Our attention to product, people and environment
At Effe Soep, quality, craftsmanship and the passion to let everyone enjoy a tasty cup of soup or broth are central. Attention for the product goes hand in hand with attention for people and the environment. In everything we do, we look at whether and how it can be more sustainable. Okay, we don’t have the power of the big food producers, but we are flexible and super motivated.
The honest story is that we sometimes experience dilemmas in doing so. We do what we can and what is within our sphere of influence. Clients expect this of us and we are happy to accommodate them. It suits who we are. In this way, we add a delicious touch of social impact to our soup throughout the chain. Just a little more delicious.
Here we distinguish four focus areas; happy people, responsible ingredients, less energy and less packaging and waste.
HAPPY PEOPLE
Effe Soep is a fan of happy people. This applies not only to our customers but also to our suppliers. We work with local suppliers from North Brabant to support the local economy. We take this a step further. For example, we have deliberately chosen to have our products packaged by INTOS.
At this employment development company, people distanced from the labor market are given the opportunity to make a meaningful contribution to society. Because we find it important that everyone can participate and work in society. And that brings happy faces.
RESPONSIBLE INGREDIENTS
Health is honestly quite a challenging topic for us. Since soup is a savory snack, we can’t avoid adding salt to it. Otherwise we would sacrifice too much flavor. And customers don’t want that. Yet we already started the trend toward less salt when we started in 2014, and we are still looking for ways to use less salt. For example, we have added more herbs instead of salt to our soups, making them even tastier. There are no preservatives in our soups for the simple reason that this is not necessary in dry soups.
LESS ENERGY
We want to minimize our environmental impact. A large part of ourCO2 emissions is in our logistics. We have therefore chosen regional suppliers for the production of our soups and broths. We have made agreements with customers about fixed routes and a minimum purchase quantity for the most efficient transport possible. That means lessCO2 emissions.
We have selected our suppliers in part for their sustainability efforts. Solar panels have been installed at the production sites, so that our soup is produced largely with green electricity.
Our dry soup consists of over 20 different ingredients. We do have discussions with the raw material suppliers, but unfortunately it is not feasible to determine the footprint of all these ingredients upstream in the chain.
LESS PACKAGING AND WASTE
As a manufacturer, we directly influence the choice of packaging and strive to minimize the environmental impact of our packaging. All our cardboard packaging is therefore FSC or FSC Mix certified. To reduce the amount of plastic, we replaced shrink wrap with banding in 2023. Thus, we have not only saved hundreds of kilograms of film, but also the energy to produce it.
For the displays of our 1-cup soups and drinking bouillons, we consciously chose wood instead of plastic. This is a more sustainable material and also fits better with the artisanal character of Effe Soep. We have the displays produced at Ambachtelijk Hout, which again brings happy faces.
Because we match our production to the off-take, we don’t have to throw away products and avoid waste.