Service, volunteering and purpose with the Chief Purpose Officer of Antunes: Jane Bullock (Part 2)

In part two of this two part conversation, Karey and Justin chat with Jane Bullock, Chief Purpose Officer of Antunes. She discusses her role as CPO, volunteering, creating a culture of giving back and more.

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Forbes Hever & Wallace, Inc. produces the Foodservice for Thought podcast. 

Forbes Hever & Wallace, Inc. produces the Foodservice for Thought podcast. 

Please rate, follow and share the podcast. Help us introduce the characters and characteristics of the foodservice / restaurant industry to others.

Forbes Hever & Wallace, Inc. produces the Foodservice for Thought podcast.

Please rate, follow and share the podcast. Help us introduce the characters and characteristics of the foodservice / restaurant industry to others.

Transcript

What does people plus food service plus conversation equal? The food service for thought podcast produced by Forbes, Eva and Wallace and hosted by Carrie Clements and Justin Alverez, the bimonthly podcast connects the food service industry through in depth conversations with chefs, restaurant equipment suppliers, food service establishment owners, and so many others that make up our wonderful industry. If you like food people and great conversation, we think you will enjoy the food service for thought podcast.
Something that was interesting to me is that according to America, corpse, almost 25% of Americans volunteered with organizations with an estimated 4.1 billion hours and an economic value of $123 billion. And those figures are from September 2020, to September 2021, which, I mean, think that's many parts of our country were knocked down. So this happened during lockdown that people were doing this. And so I'd be interested to see what 2021 2022 And then of course, that I think I want to keep tracking that. And so so that figure includes what your team members and what Antoon is doing, I think this tells us that giving back is held in high value to individuals, that sense of purpose, that funnel by you know, like in Tunis or other organizations, because we do have a lot of, you know, I know several organizations that have their core charity, as well, as you know, other this, this, this is this to me, is it creates part of the culture and the core. And it's something you know, Jane and I are going to talk about offline, because I know that, you know, I know of some of the volunteer efforts of some of our team members, you know, some people do things through their churches, but then again, some volunteer with children's, children's groups and children's specifically for children. We have somebody that volunteers with hospice, and I think there are ways that I'd like to learn from you and then even share, how do you how can you begin encouraging people to volunteer and to help them figure out where to volunteer, because that is something that I think stops people, a lot of people have it in their head, I don't have time. I don't have time. I don't have time. But they will also once you do it, you realize there's nothing else like it. For your for you personally, individually. I've noticed there isn't anything else, like doing something for somebody else without expectation of return favors, you know? How would we go about even starting that conversation at Forbes humor, Wallace?
Again, one of the first courses I took at Loyola talked about the elements of corporate social responsibility. And a couple people from a nonprofit were on the panel and said, it's really hard when a company decides we're going to have a service day on this day, and they let all their team members find some place to to volunteer. And they they want to come to our our nonprofit organization and paint a room and we've got 20 people and not enough things to do, what we really would want is, you know, we'll hire somebody to do it. Right. So the difficulty is, what kinds of activities are ready made? All you have to do is sign up. You go, they tell you what to do you feel great. You find out how many people you've served, and it's just this wonderful team building activity. So there's two organizations we decided you could go to service during working hours. One is our food bank, which is really nearby. And another one was introduced to us when this Sales team came in our VP of Sales set up a team building activity, and it's called Feed My Starving Children. It is an international organization that you put rice, protein, dried vegetables, and some other little things you put. See other soy was soy. So they put it in a little pack. And then they ship it out to third world countries to children who are starving, you add it with water, hopefully clean water, of course. And it helps the children thrive. Great lot of fun activity. The food bank does a great job with music on things like that. And then we also occasionally participate at Ronald McDonald Houses and produce a put together a meal for the people who are staying there, that's harder to get into because they're very busy. So the key is we look for activities nearby, we put it on our intranet site, we tell the managers and supervisors that there's these opportunities if your team members want to volunteer, so we set it up for people. We heard from another manufacturer in the food, food equipment. area. And they rent the bus to bring team members out. So that's why we tried it this time to see we want to make it easy for our team