statement.


The post Our Environment – Landfill Free appeared first on Sweet Street Desserts.

Our Environment – Landfill Free

By About Sweet Street, blog, Industry News, Interesting Facts Comments Off on Our Environment – Landfill Free

Our desserts go beyond just quality ingredients. They represent a sincere dedication to our planet, community, and employees. Through socially responsible procurement practices, we strive to ensure a sustainable environment for generations to come. This commitment extends to our partners and customers alike. 

Recycling & Waste Reduction: 

We recycle cardboard, aluminum, metal, plastics, and paper instead of sending them to landfills. Waste is either recycled or used fuel to generate electricity at a nearby power plant, reducing waste hauling by nearly 1000 tons over 2 years. We’re committed to becoming landfill free! 

Energy Conservation:

Our bakery prioritizes energy conservation and continually seeks ways to reduce our environmental impact. Recent initiatives include installing variable frequency drives to lower fan speeds (electricity reduction), and using heat from our product cooling system to heat plant water year-round. 

Greener Packaging:

We produce frozen desserts shipped around the world and we must deliver these in the finest condition with zero food safety issues. In addition to meeting food grade standards, over 95%of our plastic packaging is recyclable number 1 or 6. We have reduced the size of our packaging, and our mailing carton is made from recycled material. In fact, 46% of the fiber used to make all of our corrugated packaging is recovered/recycled. Our corrugated packaging suppliers are certified by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative.

Sustainability:

  • Our palm oil is both organic and certified sustainable by RSPO (Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil). This certification guarantees that our palm oil products adhere to rigorous standards of sustainable production. 
  • We incorporate more than 35 sustainable chocolates in our bakery. Although these chocolates may not carry “certified sustainable” labels, our suppliers offer similar certified chocolates at a higher cost.

Our suppliers adhere to sustainable practices, essential for ensuring the ongoing global sourcing of cocoa beans and enhancing the well-being of farmers and their communities. These initiatives encompass:

  • Crop protection and productivity – Supporting long-term stability and success through improved efficiency, cultivating higher quality seedlings and generating sustainable increased yields for farmers.
  • Advancement of Women – partnering on projects to help overcome barriers for women cocoa farmers.
  • Addressing Child labor – working towards a supply chain where no children are submitted to dangerous or forced work on cocoa farms.
  • Financing & Loans – empowering families in impoverished communities to earn a living wage via cocoa-growing.

Sustainability is at the core of everything we do. Through recycling, energy conservation, and eco-friendly packaging, we’re reducing our environmental impact. Our socially responsible procurement practices ensure that our desserts meet top quality standards while supporting a sustainable future. Partnering with suppliers committed to sustainability helps empower cocoa farmers and communities, safeguarding our resources for future generations. 

Click Here for more details, and to download our Social Impact Statement.


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Celebrating Women’s Contributions 

By About Sweet Street, blog, Industry News, Stay Amazed~ Sandy Solmon Comments Off on Celebrating Women’s Contributions 

Below is a small part of our story in advocating for Women. The journey we are on, in forging opportunity, was made possible by all of the American Women who celebrated and shared American desserts long before us. Click here to learn fun facts of American Women, American Desserts.

Empowering Opportunities for Women and Beyond:

At Sweet Street, we are committed to providing opportunities for women and all individuals seeking to advance in their careers. We ensure that growth opportunities are available to all who strive for personal and professional development. In Pennsylvania, our Founder and CEO, Sandy Solmon, has been recognized as one of the 50 Best Women in Business, highlighting her significant contributions to the state’s economy and communities. 

We believe in learning from diverse experiences and embracing each other’s strengths. Our workplace culture fosters collaboration, cultural vibrancy, and inclusion, mirroring the diversity of our beloved city. For instance, 60% of our production supervisors have been promoted from entry level positions. 

Our Partnerships:

Sweet Street Desserts is proud to collaborate with a range of esteemed partners, including:

  • The Schmidt Center at RACC.
  • Greater Reading Chamber Alliance.
  • Manufacturer’s Resource Center.
  • Advanced Manufacturing Industry Partnerships.
  • Berks County Community Foundation.
  • Literacy Council of Reading-Berks. 

These partnerships allow us to engage with our community, support local initiatives, and contribute to the growth and development of our region. Through these alliances, we strive to foster innovation, promote education, and make a positive impact on the lives of individuals and families in our community.

Our efforts to provide transformational opportunities extend globally, including through initiatives like the Honduran Cocoa Program.

Supporting Women Farmers

We are delighted to collaborate with the Chef4Kids organization for our Gluten Free Manifesto Honduran Chocolate Brownie. Through our partnership and others, the Honduran Cocoa Program engages with three cocoa cooperatives across two Honduran communities, offering training, education, and support for women farmers. This initiative equips them with the skills and income necessary to uplift their families and villages, while also imparting sustainable farming practices to ensure long-term land vitality for future generations. 

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World Central Kitchen: Supporting Ukraine

By About Sweet Street, blog, Stay Amazed~ Sandy Solmon Comments Off on World Central Kitchen: Supporting Ukraine

On behalf of the entire Sweet Street family, we have made a donation to World Central Kitchen (WCK) directly supporting their humanitarian work in Ukraine. Since the war began, WCK has served over 37 million meals at over 3,000 distribution sites across 8 countries. Our contribution allows WCK to provide 10,000 meals to refugee families and those who remain in Ukraine.

