How an ESG assessment helped a bakery have its cake and eat it too

A constant challenge for businesses is to know how to stay ahead of the curve in crowded marketplaces. Not only is it a task to keep up with competition, but also within the four walls of your own business. Many have taken to the practice of an ESG (environmental, social and governance) assessment of their business to ultimately improve working conditions and their bottom line. ESG is used as a risk, profitability, governance and business outcome framework, a tool used to evaluate a business in environmental, social and governance aspects.

At Just Cakes in Surrey, B.C., CEO and owner Raveena Oberoi was excited to go through the steps to have an ESG assessment delivered by IC Canada in partnership with FCC.

Her business, Just Cakes, started when Oberoi was 16 years old, baking in her parents’ house. That was 15 years ago. Today, with a storefront and production facility that has sizable market capture, she’s made countless on-air appearances and has solidified her place as a celebrity chef through Food Network Canada’s The Big Bake. Her Jar Bar vending machines showcase her unique thinking with a cake vending machine. Her products can be found in major grocers, and she’s done collaborations with some of the biggest companies in sweets today. At 31, she’s accomplished what many would be happy with in a lifetime.

Oberoi felt there was more work to be done with her business. She reached out to FCC about how to further incorporate ESG into Just Cakes.

Here are three outcomes Oberoi achieved as a result of the insights generated from the ESG assessment:

1. Next-level business

Already socially conscious, Oberoi went through the formal process in 2024 and has come out better for it.

“My values in business are ethical business and sustainable business,” she says. “That's always been at the forefront for me.”

Oberoi says the food and hospitality industry has a bad reputation for long hours, poor working conditions and high turnover. At Just Cakes, it’s the opposite. The company boasts full benefits packages for employees and profit sharing, and the business has a turnover rate well below industry standard.

“Our values of ethical and sustainable business are front and centre,” Oberoi explains. “Looking at ESG, all that ties into an ethical business. If your people are a part of something that is doing good and you’re doing it the right way, I think that goes a long way for your entire company culture.”

She says the ESG approach to business now provides a point of view with which to evaluate potential courses of action.

“Instead of reacting to challenges, we now proactively anticipate, assess and address issues, ensuring a more sustainable and resilient business model,” Oberoi says.

2. Spotlight on business operations

The ESG assessment supported by FCC is an in-depth document that helps small and medium-sized business owners take stock of every aspect of their business, both positive and negative.

It’s a time to review and examine the business and ensure there are contingency plans.

“You're putting your business under the spotlight,” Oberoi says. It’s a time to review and examine each aspect of the business and ensure there are contingency plans and identifying gaps. “It was seeing where the holes are and filling them to see what was relevant to my business and perpetuating that more.”

The result is a framework for assessing the impact of decisions on operations, finances and business continuity. She says the approach guides management meetings now and is put to use with day-to-day decisions. Staff leave the meetings with actionable insights and a clear roadmap for implementation.

“This newfound perspective has proven instrumental in navigating the complexities of modern business,” Oberoi says.

The exercise also helped her examine hard costs and played a part in the decision to convert a second storefront into more of a production facility, which helps given that 40 percent of the business is wholesale, and that number is likely going to rise.

Oberoi says she had already thought about many of the questions in the assessment, and it helped to have it put in writing.

“Certain things are a bit more abstract but putting it down on paper makes it real and something you want to put forward and work on,” she says.

3. Map the next steps

As an entrepreneur, there are a multitude of decisions to make every day. Adding even more decisions can sometimes be overwhelming. Oberoi says that after completing the assessment, she created a decision tree from the results. It helped her approach business in a way that’s friendlier to herself by not constantly devoting huge amounts of mental energy to decisions. A quick reference to the framework and she knows immediately what to do, with less emotion and reactivity.

“To make a successful, sustainable business, there's so much that we need to think about. It's daunting, but it's also very much doable,” she says.

The assessment gave her the ability to not only talk the talk but walk the walk. Oberoi is constantly working on partnerships with distributors, grocers and more. To know her business inside and out, in a brand-new way, boosted her confidence in Just Cakes and her own abilities.

“I have an edge now that I'm able to present myself in a way that is more resilient, and that's what people are looking for now, so it's good. I am stepping into more of that CEO role, which is really, really cool because now I have the tools for how to handle it.”

Article by: Trevor Bacque