Month: April 2024

Originally published in the Bacardi Cocktail Trends Report

This Earth Month and throughout the year, bartenders and brands are reframing sustainability as a creative challenge – utilizing novel processes and harnessing innovative flavors that don’t just limit harm, but actively conserve the natural environment.

Sustainability in the drinks industry is here to stay. According to research from IWSR, 48% of U.S. alcohol drinkers say they consider a company’s sustainability or environmental initiatives before purchasing, while research from the Bacardi Global Consumer Survey shows that a large proportion of consumers are willing to pay more for sustainably made drinks or cocktails. In Mexico and South Africa, it’s listed as the number one reason to pay more by 79% of respondents, outranking lower calories, celebrity branding and even quality.

On premises, innovative processes are helping spirits and cocktails to deliver on sustainability too. The Bacardi Global Brand Ambassador Survey reveals growing bartender interest in zero-waste ingredients (46%) and ferments (36%), with techniques including distillation, clarification, infusion, carbonation, fermentation and freezing transforming discarded ingredients into creative offerings.

Taking inspiration from minimal-interference winemaking, Jigger & Pony in Singapore works with unfiltered spirits and typically discarded by-products to let cocktails – their ingredients, natural flavors and oils – speak for themselves. Goat kefir and mango skins are among the choices, while the venue’s pioneering Cloudy Kangaroo is a wet vodka Martini that combines the luscious texture and fruity notes of sake lees and strained soy milk with sherry and peach.

In 2024, innovation will move one step further, as mixologists look to Invasivorism – utilizing ingredients that disrupt the natural environment – to create new flavor pairings centered on conservation. Already, London-based zero-waste restaurant Silo uses Japanese knotweed in over 20 dishes and drinks to save on resources. Its Japanese Knotweed Sour combines bright flavors like fresh rhubarb with the earthy and floral notes of the invasive species. 

Consumers are increasingly interested in how their favorite drinks are packaged too. Spirits companies are taking huge steps in this space – closed-loop packaging and innovative new designs aim to reduce packaging waste, while new production processes for glass target a reduction in Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. 

Meanwhile, the responsible sourcing of raw ingredients, harnessing renewable energy and cleaner energy to reduce the GHG emissions at production sites, and water replenishment programs are all top of the priority list for spirits manufacturers like Bacardi, a family-owned company which is committed to doing the right thing by people and planet.

“Acting responsibly is not about acting alone. From farmer to blender to bartender, it’s only by working together that we can bring about real change.”

Magaly Feliciano Lozada
Global sustainability director, Bacardi

Read more about Bacardi’s commitment to sustainability in the 2024 Bacardi Cocktail Trends Report.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala., April 15, 2024 /3BL/ – Regions Bank on Monday announced the company has been recognized as a 2024 Gallup Exceptional Workplace Award (GEWA) Winner with Distinction. This is Gallup’s top recognition for thriving workplaces, awarded to a select few organizations that meet rigorous standards of excellence and truly place engagement at the center of their business strategies. Regions is one of five organizations to receive the With Distinction title.

“It is an honor to be named a Gallup Exceptional Workplace for the 10th consecutive year,” said John Turner, President and CEO of Regions Financial Corp. “At the heart of our company’s success lies a profound dedication to prioritizing the wellbeing of our associates. By focusing on associate wellbeing, we not only cultivate an engaged workplace culture but drive excellence in everything we do.”

Earning this award means Regions is part of an elite group of world-class organizations that are elevating what a workplace can be – empowering associates to thrive at work, feel proud of what they do, and take ownership of their performance.

Gallup’s CEO, Jon Clifton, said the award is “a testament to a culture where people aren’t just important – they’re everything at Regions.”

Associate engagement is a year-round strategic priority at Regions Bank. Over the last decade, Regions has fostered a strengths-based culture focused on empowering associates to deliver their best on behalf of customers and communities served by the bank. This focus includes investing in manager development, positioning leaders to serve as coaches who provide continual, individualized feedback that enables performance and elevates the customer experience. Further, the bank’s approach prioritizes an inclusive, values-based, and performance-driven culture where teams remain focused on achieving the company’s mission to make life better.

The ratio of engaged employees to actively disengaged employees for GEWA winners is 11 times higher than the global average. Worldwide, only 23% of employees are engaged – that is, committed to their work and connected to their workplace – and just 33% of employees in the U.S. workforce are engaged. Seventy percent of employees at winning GEWA organizations are engaged.

Gallup’s meta-analysis on team engagement and performance is the most comprehensive workplace study ever conducted, with data on more than 2 million employees in 276 organizations across 54 industries and 96 countries. Highly engaged organizations significantly outperform their peers in important business outcomes, including customer ratings, profitability, productivity, turnover, safety incidents, shrinkage, absenteeism, quality, wellbeing, and organizational citizenship.

For a complete list of GEWA winners and more about the selection process, visit the Winners page of Gallup.com.

About Regions Financial Corporation
Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF), with $152 billion in assets, is a member of the S&P 500 Index and is one of the nation’s largest full-service providers of consumer and commercial banking, wealth management, and mortgage products and services. Regions serves customers across the South, Midwest and Texas, and through its subsidiary, Regions Bank, operates approximately 1,250 banking offices and more than 2,000 ATMs. Regions Bank is an Equal Housing Lender and Member FDIC. Additional information about Regions and its full line of products and services can be found at www.regions.com.

About Gallup
Gallup delivers analytics and advice to help leaders and organizations solve their most pressing problems. Combining more than 80 years of experience with its global reach, Gallup knows more about the attitudes and behaviors of employees, customers, students and citizens than any other organization in the world.