Sustainable Food Manufacturing - Our 2025 Sustainability Report
Deliciously Responsible: Ready Foods’ 2025 Sustainability Progress
At Ready Foods, sustainability is part of how we do the job well. In our 2025 Responsible Business Report, Deliciously Responsible, we share progress across energy, water, waste, people, and partnerships while staying honest about where we still have work to do.
A Year of Real Progress
In 2025, we made meaningful gains and strengthened the systems behind our long-term goals.
Since 2023, we reduced energy intensity by 7.58%, water intensity by 21.43%, and fleet mileage by 54%. Since 2024, emissions intensity decreased 16.99%, supported by logistics changes, direct-to-plant deliveries, an independent energy audit, and retiring 34 on-premise servers, saving more than 100,000 kWh annually.
We also saw where we need to improve. Waste intensity increased due to higher production volumes and hard-to-divert inbound packaging. Instead of glossing over it, we used the year to better understand the drivers and expand diversion, repair-and-reuse, and electronic recycling programs.
Our People Make It Possible
In 2025, Ready Foods employed more than 300 people across five Denver-area facilities. We invested nearly $967 per employee in training and development, hosted mobile health clinics serving 234 employees, and awarded $46,500 in scholarships to children of teammates and Arrupe Jesuit High School alumni.
Our employee-led Green Team continued to turn ideas into action, leading audits, reuse efforts, and recycling education. One boot reuse program diverted 960 pounds from landfill, returned 72 pairs to service, and generated more than $5,000 in estimated savings.
We also earned Silver Certification from the Colorado Green Business Network, advancing from Bronze and giving us a clear path to evaluate what Gold Certification would require.
Partners, Not Just Vendors
With Royal Crest Dairy, we shifted milk and cream deliveries from roughly 60 single-use 5-gallon containers to one reusable 300-gallon tote, cutting packaging waste by up to 80%.
Through our partnership with Grainger, we installed PPE vending machines at two locations, reducing PPE-related costs by 20% while improving accountability and reducing waste. We also began groundwork for a five-year Supply Chain Sustainability Strategy launching in 2026.
What’s Ahead
With 2025 as our baseline year, our 2030 goals include reducing energy intensity by 20%, water intensity by 50%, waste intensity by 20%, packaging impact by 15%, and reaching a 40% diversion rate.
We’ll keep learning, stay transparent about results, and follow through on our commitments. Because at Ready Foods, being deliciously responsible is how we do business.
Read the full 2025 Responsible Business Report here.
To discuss how our sustainable food manufacturing capabilities can support your brand's goals, contact our partnership team today.
