Innovation

The innovation that The Neighbourhood Group of Companies (NGC) brings forth is providing quality service and products in their restaurants that predominantly focuses on environmental impacts, sustainability through local sourcing, and social responsibility.

The Neighbourhood Group of Companies (NGC), also one of the largest B Corporation certified restaurant company in the world, prides itself in operating sustainably. For example, one of their restaurants, The Woolwich Arrow achieved the Green Leadership Award in Canada, being the only restaurant to earn this award in 2013. Despite the added costs of conducting the business through sustainable methods, they strictly adhere to their goals to provide consistent, or even improving, customer value. NGC has proven money that fuels the local economy will advance the growth of local suppliers and subsequently form a virtuous cycle of development. As NGC gains more popularity, the money inputted into the local economy supports local suppliers. This in turn offers NGC’s suppliers with the capability to acquire more resources with the proceeds and higher demands, enabling room for growth and the ability to provide NGC with wider ranges and quality of supplies; ultimately benefiting one another continuously.

Apart from hosting welcoming environments with warm hospitality at their restaurants, NGC endlessly contributes to the environment and community through programs such as Kids Inspiring Change at THE MUSEUM in Kitchener or by raising money for our local river systems to improve water quality. NGC has raised $75,000 for the Grand River Conservation Foundation for the nature center at Guelph Lake to educate children about their surroundings and the indigenous people of this area, the Six Nations. These actions only exemplify some of their many accomplishments.

Desautels shared “Doing well by doing good” and “Good things happen organically,” which has certainly resonated with the local community. NGC hopes to influence younger and future generations with their sustainability goals. They strengthen the creation of a healthy prospective environment for all successors to appreciate.

NGC’s innovation relates to the purpose of the UN Sustainable Development Goal of Sustainable Cities and Communities by creating a cycle of local suppliers. Despite the fact that buying from local suppliers and farmers is more expensive for the organization, as a company NGC believes in supporting local. By supporting local farmers and suppliers, everyone that is involved in the business transactions is able to experience optimal growth and profit maximization. Thus, their innovation has meaning because as the company grows and becomes more popular, they are able to help small local farmers and suppliers grow as well. Also as they have grown as a business they have become more powerful, which allows for the company to effectively voice their opinions about what others should be doing to help sustain cities and communities.

Another approach that NGC’s innovation has is that it is their mission to ensure that all of their restaurants are 100% Ocean Wise certified. As a company, they aim to recycle and compost a great deal of the waste that they produce. In the future, NGC ultimately wishes to achieve a zero carbon footprint. Currently, in their Woolwich Arrow restaurant, the building is powered by 100% green electricity from a local source called Bullfrog Power. Additionally, their Woolwich Arrow and Borealis location in Kitchener now uses thermal solar panels that heat their water. The objective of the solar panels and power source is to reduce their carbon footprint.

Inspiration

The original idea came about when Court Desautels was living and travelling in Australia in 2006. During his time in Australia Desautels found it was first nature that Australians bought locally farmed goods. Desautels was working at the Story Bridge Hotel in Brisbane. When Desautels made comments on how impressed he was with the workplace and how they sourced their products locally, the owners looked at him in shock. “Where else is it going to come from?” they replied as if this was the normal occurrence. Desautels stated how significant the gap was between the two countries regarding sustainability.

There were two major events during Desautels’s time in Australia which inspired him to run the business at NGC in a sustainable and socially responsible context. One was the implementation of government legislation to identify the source of seafood such as the barramundi because consumers found out that the fish had previously been sourced outside of Australia rather than locally. Desautels stated, “That was something I had never really seen before here in Canada; Canadians can be complacent with certain things. The North America culture specifically was about where you can find the cheapest items and how much money can I make of it. That was the mentality.” Desautels really emphasized how these events had dramatically influenced his morals and perception and eventually inspired him to convey these foundations to his home.