“Like most of us, since the beginning of this war I thought “What can we do to help?”. Then, Brice Holland, R&D Strategy Manager, suggested supporting the efforts of WCK. We began researching, to see how they utilize donation money and found that through their network and partnerships every dollar directly supports communities impacted by crisis. ” – Sandy

Founded in 2010 by Chef José Andrés, World Central Kitchen (WCK) is first to the frontlines, providing meals in response to humanitarian, climate, and community crises. WCK sources and hires locally whenever possibly, in an effort to jump-start economic recovery through food. “Sometimes you just need to decide to do something. Sometimes you just have to show up with a sandwich or some warm rice and beans.” – Jose Andres

At Sweet Street, The Power of Good Food Shared inspires all of us to create the most luscious, indulgent foods. But more than that, we know that the true POWER in sharing good food is compassion, togetherness and hope.  It is your hard work and dedication that make contributions like this possible.

Thank you for helping make the world a sweeter place to be.

For more information on how this donation will impact families in Ukraine follow #ChefsForUkraine on social channels.

 

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Landfill Free by 2025

There is more behind out desserts than fine ingredients. There is a heartfelt commitment to our planet, our community and our people. Adhering to socially responsible purchasing, ensuring our world can flourish for future generations. This is our commitment to our partners and customers.

In 2022, Sweet Street announced the Landfill Free by 2025 initiative. By partnering with sustainable energy plants, the bakery’s waste stream will be converted to biodiesel fuel and all remaining materials will be recycled or used as fuel to generate electricity. 

Biodiesel is a renewable, biodegradable fuel manufactured domestically from vegetable oils, animal fats, or recycled restaurant grease. Biodiesel meets both the biomass-based diesel and overall advanced biofuel requirement of the Renewable Fuel Standard. Renewable diesel, also called “green diesel,” is distinct from biodiesel. (https://afdc.energy.gov)

We recycle cardboard, aluminum, metal, plastics and all paper. Rather than sending waste to a landfill, we either recycle or use it as fuel to generate electricity at a nearby power plant. It also lowers our number of hauls, which conserves gas and reduces emissions. By doing so, we reduced our waste hauling by nearly 1000 tons over 2 years. We are aggressively working toward our goal, being completely landfill free by 2025.

We produce frozen desserts shipped around the world and we must deliver these in the finest condition with zero food safety issues. In addition to meeting food grade standards, over 95% of our plastic packaging is recyclable number 1 or 6. We have reduced the size of our packaging, and our mailing carton is made from recycled material. In fact, 46% of the fiber used to make all of our corrugated packaging is recovered/recycled. Our corrugated packaging suppliers are certified by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative.

Our bakery operates with an energy conservation mindset. We are constantly looking at ways to reduce our environmental footprint. Recent projects have included installing variable frequency drives to reduce fan speeds where possible (electricity reduction), automating cooling tower operation to better control water usage (water reduction) and utilizing heat dissipated by our product cooling system to heat our plant water year round.

Read more about our social and environmental responsibility here.

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Welcome to Luscious

By About Sweet Street, blog, Stay Amazed~ Sandy Solmon Comments Off on Welcome to Luscious

[Editor’s note– We’ve been posting about our delectable desserts for ages, but it’s time we let you hear directly from our Founder and CEO, Sandy Solmon. Just as our products have long been distinctive in the world of desserts, Sandy is becoming a distinctive voice in the wider and wilder world of food. Stay tuned as Sandy shares her thoughts on flavor and taste, innovation, chocolate, sourcing, additives, and the secret of life.]

Back in the tumultuous early 1970s, in the quiet morning hour before dashing off to an assignment as a photojournalist in Berkeley, CalifornPhoto 2 Sandys Sour Creamia, I found almost mystical solace in making and serving my cinnamon swirled sour cream coffee cake. It was a touchstone then as it is now. My friends and I were young, footloose adventurers, but when we came together in my kitchen for much needed conversation and coffee, it was as if I’d brought ‘home’ to the table. Everything about that cake was grounding for me – the baking process, the aromas, the buttery crumb, and the way it reminded everyone of their grandmothers, only better.

A few years later, in 1979, I founded Sweet Street Cookie Co., baking giant sharable cookies in a 2-bay garage and selling them in my little shop out of big glass jars. For me, this was a profoundly satisfying way to share my passion for all things delicious, and I like to think we’ve been making the world a sweeter place ever since, with our products now served in restaurants, cafes and hotels in 65 countries across the globe.

I believe the pleasure we all get from sweet, luscious food should be honored with well-crafted treats made with honest ingredients and shared with people we love. Whether I’m mixing up a batch of nostalgia or pushing the boundaries of innovation, I have learned that desserts open doors, hearts, and conversations. Show up at a friend’s house with one of my desserts in hand and you’ll see what I mean.

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The doors keep opening. As soon as the snow melts, we’ll fire up the motor on our Mobile Art Kitchen™ (M.A.K.™), an amazing phenomenon some might call a “food truck,” but we call it a collaboration of artists, videographers, chefs and bakers bringing American food to the streets of Paris and … Milan.

Hi Res Sandy Truck Web (7)Yes, Milan. I’ll tell you more about our M.A.K. truck in a future post – and more than a few fantastic innovations – but it the meantime, we have some very big news:

Sweet Street is joining the James Beard Foundation and other culinary illuminati in the USA Pavilion at Expo Milano 2015, where our desserts will be offered at Food Truck Nation. The Mobile Art Kitchen will be stationed on the streets of Milan to delight the locals, tourists and Expo visitors from May through October. Buon appetito!

Stay amazed,

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P.S. I was so proud of the coffee cake I put my own name on it.

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