National food group

Project SERVE

Project SERVE - Using innovation and service to impact our community

At National Food Group, the compass that drives the company's direction is to do the right thing. ALWAYS.  

Project SERVE's mission is to use innovation and service to impact our communities.

Project SERVE is our corporate social responsibility strategy where we pledge a minimum of 5% of our earnings, along with our time and talents to help make food more accessible, provide opportunities and resources for individuals seeking a career in the food industry, and supporting our global environment.

We are proud to share what 2022 brought us in our first annual report
Click Here To Download The 2022 Project SERVE Annual Report

Project SERVE Key Initiatives

Our corporate social responsibility initiatives allows us to divide our resources into five areas of focus that allow us to honor our commitment to the community. The five program initiatives include:

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Secure Food & Funding
Help alleviate food insecurity by matching food and funds with communities in need.
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Educate
Provide opportunities and resources for students of all ages and backgrounds to learn about the food industry and its many career paths.
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Respect Diversity
Focus on being a leader in the industry for an inclusive and equitable environment.
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Volunteer
Improve the lives of our neighbors through use of our time, talents, and treasures.
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Elevate Sustainability
Continue and expand sustainability practices at National Food Group with help from our customers and vendors.

How We Got Here

As our company has grown, so has our commitment to the community, so let’s take a look at how we got here. Knowing that 40 million Americans face hunger each day, we wanted to take the first step. By creating the Step 1 program we were able to feed local families, reduce food waste, and help create a more sustainable environment. In 2021, we expanded these efforts into our new Project SERVE initiatives.

Over the past 8 years we have shared:
  • More than 8.3 million servings of food
  • Almost $2.8 million in resources
  • Rescued almost 30 million pounds of food from going to waste in 2020 alone





  • Partner with key community stakeholders to distribute food to the greatest need
  • Use National Food Group resources to assess and eliminate issues with food accessibility
  • Participate in community focused programs on preparing affordable and nutritious meals
  • Work with National Food Group vendors and customers to support food accessibility in their own communities

Industry Partner

National Food Group is proud to support:


  • Offer student scholarships to help provide culinary training to secure employment in the food industry
  • Organize internships to give real experience to high school and college student
  • Attend career days at schools to encourage and educate a diverse population on the food industry
  • Partner with local agencies and programs to teach children about healthy and affordable eating to support food accessibility in their own communities
  • Break down barriers to employment in the food industry

Industry Partner

National Food Group is proud to support:

 


  • Celebrate the diversity in our world and within our teams
  • Strengthen current policy of inclusion by incorporating implicit bias training in our onboarding and for current employees
  • Expand current recruiting pools to include a more diverse candidate base. (targeted advertisement, recruitment fairs, and personal connections)
  • Partner with local organizations and schools to recruit interns from high need communities and provide resources to any barriers students may have



  • Support National Food Group employees in donating 1000 hour of their time to local organizations
  • Provide a $500 grant to any organization with at least 30 hours of NFG collective employee volunteer service
  • Sponsor community events and programs that engage employees, partners and customers
  • Participate at a leadership level in organizations that support Project SERVE initiatives

Industry Partner

National Food Group is proud to support:


  • Help reduce food waste through programs such as Opportunity Buys® that redirects wholesome, quality food to new markets
  • Employ environmental sustainability practices in our offices where possible, like LED and motion sensor lights, water bottle filling stations, and recycling programs
  • Partner with customers to meet zero waste and environmental programs
  • Enable our Logistics teams to optimize shipping loads for efficient fuel use
  • Employ recyclable and/or sustainability sourced packaging where possible/li>
  • Seek out suppliers that are using sustainable practices

Industry Partner

National Food Group is proud to support:

 
 

Thank you for being interested in Project SERVE.

Project SERVE is our corporate social responsibility strategy, where we pledge a minimum of 5% of our earnings, along with our time and talents, to help make food more accessible, provide opportunities and resources for individuals seeking a career in the food industry, and support our global environment. Please refer to the Project SERVE (Secure Food & Funding, Educate, Respect Diversity, Volunteer, Elevate Sustainability) pillars for our organization's criteria.

We get many applications, so you will be contacted only if there is more interest. Only registered 501c3s will be considered. If you are a social media content creator, please fill out a Z Team application here.

We cannot accept applications from the following:
  • Advocacy-directed programs, animal rights organizations, species-specific organizations
  • Parent groups, parties, or personal events
  • Beauty or talent contests, sports teams, golf outings
  • Day-to-day operations or debt reduction initiatives for businesses, labor groups or nonprofits
  • Efforts to influence legislation, or the outcome of any elections, or any specific election of candidates to public office, or to carry on any voter registration drive, political contributions
  • Endowments, fraternal organizations, organizations that do not have 501(c)(3) status, private K-12 schools, religious programs or sectarian programs for religious purposes
  • General operating support to hospitals and healthcare institutions
  • Individual sponsorships related to fundraising activities, individuals, sports, and race teams
  • Organizations that unlawfully discriminate in their provision of goods and services based on race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, ethnicity, sexual orientation, national origin, physical challenge, age, or status as a protected veteran

Fill out the application if you want to be considered. The application must be completed in full.

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Are you a registered 501c3?:

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