The Idaho-based company became 100% employee-owned through an ESOP in 2014. At the 2020 virtual Fall Forum, Litehouse, Inc. was recognized by the NCEO with an Achievement Award for the initiatives stewarded by its employee-owners at locations across the country and the way the company has collectively reimagined the way it does business while giving back to its communities.
Like many other employee-owned businesses, Litehouse was quick to implement new processes and procedures at all of its facilities, including sending many eligible employees to work from home and implementing rigorous cleaning protocols with the hope of exceeding CDC guidelines. The company also looked to reinvent other parts of its business during the pandemic. It focused on maintaining customer relationships, strengthening company communications by attending virtual events, and improving its e-commerce strategies and online presence.
Typical taste tests, whether you’re at a winery or walking through a Costco grabbing samples, happen in person, but during a global pandemic, these important meetings and interactions needed to change to meet the needs of every stakeholder. The company’s sales team began sending goodie bags full of its products to customers and invited them to join in on virtually guided taste tests. They sent retailers kits with Litehouse-branded lunch boxes, plates, napkins, spoons, snacks, dressings, and dip. The virtual taste tests were a success for all of those involved, with customers showing appreciation and finding meaningful ways to connect despite restrictions on in-person meetings. Retailers loved the attention to detail and expressed appreciation and excitement at getting delicious food in the mail and sharing it with others, even if virtually.
With so many other events in its industry cancelled, postponed, or turned into virtual experiences due to COVID-19, Litehouse chose to take advantage of the virtual opportunities available in its industry. In fact, the United Fresh Show went virtual for the first time ever in the produce industry, and Litehouse exhibited at the event virtually. Like many others in their industry, people were eager for human connection, even if virtually, and events such as this allowed Litehouse to connect with suppliers and buyers from all over the globe, and it intends to continue doing so moving forward for as long as obstacles persist.
The increasingly virtual business world also gave Litehouse a chance to leverage various e-commerce options to sell its products and deliver its food and products to customers where they live in the United States and Canada. Litehouse quickly launched several campaigns upon recognizing this trend, such as a free delivery promotion on Instacart, paying for consumers’ delivery fees when they added Litehouse products to their virtual shopping carts and met the minimum order requirements. In 2020, they added Sky Valley, Organicville, and Green Garden products to Amazon to offer consumers more pantry-friendly, better-for-you items, seeing three to six times sales growth on Amazon compared to previous months. The growth inspired the company to continue focusing on e-commerce and create more plans to reimagine online sales over the coming months.
Maintaining and developing relationships between coworkers is critical for any successful business. In fact, research has shown that employees have better experiences at work and are more likely to stay with an organization where they have closer relationships with coworkers. With so many workers working remote and distant from one another, forming and sustaining these relationships can be more challenging in 2020. Litehouse launched a social networking tool to allow its employee-owners to stay connected while working remotely. Through the platform, groups with varied and similar interests were able to connect with one another on gardening tips and favorite hiking spots, as well as participating in weekly challenges for a chance to win Litehouse swag.
The company also started hosting virtual happy hours where the executive team took great care to ask employee-owners how they are coping with the added stress of the coronavirus and share business updates with the company as well as giving employees a chance to see team members from other departments they might not interact with on a daily basis. Through monthly check-ins and frequent business update memos, Litehouse’s executive team made themselves even more available to employees, fostering an increased sense of community. Each step in developing robust virtual company communications allowed their business to flourish despite the shared obstacles.
The company even put out a call for homemade masks for employees to steward and ensure the safety of all their employees. The company reimbursed the costs of all materials required to make the over 5,000 masks they received and sent out to all employees and production workers in the four communities they operate in. The effort not only exceeded their goals but made it much safer for employee-owners to do their essential jobs. Along with the number of charitable efforts in their own communities (such as employees volunteering over 1200 hours of employee time in 2019) Litehouse employee-owners not only showed great ingenuity in the face of adversity, they were also reminded of the pride they take in being employee-owners where everyone is stronger together.