Top Food and Beverage Companies Offering Aid in Coronavirus Relief Efforts

Food and beverage manufacturers are powerhouse in and of themselves. Some companies are offering bonuses to their employees during the coronacrisis. Others are banding together to convert distilleries into sanitizer production facilities. We reported recently about the United Food and Commercial Workers Union negotiating bonuses for employees as well. 

As we've covered COVID-19 on the website and in our upcoming issue, we've seen a myriad examples of how food and beverage companies are helping to fight the impact of the illness.

• Anheuser-Busch, which has funneled its sports and entertainment budget into relief efforts. 
• Unilever's ‘United for America’ initiative has contributed more than $8 million to help those impacted by the pandemic through donations of its food, soap, personal hygiene, and home cleaning products. In addition to its current donations, Unilever United States is organizing a national Day of Service on May 21 to provide an estimated $12 million of support for Americans in need. The company recently distributed 200,000 masks to hospitals in New Jersey, where its U.S. headquarters are located.
• The Coca-Cola Foundation, the philanthropic arm of The Coca-Cola Company, announced it is awarding $13.5 million in grants to five non-profit organizations that are working on the front lines of the U.S. and Canadian humanitarian response to the coronavirus pandemic.
• PepsiCo has been collaborating with U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue to deliver nearly 1,000,000 meals a week to students in a limited number of rural schools. The company announced on April 2, it had committed more than $45 million to combat the impacts of COVID-19. In a release, the company also announced it is funding vital support including protective gear for healthcare workers as well as testing and screening services.
• Tyson Foods is committing $13 Million to COVID-19 hunger relief and community support, having donated 16 million meals to Feeding America food banks and pantries.
• Nestle USA has donated 2,170,000+ meals to Feeding America so far this year and is providing $100,000 surge support to ensure meals are getting to those with the greatest need. In addition,  Chameleon Cold Brew delivered coffee to nurses on the front lines in five major cities and  Purina donated $100,000 to the St. Louis Community Foundation’s COVID-19 Regional Response Fund and a further $150,000 to local relief funds, food banks, and other non-profits across 21 markets.

• Kraft Heinz has committed to donating $12 million globally to ensure people have food, including donation valued at $6.6 million to help ensure American consumers in need have the food they need during this challenging time.

• General Mills has rolled out a supplemental package of philanthropic grants spanning Asia, Europe, Australia, Latin America and North America. These gifts build on the more than $20 million in philanthropic cash giving by the company 
• Hormel Foods has pledged $1 million in cash and product donations for hunger relief and food insecurity as a result of this crisis.
• Kellogg Company is committing $500,000 to support coronavirus relief efforts. Funds will be provided to two of its Better Days partners, Global FoodBanking Network and Feeding America.
• Flowers Foods has 'baked a bonus into the compensation for its frontline employees' having paid approximately $5.6 million in "appreciation bonuses" to 11,757 eligible hourly and nonexempt employees, leased labor and contract workers.