members to to volunteer if they want to. I think that was the biggest thing is setting things up. We have a local organization that asked if we could sign different cards, Easter cards, Christmas cards, Thanksgiving cards, birthday cards. So we brought in some of those put it out on a table during breaks. And people can just go over and sign their name. So you want to make it as easy as possible to have different activities. And then we have an event Committee. It started out as the charity committee, but the idea of getting ideas from different people, what else do we want to do? We also have many people have suggested can we do more activities for other organizations? And this is pun intended, I always say I don't want to water down our donation system flash. Clever. So that that's a good one. Thank you areas, we decided on water. Because we have the water filtration products, we donate to splash. And then food. We're in the food service industry. What other organizations can we can we support? That revolve revolves around reducing hunger and helping hunger insecurity. And I'm going to add one thing that that came up when I was talking, Glenn and I were talking with the fundraising people at our local food bank, Northern Illinois Food Bank, it's really well known, does a great job. They, they were talking about they did a survey of the people that are working for their organization, a third of them had food insecurity in their life. And we wondered, in our team, we have about 300 people that work in our facility. Here in Carol Stream. How many people have faced food insecurity? So when we went to the food bank, and they were telling us how many it feeds. They also say, you know, in case you know somebody who might need this help, the food bank is always open. They have pop up food pantry areas, we have local food pantry, if you know of anyone who has problems with food insecurity, let them know, with the idea there could be people at our building, who need the food we were packing. Let them know without embarrassing them. This is for anyone. We have six local food pantries that are much smaller that get their food from the Food Bank and let people know about it. Because they themselves might have the problem or they might know neighbors or family members who who need to know about this. And it's just spreading the word. So but anyway, getting back to your question set, have somebody set some things up, do small things. Most organizations can use five to 10 people they don't need a lot. So do something small and something that makes sense for your company. Again, we do food and water because those are our products.
Yeah, just an eye, you know. So I'm thinking while she's talking and the food bank does make sense, I think it's harder for somebody who, you know, like rises on her own in Oklahoma or Winnie and also what have you. But we so because of nafems Feeding America, we, uh, we, we started full hearts full bellies. Yes. Yep. Toys over right now, you know, we really haven't gotten the word out, we haven't done a good job of getting the word out with our customers and our manufacturers and they have their own things. But we, so we take the money that we would spend on customer gifts, you know, nuts, cookies, the things that get lost in the break room. I mean, they're appreciated by our customers, for sure. I mean, we all love that kind of thing. But we took the risk and directed that budget to getting toys for the Texas Children's Hospital, here in Houston. And then when we call the food bank, they said, Well, you know, I think we had $500 worth of food. And they said, That's too small for them. But here's a list of local pantries, and one of them was at Sarah's house, which is in Pasadena, Texas, and they service moms and their kids to women's shelter. And so, but that is open, you know, it's not it's not an abuse of it's not for abused women necessarily. It's for any women in need. And so that's, we hope to grow that. And again, you know, it's food, it's, it's really part of our culture, it's part of what we do. Yeah. Yeah, exactly.
Well, I think something that Jane said, that resonated with me, too, is it doesn't have to be this huge endeavor. Right. And it doesn't have to be this full force, every single person, you know, huge amount of time and effort. And it can be something small. And I think that trips people up, right? You said that before, Carrie, if I don't have time, I don't have time. Well, maybe if we reframe it as if we can just help a little bit here. And I'm can help a little bit there. And we can do something here and do something there. That's a great way to get the ball rolling. And then Kerry also, you said another good point, too. And one day, this is a little odd for me. But you said that there's no, there is not a feeling like it right. So it's, it's kind of it encourages more behavior of that, you know, when you do that, and you get to help impact a situation or someone, then it kind of encourages you to kind of do that again and again and again. And that's great. Right?
Yeah, it's a, it's, it is, you know, when you talk about corporate responsibility, we have health care programs for our team members, we, you know, we we do things with the individual in mind as much as we can. And I would like to, I'd like to share that feeling. Because I can tell you when you're struggling in your personal life, and we all do, and your whatever the struggle is giving of your time to somebody is in many cases, you know, I'm not talking about mental health issues, that it's not a cure for that necessarily, but it is certainly something that helps to be able to give back to somebody who, and those small things right where they say, I don't know the quote, but it's a ripple. Ripple. Yes, exactly. It makes a difference. So and sometimes it's the intense, right?
