Introduction
Wegmans Food Markets is a popular supermarket chain that operates in a few states, including New York, Massachusetts, and Maryland. This regional supermarket chain is rather large because it has over 50,000 employees and saw $11.2 billion in sales in 2021 (Wegmans, n.d.). This information demonstrates that the business successfully deals with its economic aspects, but this issue is not sufficient to succeed in the current market. Today, organizations should draw significant attention to how their performance affects societies. Modern companies are encouraged to reduce waste to minimize the harmful impact of their performance on the environment. If organizations make their performance responsible and environmentally friendly, they are more likely to raise capital faster and easier. Thus, Wegmans Food Markets utilizes effective steps to reduce waste and follow the Environmental Protection Agency’s Food Recovery Hierarchy, while an initial public offering is more suitable than investors to raise capital.
Reducing Waste Efforts
Since waste reduction is an important goal for modern organizations, Wegmans takes multiple steps to cope with the task. The business emphasizes sustainability, which makes it incorporate the reduce, reuse, and recycle principles into its supply chain and individual operations (Wegmans, 2018). In this way, the organization does its best to eliminate all forms of waste, including plastic and food, at its locations. These goals are achieved thanks to the company’s Zero Waste program, which proved its efficiency in one Wegmans store in 2016 (Wegmans, 2018). As a result, the business decided to implement its initiative in other stores. The program is helpful because it relies on suitable, cloud-based, and recycling solutions to ensure that food and plastic waste is minimized.
In particular, the Zero Waste program implies a few specific activities. Firstly, some Wegmans locations cooperate with local farmers and zoos to provide them with remaining food as animal feed (Wegmans, 2018). This step implies that the organization uses a win-win strategy for different stakeholders. Secondly, Wegmans does its best to achieve high recycling rates at its stores. In particular, the average recycling rate of 64% is good because it denotes that more than half of the waste is recycled, while there is still room for improvement (Wegmans, 2018). Thirdly, the organization ensures that food is delivered to people in need because it is irresponsible to leave unused products in landfills when there are unprotected social groups that suffer from poor access to food. That is why Wegmans understands the importance of waste reduction and ensures that this value is an integral part of its operation.
In addition to that, Wegmans’s efforts to reduce waste are aligned with the Food Recovery Hierarchy by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA). This initiative consists of six tiers that demonstrate what interventions organizations should take to achieve waste reduction. These levels include source reduction, feed hungry people, feed animals, industrial uses, composting, and landfill and incineration (United States Environmental Protection Agency [US EPA], n.d.). At Wegmans, they stipulate that some of these objectives are met. Firstly, the organization minimizes food waste by including slightly blemished products in its culinary activities (Wegmans, 2018). Secondly, the company cooperates with food banks and pantries that collect the remaining food and deliver it to people in need (Wegmans, 2018). Thirdly, it has already been mentioned that food scraps are delivered to appropriate organizations that use them as food for livestock. Finally, the remaining waste can be sent for anaerobic digestion or composting to ensure that no food scraps are left without use (Wegmans, 2018). This evidence explicitly demonstrates that Wegmans follows the US EPA regulations.
Raising Capital Plan
Businesses can use multiple methods to raise capital, and an initial public offering (IPO) is among them. This approach implies that a company goes public, which means that shares of stock can be bought by the public (United States Securities and Exchange Commission [US SEC], 2017). A significant benefit of IPO is that shares are available for multiple individuals, and this system can provide the organization with a rapid and massive influx of financial resources. However, companies should understand that IPO should be utilized according to a particular strategy. Firstly, a business should “file a registration statement with the SEC before it may offer its securities for sale” (United States Securities and Exchange Commission [US SEC], 2017, para. 2). When the registration statement is issued, the organization should adhere to public reporting requirements (United States Securities and Exchange Commission [US SEC], 2017). The company should understand that its reporting should be subject to appropriate requirements, even if the business has not issued any shares according to the registration statement (United States Securities and Exchange Commission [US SEC], 2017). This straightforward plan can help the organization raise its capital.
This discussion should focus on the investors’ engagement in capital raising. Another possible strategy for the organization to raise capital is to receive money from heterogeneous investors (Vismara, 2022). A lower number of people obtain an opportunity to invest their money in the business and receive the right to participate in decision-making. This approach is challenging because it is not always easy to find professional investors who are ready to provide their money. Another fundamental challenge is that the organization sells off pieces of its business ownership and loses its independence in return for capital.
It is possible to use the information above to compare the two suggested approaches to capital raising. According to the available evidence, IPO is better because it is a straightforward and effective strategy to achieve the required outcome. IPO is said to provide organizations with a rapid and massive influx of financial resources. Simultaneously, receiving money from professional investors implies a few significant disadvantages. It can be challenging to find these investors while they obtain the right to impact organizational decision-making in return for their money. Even though IPO is subject to specific legal requirements, this approach is more appropriate for raising capital.
Conclusion
Wegmans Food Market is a regional supermarket chain that draws much attention to waste reduction. The organization takes specific steps to ensure that its processes result in reduced amounts of plastic and food waste. In particular, the business uses the Zero Waste program and abides by the United States Environmental Protection Agency Food Recovery Hierarchy. This statement denotes that the remaining food is distributed to people in need, animals, and agricultural use. Today, drawing attention to waste reduction is significant because this issue can help organizations raise their capital. Businesses can cope with obtaining additional money via initial public offerings or from professional investors. The two approaches can generate similar results, but initial public offerings are preferred because they are straightforward, effective, and without many disadvantages.
References
United States Environmental Protection Agency. (n.d.). Food recovery hierarchy. Web.
United States Securities and Exchange Commission. (2017). Going public. Web.
Vismara, S. (2022). Expanding corporate finance perspectives to equity crowdfunding. The Journal of Technology Transfer, 47(6), 1629-1639. Web.
Wegmans. (2018). At Wegmans, reducing waste is a win for the community, environment, and the company. Web.
Wegmans. (n.d.). Company overview. Web.