It’s not about writing checks. Social responsibility is so much deeper than that. My company, sweetriot, has a social mission because we want more than just profit to guide us – we rioters do believe we can change the world! Our mission is: To create a more just and celebrated multicultural world for our next generation.

We strive to weave social responsibility through out our company, and no, we’re not perfect, but we try our best.

We view social responsibility in 3 key areas:
Our Product.
First of all, we consider what products we are creating. Are they good for the world….are they healthy…are they natural and fairly traded? Is the sourcing ethical? We worked very hard to find a partner in South America with a strong track record of social responsibility and a commitment to fair trade. Plus, we searched for a product – cacao – which comes from the most healthy & magical fruit in the world. It is a slow not fast food and we’re proud of that.
 
Our People.
As a founder of a company, I am committed to building a workplace, which is empowered, team-oriented, positive, and service oriented. On the inside of our company, we need to be responsible in order to serve our partners and rioters effectively. I work hard to create fair HR practices such as a health care stipend even though we are a tiny company. I also work with my team on work-life balance issues and making sweetriot a wonderful place to work. Once again, we are not perfect, but we try our best.

Our Partnerships.

Lastly, of course, we love to support non-profits who have similar values and ideals to sweetriot. We especially focus on organizations that celebrate culture and diversity and young people. Our partnerships take many forms but usually involve giving the organization cacao for their special events and also sending speakers and/or people to help them at events. At this point, we are not doing cash partnerships but that’s mainly because we are a brand new company and have NO profit! We will do this in the future, but it will not be JUST a check. That’s not true partnership.

Did I mention we’re not perfect? Anyone who says they are perfect at balancing all of these things is probably not in the middle of running a company. It is tough and there are always decisions along the way that challenge your ethics and responsibility. I believe all we can do is our best and maintain a strong sense of values and mission every day at sweetriot. If you have any feedback or ideas for us, please let us know!