Yeah, so it's been very effective. We're still trying to figure out, can we get more team members involved, but we definitely don't want people to feel obligated. And the fact that Glen and I are the owners and the one, we're the ones that are pushing it, we don't have it as a goal. That is like part of our bonus metrics are something having enough learning hours. Training and Learning hours is part of our bonus program. But we don't want volunteering. We don't want people to feel obligated like they have to because the owners want us to. So we have a goal of 1000 volunteer hours. Overall not not volunteer hours during working hours, but service and volunteering from anywhere. It's a goal, but if we don't hit it, we don't hit it. It doesn't affect anybody's bonus. So we want to encourage people, but if they if they don't want to they want to come to work, they want to do their work and they want to leave great if they want to volunteer here, and they don't want to tell us where they're volunteering and we can't donate to their organization. That's fine. So it's this balance of you want to encourage people you want to because it does make you feel good, but you don't want to push it. And I asked some of the crew member who went with us recently to the food bank, I said, Why do you think other people aren't coming? And they said, they don't know what to expect? They're out of their comfort zone. If some of us go and tell them how easy it was and how nice it was. Maybe they'll want to come? Yeah, reading.
That's, that I'm sure it's a lot of for people. It's, it's very hard. For some of us to get out of our comfort zone. Yes, I think one of the gifts of being in sales, or as a rep is, you live your day outside of your comfort zone. And so that, you know, the things that come up that you have to contend with that, you know, they do take you out of your comfort zone. But even something like that, it is hard to show up it I when I was on volunteer match.com. That's how I found where I wanted to volunteer. And I looked for a long time. Before I would just before I picked up the phone, you know, and this was an organization where it was an email or phone, they didn't have a website for the volunteering efforts that they needed. And so I couldn't get a lot of information, it took me probably two or three months to work up the courage to do it. So I get that I get it. And yeah, I think I think the team members that are going and sharing will have a large impact. Yes, I
think so too.
It's patience, right? You gotta have patience and let it go slow.
Right, right, let's let people come up with some of the ideas. So basically, we do have a few guidelines of when would we say no to an organization? And when would we say yes. And like when somebody's child is doing a fundraiser for, for good cause for their school or Girl Scout troop or whatever. We can't honor all of those. But we do say if there is a national organization that you're raising money for, that's great. And like I said that to other organizations, MS and breast cancer awareness. Those are very near and dear to several of our team members. So when something like that comes up, we as a team discuss, should we do another fundraiser? Should we do an activity? But we can't do it for everyone? And that's where it gets difficult. You know? Well, you did it for them. Why aren't you doing it for me? So we have to have that clear in our head? When we're going to say yes, and when we're gonna say no.
Yeah, absolutely.
All right. Well, Carrie, before we wrap up here, are there any final questions that you wanted to ask and or Jane, is there any final theme or thought that you wanted to leave us with?
I do. I do have a question. I know because intuitives is a planner, and you're always taking in information and stewing on it and discussing it. And there's collaboration. What's next for you guys? As far as your role and whether it's internally or externally? What's that?
Oh, my gosh, Carrie, that is interesting, because I am not 100% sure what's next? I was talking so our daughter Sarah is not ready to be my successor. Let's say. I would like to cut back a little. So we are thinking about how do we keep this going and not necessarily be spending so much time? So that's an interesting question. But another area that we I would say we're weak in the community involvement. So one area that is very near to near and dear to Glenn is our apprenticeship program. So Glen and I met as Catholic school, elementary teachers. And we were teaching together for a short time and a woman came and spoke to us about Peace Corps. And we started talking about how important it was For us to possibly go on a mission to change the world in some way. And that's how we we got together and then eventually got married. So giving back has always been a real part of our values. And it has a lot to do with how we were raised and seeing our parents getting involved in different service activities. But one thing that we would like to do is bring high school seniors into our apprenticeship program, and train them in some of the skills that are needed, as those of us who are listening are probably very aware