Aleph

Commitment

What do rice paddies and living things, non-European Bumblebees, and Hokkaido boreal vegetation have to do with Aleph Inc.?

As part of the food industry, Aleph aims to preserve biodiversity at the food production site with the medium to long term goal of achieving a domestic food efficiency ratio of 60% or more by 2018. With its “Rice paddy with rich living things” project the company aims to have a total planted acreage of 100 ha by 2011. Additionally, Aleph always strives to purchase seafood from fishermen who are concerned about sustainability. Paying close attention to its food sources and business materials procurement practices, it is able to contribute to the preservation of forest resources.

In addition, Aleph is working on reducing the effects of the non-native European Bumble Bees in Japan. To accomplish this, it purchases tomatoes and mini-tomatoes grown with local pollinator bumble bees and continues to aid efforts to re-instate bumble bees native to Hokkaido. Aleph also preserves the native Hokkaido boreal vegetation.

Further, Aleph contributes to the conservation of biodiversity by doing its part in the fight against climate change. The food manufacturer aims to reduce 50% of its CO₂ emissions per sale by 2020 compared with 2000. Aleph is also working on ways to reduce one-third of the amount of water used per sale by 2020 compared with 2000.

Aleph also engages in creating awareness for the importance of biodiversity to producers, customers and consumers.

Benefit

Protecting biodiversity through corporate policies is not just about giving back to society and improving the environment. Aleph has figured out how to make it attractive, thereby sustainable, to customers, suppliers and their stake holders alike.

Aleph has strengthened its brand image through its efforts to account for biodiversity. It recognizes the positive value in acting as the interface between producers and consumers and has seen an increase in demand for the products it offers. Consumers are willing to pay more for the products Aleph offers and it is, in return, able to pass these benefits on to suppliers. This symbiosis of greater value, higher demand and increase in turnover are due to its biodiversity protection measures.

Aleph earnestly believes that the benefits in procuring ingredients with a consideration for biodiversity are connected with strengthening the brand image of its company. Concretely speaking, “A genuine taste can be offered to the customer by drawing out the taste of the original ingredient.” Customers’ reliability on Aleph has increased because the business selects its ingredient with a consideration for the environment. Incentive to buy, investment enthusiasm, willingness to employ, and a buyer’s eagerness to select, can all be increased because of this reliability.

In addition, production farmers also benefit because the ingredients that account for biodiversity are selectively procured. This means that farmers can sell their production for higher than usual prices and it can lead to the stability of management. In other words, biodiversity and farmers’ businesses can be defended simultaneously. Moreover, it is possible to price the product with additional value as a brand ingredient.

Farmers can be confident that they are making a significant contribution to the biodiversity in their rice paddies by continuing to reduce the use of agricultural chemicals. Customers can participate in the preservation of biodiversity in their region by coming to restaurants and choosing the products from such rice paddies. Aleph is able to connect producers to customers through restaurants. It can maintain its activities in sustainable biodiversity preservation by cultivating good relationship between customers and producers and by increasing the number of restaurant fans.

Aleph strongly believes that a steady benefit can be brought to consumers, producers and the company by considering biodiversity where it procures its food.