LENEXA, KS — Hostess Brands shared its 2022-23 Corporate Responsibility Report, Inspiring Moments of Joy with Transparency and Progress, which notes key achievements and initiatives for the company’s four priority areas: people, product, planet and governance.
“At Hostess Brands, we put corporate responsibility at the heart of everything we do, and I’m proud of our team for the actions they have taken to advance our journey as a socially responsible company,” said Andy Callahan, president and CEO of Hostess Brands. “This report demonstrates our tangible commitments to our stakeholders, including the communities in which we live and work.”
Under the people area, Hostess’ initiatives center on health and safety as well diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. The company announced a partnership with the National Alliance on Mental Illness in September 2022, emphasizing the importance of mental health resources for its employees and committing to a stigma-free workplace.
In the product priority area, Hostess made a number of commitments to support its product marketing and nutrition, responsible ingredient sourcing, and food safety and quality objectives. This includes joining the Children’s Food & Beverage Advertising Initiative in 2022 and promising to not advertise to children under 13. Additionally, the snack company partnered with SeeHer in 2023, a movement with a mission to increase accurate representation of women and girls in marketing. Hostess’ seven facilities were also audited by the British Retail Consortium Global Standards and received AA certifications. The company set a goal of A+ or higher during unannounced audits for 2023.
The report also called out the company’s efforts in the planet area, namely utility and packaging lifestyle management. Hostess shared that it’s continued a positive trend across its Carbon Disclosure Project scores and recorded a decrease in water consumption, with initiatives in place to continue reduction. Work in this area also includes using recyclable folding cartons and corrugated packaging and removing 1 million pounds of material from packaging in 2022.
Lastly, the governance area denotes additional work regarding board oversight on corporate initiatives, ethics, risk management and diversity. Darryl Riley was named the company’s first chief sustainability officer in 2022, with the responsibility to continue integrating sustainability throughout the company.
View the full Corporate Responsibility Report here.