that the technicians to fix and repair our food service equipment, those master technicians are retiring. And there's very few young people filling those ranks. So we know there is a need for young people to learn about the industrial arts. So we have an apprenticeship program that our team members are going through. And this summer, and next year, we will be bringing in a few high school seniors. So that is something we really want to expand how can we get the community involved with some of this additional training? Because there's a need for it? And then what other things can we be doing in the community? That is just an area that we've not been as involved? And I'm excited that we've learned more about the food service, the food pantries in our area. So those are two areas to really get our name out there in the community more.
Yeah, you saying that? Y'all don't do that much. But You listed a lot. Ma'am, I'm not doing much. Yeah, I know. I am excited to talk to you. And Sara, while you were talking, I had what I think is probably a very brilliant idea.
Hold on, hold on, let me put my seatbelt on. All right. Go ahead. No, I'm
not gonna share in here in cases. Let me tell you, I, you know, I always assume my ideas are good until they're not until they're proven not good. You know, then it's just like a jumping off point. Ideas can be a jumping off point. They don't have to be, you don't have to hit, you know, hit. Every time right
ideas can just lead to more ideas.
I did think of one more one more area that we that we didn't talk about. So recently, certainly with all the diversity, equity and inclusion, focus, we started what we're calling diversity teams. They used to be called cross functional. But now we're talking about diversity with the idea. And this is 100% true statement that we see in research. If you have diverse teams, you bring ideas, these jumping off points, like Kerry was talking about. And it brings new perspective and develops innovation. So we started four teams with the idea that a group of team members came together, threw a bunch of ideas out and decided what they were going to do. So one of them decided they were going to give scholarships to team members children. And that is something that Glen and I've been wanting to do for years, but we didn't want to make the rules or make the decision. So this team came up with criteria for what the children would have to apply how they'd have to apply. They needed a project they want to Dix they needed to explain how this scholarship would be helpful. We gave four scholarships away to four wonderful young ladies who are going off to college. So that was a huge in a huge idea, a great idea that we've been wanting to do for a long time. Another one was, we are developing or honoring the cultures that we have at our facility. We have a lot of people from Mexico. We've done Mexico, Portugal and Tunis is actually a Portuguese name. My father was 100% Portuguese. We did India. So a couple things about India, really looking at what is the cultures that we have in our building, we would bring in different food items. They had the team would come up with a PowerPoint about some interesting things about it. So that was great. One of our team members is going to do a blood drive and I think we're talking about trying To get our partner companies involved in a food, did I say food drive? Blood Drive? Did I say blood drive? Yep, well, it's like that drive. And then the third group. They were the ones that did some additional recycling projects out in the factory. And we're also looking at how we can reduce all the paper usage that we have in the building. So those were four great teams that came up with really great ideas.
Yeah, those are great ideas. You know, before we wrap up, I took this note from the last time we spoke, and I don't remember why I took it. But this is how I think we were talking about kind of a roadblock to charity, but I'm not sure. And I wrote down these three words hesitant helpless,
right? Okay. So I heard those three words at a conference that Glen and I went to about how the sports venues, the stadiums and arenas are working to have zero waste, which is hard to believe. Because when you go to one of those events, or a convention, you just see bags and bags and bags of garbage that's going to the landfill. So one of the people that was giving a presentation, said, the three ancient eight, three H's stop people from going forward. So if you're thinking of starting a volunteer program, well, I'm just one person, and there's, I'm just so helpless. One person can't do it. Why should I even bother? It's hopeless, this world is going to, you know, is not going in the right direction. It's just so hopeless. How can I help all the people that are hungry, or hesitant? Well, if I do this, it might be the wrong thing. If we recycle, you know, then now we're creating more, more problems somewhere else, and you're hesitant. And the whole idea is just start small. Do something, feel good about it, make a small positive impact on your world. You can't boil the ocean. Another fun phrase we heard at a seminar can't boil the ocean. But you can start that ripple effect in your community. What can you do? Right in your community?
I think that's where we conclude this. Yeah. Thank you so much, Jane. This has been wonderful. Oh, it's gonna be a bit longer episode, but I think it's gonna be wonderful. And thank you. Yes. Great.
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