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A Dozen Food and Beverage Industry Leaders Make Human Rights Campaign List of Best Places to Work for 2012

12/09/2011 - The Human Rights Campaign is (HRC) the largest civil rights organization in the United States working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality.  Their mission is to end discrimination against LGBT citizens and work towards achieving "fundamental fairness and equality for all" in the nation.  

HRC, which was founded in 1980, has been providing an in-depth analysis and rating of large U.S. employers and their policies and practices related to LGBT employees, consumers and investors since 2002.  Its Corporate Equality Index, which has been released each fall since 2002, is the foundation for their Best Places to Work list.

This year, the following twelve food and beverage companies made the list for top places to work. The full report is available on the organizations website. 

• Brown-Forman, one of the largest wine and spirits companies in the United States, employs roughly 1,000 people at their Louisville, Ky. headquarters with over 4,000 total employees globally. The company prides itself on brand building with segment leaders including Jack Daniels, Korbel and Chambord

• Campbell Soup Company is a global manufacturer and marketer of high-quality foods and simple meals, including soup and sauces, baked snacks and healthy beverages. Founded in 1869, the company has a portfolio of market-leading brands, including "Campbell's," "Pepperidge Farm," "Arnott's" and "V8."  Based in Camden, N.J., their North American operations span eleven production facitlities and employs roughly 7,000.         

• Cargill is an international producer and marketer of food, agricultural and other products and services. Founded in 1865, the Minnesota-based privately held company employs over 130,000 people in 63 countries. 

• Coca-Cola is the 125 year old, Atlanta-based beverage company that employs over 130,000 people worldwide. The company has a global product list that includes soft drinks, energy drinks, water, juices, sport drinks but is best recognized for its original iconic brand.

• Delhaize America is the U.S. division of Brussels-based grocery giant, Delhaize Group.  In the United States, the company over 1,000 stores under a number of brands including Food Lion, Hannaford Bros.Markets, Sweetbay Supermarkets, Harveys Supermarkets and Bottom Dollar Food stores. 

• Diageo North America is headquartered in London and has offices across the U.S.  Their leading brands such as Smirnoff, Johnnie Walker, Captain Morgan, Crown Royal, Jose Cuervo and Baileys keep 20,000 employees across the globe very busy.  Having made HRC's list four years in a row, Diageo North America President and CEO, Ivan Menezes made the following statement via press release:

"The recognition from the Human Rights Campaign for the fourth year running is an honor, made even more powerful due to this year's increased requirements for the index," said Menezes. "I am proud that Diageo's culture of diversity and inclusion is constantly expanding and that Diageo continues to uphold the highest standards."

• General Mills is a worldwide company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  They are among the world's largest food companies with global brands like Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, Green Giant, Nature Valley, Fiber One and Cheerios. About half of their 35,000 employees work in the United States. 

• Kellogg founded in 1906 in Battle Creek, Michigan had 2010 sales of nearly $12 billion. In addition to its well known breakfast brands, the company markets food products from Morningstar Farms, Gardenburger and CheezIt crackers.

• Kraft Foods is a food giant large enough to be working diligently to split itself into two world class food giants by the end of 2012.  More here. 

• MillerCoors was established in 2008, when two legendary brewers, SABMiller and Molson Coors entered a joint venture to create MillerCoors.  According tot their company's timeline, the new company's brand strength and highly talented people formed a high-potential organization with a unique foundation of great beer brands and 288 years of brewing experience and heritage.

• Sodexo is an international outsourcing service company that focuses on a myriad of solutions for corporations, hospitals and individuals.  Its corporate services division, which runs employee cafeterias across the globe, has over 140,000 employees according to 2011 financial records.       

• SUPERVALU is a leading grocery company with over 2,500 stores nationwide.  In addition to their overarching brand, the company owns fourteen other retail brands including Albertsons, Farm Fresh, Kornbacher's, Lucky,

“Corporate America is leading the charge for equality in the workplace,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese.  “We commend the businesses that participated in the CEI.  They understand that LGBT-inclusive workplace policies are the right thing to do and good business practices.”