SAN RAFAEL, CA — Defining sustainability goals and developing a strategy that fits a business can be challenging, especially for an emerging brand with a small team like San Rafael, CA-based Jambar, an organic energy bar company. But emerging brands are known for thinking out of the box to solve challenges, and that’s exactly what Jennifer Maxwell, the founder and CEO of Jambar, did when she was ready to create a sustainability plan.
Innovative problem solving isn’t new to the lifelong entrepreneur. Maxwell and her late husband Brian created PowerBar, the original energy bar, in 1985. It was during that time the couple developed a long-standing relationship with the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley (Berkeley Haas). Over the years, Maxwell and Berkeley Haas partnered on several projects — she established the Brian Maxwell Fellows program in honor of her husband — so it made sense for her and the Jambar team to reach out to the school for help getting a sustainability plan off the ground.
Hands-on experience with sustainability planning
Jambar was selected by the Berkeley Haas Center for Responsible Business as a client for the Center’s sustainability consulting program. In the program, teams of students pursuing MBAs collaborate with companies to solve sustainability and corporate responsibility challenges. Other program clients have included Airbnb, Nike and General Mills.
“We wanted to create a simple, actionable, realistic, long-term sustainability plan,” explained Scott Sowry, COO of Jambar. “I reached out [to the Center] late last year thinking it would be a good opportunity for us to get some real expertise to pursue our sustainability plan. What better opportunity is there than to have MBA students consult with us? It is a truly hands-on learning experience.”
The Jambar team began collaborating with five MBA students at the beginning of the year. To get started, the students analyzed best practices in the energy bar category, and looked at what other companies were doing at their facilities in terms of purchasing electricity, procuring ingredients and shipping product. Then, they turned their focus to how Jambar operates in those areas.
“Jambar already operates at about 95% efficiency,” Maxwell shared. “Our production process in general uses very little water and very little energy. This plan will increase our efficiencies and make us really look at every step of our process, from our processing equipment to our waste stream.”
Throughout the semester, Jambar met with the students at least once a week, either in person or virtually, to talk about their progress.
“We actively engaged with the students and the program,” Sowry said. “The students visited Jambar and saw our processes.”
At the culmination of the partnership in May, the students presented a comprehensive strategic plan — a roadmap — with recommendations for how Jambar could do business in more environmentally responsible ways. Jambar is currently reviewing those recommendations to determine the ideal starting point.
“We want to be able to communicate to our communities that we’re committed to the environment in the most responsible way,” Sowry added. “It’s about authenticity, it’s about quality, and it’s about philanthropy, and I think creating a sustainability plan falls nicely into that as a mission-based company.”
