Innovation

The innovation lies within their business model, specifically their hiring philosophy. They are a for-profit bakery that specializes in a Dutch dessert called a stroopwafel. They did not start the business solely to employ refugees, rather established it as a parallel goal focused on supporting their local community demographics. To quote Jennie Groff, the CEO, “We build our team based on investing in the individual and professional development of our employees. We currently employ 7 refugee women, and our manager who also teaches English as a Second Language to our employees. We help them build on their success, which increases their confidence so they can thrive in their new country. They know they are valued, it’s in the company DNA.” She further declared that once their profitability health can support it, their intention is to become employee-owned, offering stock options to further exhibit the value they place in their employees.

Jennie Groff shared that a defining and validating moment for their innovative business model came in 2015. She was invited to participate in a “Shark Tank” like event in Lancaster, PA., where the participants all had either established businesses or ideas for a business that would be considered socially focused enterprises. Stroopies won that event, judged by a panel comprised of members of city council and other local business owners. The feedback and responses were overwhelmingly supportive, and Mrs. Groff described it as a “crystallizing moment” for her organization. “It made me realize that the idea for our business model had broad appeal, that there was an appetite for the structure beyond those of us close to our business, it felt great!” She was invited to participate as a judge in the 2016 event, and shared that she felt both honored and energized with the number of great business ideas where positive social impacts were within the fiber of the business model.

Inspiration

The company mission statement from their website: “Our Vision of Success: To give refugees meaningful employment in The Stroopie Co while producing great products in a growing business!” There is no specific mention that a stroopwafel is a dessert cookie (if you've never had one, think of it as a Dutch biscotti). They have made their product identity secondary to the guiding principle of how they make what they make. How could you not feel inspired to support a company that puts their people in front of their product? They have made a conscious choice to embed support structures within the context of their business environment to enhance the success capacity of their workforce. They could certainly have chosen to hire employees who require less resource infrastructure, but then they'd just be making cookies.

Mrs. Groff shared her aspirations for someday becoming employee owned and also to scale into more facilities and higher levels of product distribution. This is not a charitable organization and they don't hire people they feel are not capable of learning the job. Instead, they directly invest in the sponsorship of the “whole person”; job training in meaningful work, education, cultural and spiritual support. I invite you to visit their website and watch the video interviews with the employees as well as the owners. They are building strong citizens who are loyal, grateful, and hopeful for their futures.

Overall impact

This innovation has been in place since the establishment of the company. The owners were able to make it part of the regular practice once market demand supported hiring staff beyond the owners. They saw the need to contribute positively to the realities of their community which included the annual influx of 1,000 refugees to the relatively small region. Support beyond government programs was required to assist people who were looking to restart a life and had come from dire circumstances.

This business model innovation doesn’t just relate to their sense of meaning as an organization, it is fully integrated, resourced and embraced by leadership. Stroopies operates rather like a university in its structure. They bring associates in to teach employees a trade that allows them to produce a high quality and specialty product in exchange for a living wage. The instruction also teaches them how to function at an incrementally higher level in a new country by providing educational support as part of their business infrastructure. Jennie Groff shared with me that one of her former employees has opened up their own small business in their community; imagine the story that person could tell, within eight years of being displaced from their home to a small business owner in a country where opportunities such as this are possible, encouraged and supported. “I’m so proud and humbled to have contributed to that success, god-willing there will be many more stories like that one.” The scalability of this model has endless opportunity, and endless need.

Business benefit

This is a small business, a bakery, whose sole product is a specialty dessert. It requires labor with specific training (anyone who has baked anything knows that ingredients, mixing consistency and cooking temperature are crucial), precision and care. It would be detrimental to the business to have high turnover, losing that skill and expertise. At the same time, the innovation is challenging because they are not a mass-production facility and do not have a high profit margin to devote to enhance employment loyalty solely through compensation. Their employee development and support philosophy contributes immensely to their business viability. Mrs. Groff said in the closing of our interview, “People must feel valued, must be mindful of limited resources, and must feel safe to reinvent processes – it’s dangerous to rely too long on what works today.” For your employees to behave in that manner, they need to feel safe, and they need to see their leadership walk the talk, lending credence to their direction. The combination of all these elements are enabling the success of this beautiful organization.

Social and environmental benefit

The societal benefit of this organization is manifest. They have as part of their mission statement to employ and invest in a worker demographic that has a lot of inherent job opportunity disadvantages. The people they employ are both told and shown they are valued, helping them find their footing in a new culture and society and helping to make them better citizens. They help make them better members of society by welcoming them in rather than keeping them on the periphery of their community.

Environmentally, they operate on a reasonable “on demand” scale, which likely keeps waste to a minimum, and use locally sourced ingredients which among other things contributes to lower production and transport footprints.

Interview

Mrs. Jennie Groff, CEO