Table Stakes
Skjodt-Barrett donated 1M+ food pouches to local food banks in 2020, living its core values along the way.
“We believe actions speak louder than words.” This has been a long-standing north star at Skjodt-Barrett. And during the height of the pandemic, amidst also trying to keep the business humming, their grounding motto was truly put to the test. Founder Dan Skjodt challenged President Thomas Dreher and his team with a monumental task: Reach a whopping 1M+ in food pouch donations by the end of 2020.
Today, not only was that goal reached, but it’s been surpassed: Skjodt-Barrett donated an additional 300,000 pouches in the first half of 2021.
A Team Effort
“Everyone chose to jump in feet first and did a lot of work to meet our goal, outside of our day- to-day business,” Dreher explains. “We’ve always made an effort to donate. But during the pandemic, the news showed more and more families leveraging food banks as they were losing jobs. We felt compelled to not only create products for the consumer, but to play our part in local communities. One way we could do that was to find ways to produce pouches—partnering with key vendors, customers, and even other AJI companies—in raising donations.”
Skodjt-Barrett's Core Values
A key takeaway amidst the monumental mission?
A successful business is only as powerful as its people—a common thread among nearly every Axel Johnson Inc. business. As the donation goal drew nearer, Skjodt-Barrett employees, fellow AJI companies like Brazeway, and Skjodt-Barrett’s vendors all stepped up to the plate—donating money, time, and raw materials. Skjodt-Barrett also pressed its retailers to divert pouches that would otherwise be landfill-bound. Rejected pouches can be simply the result of impaired labeling—not compromised product—allowing for additional donations.
Perhaps of top note, as the nation was bombarded by news of toilet paper shortages, a lesser known, more critical crisis, was a desperate need for baby food. “We donated our line time to the pouches,” says Dreher. “It is something we’re extremely proud of—not only navigating through the pandemic and those challenges, but also doing something critical to our food bank. Being able to make donations to babies was critical.”
Skodjt-Barrett has two complementary and symbiotic businesses: custom ingredients and contract manufacturing.
Ilustración de Veronica Grech
Today, they are the largest filler of preformed spouted pouches in North America and a leader in the baby food and functional caramel categories.
Factory facilities in Brampton, Ontario, and Lebanon, Indiana, are staffed by scientists, chemists, packaging material specialists, process equipment specialists, and bakers, who collaborate in developing everything from sugar-free, high-protein caramel fillings to fruit snacks.
As the company looks to its next step-change, Dreher is quick to return to Skjodt-Barrett’s anchor: its people.
“When I look to the future, I come back to our core values. And the one that resonates most is “We Care.” We care for our employees, and we care for our customers.”
—
Thomas Dreher
President, Skjodt-Barrett
“Some employees have been with Dan before the company even started, 40-plus years. Skjodt-Barrett has been a big part of their lives, and that’s something we’ve instilled as an organization—trying to keep that family atmosphere. As with any family, you’ll have people going through difficult personal circumstances, and that’s where we can really demonstrate our “We Care” value. Behind the scenes, Dan, along with the Skjodt-Barrett community has done a lot for people to build the trust that makes Skjodt-Barrett the best place to work, every single day.”
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