Retailers need to stop treating responsibility as a “side dish” and, instead, “bake in” responsible practices and operations, according to James Rutter, chief creative officer at frozen food retailer Cook.
Talking at Retail Technology Show 2025 at London’s ExCeL on Wednesday 2 April and without naming any specific names, Rutter said too many organisations pay lip service to being a responsible business rather than walking the walk.
“Responsibility needs to be strategic not symbolic – it’s not PR, it belongs at heart of strategy next to sales growth, profit performance and costs,” he explained.
“If it’s not, it’s just a nice to have and won’t last. Is it owned by [the] leadership [team] and measured like any other business driver? If not, it’s just words.”
Rutter detailed to conference delegates how Cook, which was certified as the first B Corp retailer in the UK in 2013, has gone about making responsibility a key ingredient of how it operates. He spoke of the “superpower” position organisations can find themselves in when their company and customer strategy overlap and become one and the same.
“And then if they trust us then they start to buy into our values and how we do things.”
Rutter explained how the Cook senior team took a trip to a Welsh farm recently to learn about a farmer who has changed the way he operates. Instead of traditional farming practices, such as swingeing hedge cuts and continual movement of cows from field to field as is the traditional process, this farmer now let’s cow’s graze wild and has left nature to create a wilder habitat for the beef cattle.
The Cook director said the farm has reduced its carbon footprint and experienced multiple benefits, including healthier livestock, as a result of the moves.
“By witnessing the impact, we went away and built nature positive farming into our long-term strategy,” Rutter noted, adding that the fact the senior Cook team saw this in person made it easier to build into mainline strategy.
“Unless it [responsible retailing] has got a place in the middle of strategy, it’s not going to go anywhere. Unless the senior team own it and take accountability for it, it’s not going to go anywhere.”
Rutter explained to Green Retail World after his session that Cook is interested in regenerative farming and is growing its understanding of the environmental benefits of this practice. Cook is hoping to use its scale as a UK-wide business to help boost use of regenerative farming-based product in UK retail.
“We want to show there’s a market for it and that it’s not niche,” he said, adding that supporting greater biodiversity is a key focus for the organisation.
Cook is also working with UK start-up Wase to work out how it can use end-of-life food waste to create biogas that fuels its commercial puddings kitchen in Somerset. Trials are ongoing.
Rutter’s session highlighted how customers buy into the responsibility message of a retailer after they are fans of the product. It’s a journey they go on with brands – you have to have a good proposition first and foremost, he argued.
“Customers don’t buy responsibility – they buy great products, great experiences, and great services. And then, if they trust you, they might start to buy into your values.”
[image credit: Green Retail World]
