Inspired People Doing Great Things

“Inspired people are also engaged people, highly motivated and invested in the success of the organization,” says Andre Goodlet, manager of diversity and inclusion.

A purpose-driven organization

It’s a notion that the company recently formalized as its purpose statement: Inspired People. Inspired Food.™ With such an overt appreciation of its people, it’s no surprise that the company’s sense of gratitude and responsibility extends to its Austin community and much further, reaching communities throughout the country and across the globe.

In fact, Hormel Foods has a significant collection of accolades for its appreciation of the people and communities they serve— several newly minted in the last few months. Forbes magazine named Hormel Foods a top regarded company and one of the world’s best employers. The company received a perfect score of 100 percent on the 2018 Corporate Equality Index, a national benchmarking survey and report on corporate policies and practices related to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) workplace equality, administered by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. And Hormel Foods claimed the number eight spot on the Corporate Responsibility Magazine 100 Best Corporate Citizens List, marking nine consecutive years of being included in their list.

Tim Garry, director of marketing at Hormel Health Labs, oversees the Hormel Vital Cuisine cancer nutrition product line.

Food for a greater good

Tim Garry, director of marketing at Hormel Health Labs, gives a better picture of what it is like working for this purpose-driven organization. Garry is a registered dietician and oversees the company’s Hormel Vital Cuisine™ cancer nutrition product line.

Those watching a close friend or family member struggle through chemotherapy often speak of the patient’s difficulties with food and eating. The barriers to healthy eating include sensitivity to taste and smell, physical exhaustion and the harsh reality that for cancer patients, hunger is often fleeting – here one minute and gone the next.

“When we dug into how this impacts someone going through cancer treatment, we discovered that there was a very strong emotional need to maintain a level of independence,” says Garry. “When you’re depending on friends and family members for everything from transportation to treatment to household chores, many folks long for a bit of normalcy such as being able to figure out lunch or dinner when they finally feel hungry.”

This is where the inspiration engine at Hormel Foods sparked.

“Hormel excels at making convenient food,” said Garry. “We knew we could develop a product that addressed the very specific needs of people struggling through cancer treatment if we partnered with the right people.”

Hormel Foods partnered with Cancer Nutrition Consortium early on to identify nutrition needs and later worked with certified master chef, Ron DeSantis, head of food service at Yale University to address taste issues. For example, many nutrition beverages have extra fortification, which can make the drink very thick and not especially palatable. By avoiding fortification, the Hormel Vital Cuisine™ protein shakes taste very light. And the ready-to-eat Hormel Vital Cuisine™ meals are made with olive oil, making them taste good and provide the calories that patients need.

Endorsed by the American Cancer Society, the Hormel Vital Cuisine™ brand has been nurtured as a niche brand at Hormel Foods and has received positive feedback from the people that matter the most.

“One of my neighbors credits Vital Cuisine with keeping him alive during treatment,” Garry said. “It’s really powerful to work for a company that invests so much in making something so good and so needed.”

With more than 20,000 employees and 30 manufacturing facilities located across five continents, the company has a deep sense of responsibility to help make the world a better place through five key focus areas: the environment, animal welfare, their products, people and their communities.