The second event that Desautels spoke about was ‘Cyclone Larry’ which swept across Queensland in 2006, destroying approximately $300 million in fruit and leaving up to 4000 people out of work. With Queensland producing approximately 95% of the nation’s supply of bananas, the storm left Australia with a significant shortage of bananas. Due to this, the price of bananas increased to an all-time high $12 to $15 per kilo ($7 per pound). Instead of local customers purchasing imported bananas at a much cheaper price, they continued to buy the bananas at the high prices. Desautels stated that when this happened “Australians were lining up in grocery stores to purchase as many bananas to show support to those struggling farmers”.

Desautels frequently referred back to these two examples and how it inspired his perception of operations in a business. Desautels states “Doing the right thing costs more money, and that’s the hardest part about running a business. Trying to make all these right decisions and at these extra costs”.

Overall impact

NGC’s business innovation has made its mark through its undying effort to revolutionize the food industry in a way that promotes sustainability. As previously mentioned, Desautels is a strong advocate of home-grown/local food. He criticizes what he calls the “North American mindset”, where people attach more weight to factors such as the cheapest place to purchase items and the profit that could be generated by selling the items. He believes that such an approach adversely affects the local manufacturers (in this case farmers) and would jeopardize the quality of the business. This approach has a positive outcome/impact on his business. In his words, NGC is “doing well by doing good”.

Throughout his interview, Desautels mentioned several projects undertaken by The NGC in order to benefit society which include: raising funds to educate children on environmental issues at THE MUSEUM in Kitchener Ontario, providing free meals, hosting patio parties every Friday during the Summer primarily for families who have kids with disabilities, assisting them to raise funds for their various needs, and raising large amounts of money for the Nature Center in Guelph in order to educate children about nature, surroundings and the indigenous people.

The NGC also takes good care of its employees. Employees that work for over 20 hours a week are entitled to coverage on a wide range of medical payments. NGC, therefore seems a proponent of the famous Richard Branson quote, “if you take care of your employees, they will take care of your clients”.

NGC also attaches a significant amount of weight to the preservation of nature. Raising money in order to improve the water quality of local river systems, using biodegradable packaging, using green electricity to run their Pub, and recycling oil for biofuel are a few examples which illustrate NGC‟s environmental policy.

Mr. Desautels left us with a few valuable statements which are certainly thought-provoking:
“You have to make some sacrifices at times, but you never really break your values”
“Supporting people to do the right thing is why anybody should be in business in the first place”

Business benefit

According to Mr. Desautels, the NGC has now become more profitable than they ever have been. They receive the unwavering support of the community and their clientele keeps growing by the day. This itself is evidence enough that The NGC’s business innovation has made a positive impact on the business, the society, and the environment: “You make great relationships, you have incredible stories and you learn heaps”.

Throughout the interview, Desautels voiced that monetary based aspects are not the most significant feature of a business. He stated “If you support a local business, think of it as money going back into your local economy, and if you don’t support them; how are they going to get better?” Evidently, sustainability aspects of a company were regarded imperative to increasing the overall success of a business. Furthermore, Desautels is mindful that there are people out there who are cautious of sustainability and that his business will benefit from those who support the values and morals of the NGC. A growing number of people in contemporary times are willing to pay the extra amounts for better quality goods. Generally, this means the products are locally sourced and have not travelled across the border or country to get onto the shelves. People appreciate fresh goods that are grown or produced locally and these customers are happy knowing they have contributed to society. These customers are loyal to these ‘green’ restaurants; many are regulars and continue to invest their time and funds into the NGC.

Social and environmental benefit

The benefits towards societal and environmental aspects are emerging rapidly as NGC aims to provide local and quality products across all of the restaurants in their group. The Woolwich Arrow was the only business in Canada to receive a Green Leadership award in 2013 for its contribution to its assistance to society and the environment. The company avoids waste at every opportunity; at tables, they prefer customers to not use coasters under drinks. In the kitchen, the staff is cautious with their water use and portion sizes are suitable to prevent unnecessary food waste. All restaurants in the NGC group are 100% Ocean Wise certified, and they are mindful of clean and efficient energy use. Once the company gathered enough profits, they were even able to grow some of their own products.

Interview

Court Desautels, Director of Operations