How does engaging in social actions secure stakeholders? How do the external environment and policies affect Ella's Kitchen's performance? How would you as a manager adapt to these new challenges and what solutions would you seek to maintain commercial viability?

Ellas Kitchen

Paul and Alison Lindley wanted to introduce a brand that might develop childrens healthy relationship with organic foods and vegetables. In 2006, the couple established Ellas Kitchen, a UK-based company that produces organic baby foodsnaming the company after their daughter.

When I started to wean my daughter Ella, I found that the baby food available was all a bit bland, beige, and boring. Ella didnt like it and was becoming a bit of a fussy eater. I have established Ellas Kitchen because I wanted to help Ella and the rest of her generation grow up knowing that healthy food could be tasty, fun, and cool.

Paul Lindley used all organic ingredients to ensure healthy yet tasty foods along with colorful packaging. The company never used refined sugar in its products and reduced natural sugar by 20% in purees between the years 2016 and 2019.

Lindley hoped his products would lead parents to start their kids on viable, healthy eating habits, and Ellas Kitchen soon earned a good reputation. The firm holds a 20% market share of the UK baby food sector. After Ellas Kitchen captured the domestic market, Lindley turned to the international market, expanding initially to Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, where the firm now holds a 14% and 30% market share. This performance in the international market gave the firm confidence to continue expansion; currently, Ellas Kitchen operates in 45 countries and has been recognized as the number one baby food brand in Norway, Ireland, and the UK.

Lindley expanded his business through export entry modes while focusing on product diversification; that is, Ellas Kitchen produces products in the UK and sells them abroad. Rather than establishing an independent facility in a foreign country, the firm manufactures, processes, and stores items in the UK and exports finished goods internationally. The company recently introduced a range of frozen foods for toddlers using gluten-free bread, sustainably sourced flakes, organic chicken, sweet corn, and pears.

Lindley also emphasizes the triple bottom linepeople, planet, and profitand maintains certified B corporation status. As part of the companys sustainable development goals (SDGs), Ellas Kitchen set targets aligned with zero hunger, responsible consumption, and partnerships, along with sourcing sustainable ingredients.

In 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) provided guidelines on the promotion of commercial baby food. Adhering to these guidelines would require the firm to bring changes to its marketing strategy. At the same time, the UK decision to separate from the European Union (EU), informally known as Brexit, has heightened insecurity for Ellas Kitchen. The start-up takes inputs (raw materials, labor, etc.) mostly from the EU and exports its products into this zone. Brexit would increase the cost of production for Ellas Kitchen as certain tariff and nontariff barriers might be imposed by the EU However, sourcing ingredients from other emerging economies could be an option to consider.

The World Health Organization, the United Nations, and Baby Food

To comply with new guidelines from the WHO, Ellas Kitchen plans to make the following adjustments:

• The company has already started replacing ingredients such as bananas that contain higher natural sugar with vegetables to reduce sugar by 20%.
• The company plans to change labeling of all products offered for four-month-plus (4m+) babies that has misleading details, to match actual ingredients.
• Nothing will be offered with the title suitable for four-month-old babies because the weaning age varies from child to child.

The firm has been sourcing mango, banana, and vanilla supplierskey sweet ingredients used in Ellas Kitchen products. A decision to reduce using these ingredients will mean sourcing from new suppliers and having a strict ingredient matrix. Compared with sweet ingredients, a variety of green vegetables offered in the market is often lacking (Moding et al., 2018)the cost of vegetable-based ingredients may be high due to supply scarcity. An increase in the cost of raw materials will eventually increase the cost of production. Changes to labeling will also increase costs.

The United Nations (UN) targeted seventeen goals commonly known as Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to achieve by 2030. Ellas Kitchen contributes to three of those goals: Zero hunger, responsible consumption, and partnerships. The firm aims to achieve these goals through maximizing the value of key stakeholders. Employees, customers, suppliers, competitors, community, and the environment are key stakeholders that can influence the organization. Ellas Kitchen has various initiatives to work on with its stakeholders, from Ellas Good to Each Other Standards to encourage collaboration with employees along the value chain, to donating food in partnership with Action Against Hunger under their Red One Fed One campaign in the UK and Sweden.