Nature's Path

Nature's Path Foods, Inc.

Type	Private
Industry	Organic food
Founded	1985
Founder	Arran Stephens; Ratana Stephens
Headquarters	Richmond, British Columbia, Canada
Area served	42 Countries Worldwide
Key people	Arran Stephens, CEO; Ratana Stephens, COO
Products	Breakfast cereal; granola
Number of employees	500
Divisions	Nature's Path, Envirokidz, Que Pasa
Website	naturespath.com

Nature's Path Foods, commonly known as Nature's Path, is a privately held, family-owned producer of certified organic foods. Originally known for its breakfast cereals, it now has a portfolio of more than 150 products. Founded in 1985 by Arran and Ratana Stephens, Nature's Path employs approximately 500 people, with manufacturing facilities in Canada and the United States and sales in more than 40 countries. All of its products are vegetarian, certified organic, and Non-GMO Project Verified. Nature's Path is a triple bottom line social enterprise, and has been recognized for incorporating the notion of sustainability into its business practices through its support of various charitable and eco-friendly initiatives. The company is regularly named one of Canada's best employers.

The company was started by Arran Stephens and Ratana Stephens in 1985 in British Columbia, Canada and the first product was Manna Bread. The Stephens' son, Arjan, and daughters, Jyoti and Gurdeep, currently work at Nature’s Path. Prior to opening Nature’s Path, Arran Stephens opened Canada’s first large organic supermarket in 1971, called Lifestream, and sold a successful line of natural products. Lifestream was sold to Kraft in 1981, but bought back by Stephens in 1995.

Nature’s Path has been voted amongst Canada’s Best 50 Employers in Canada in 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2012, and among Canada’s Greenest Employers in 2009, 2011 and 2012.

The Organic Trade Association recognized founders Arran and Ratana Stephens with the award for Growing Organic Leadership in 2013 and a Nature’s Path farmer, Doug Crabtree, with the Farmer of the Year award. Food in Canada recognized Nature’s Path with the 2014 award for Leadership in Sustainability.

Nature’s Path helped to establish the Sustainable Food Trade Association and in 2009 was one of the first companies to sign onto the Food Trade Sustainability Leadership Association’s Declaration of Sustainability to promote sustainable practices in the food industry.

The company became zero-waste certified in 2010 and have committed to complete carbon neutrality by 2020. So far Nature’s Path has successfully implemented practices that have diverted 92% of their waste from landfills; reduced packaging saving 825,540 gallons of wastewater, 437 tons of paperboard, 7,464 million BTUs of energy and 1.4 million pounds of carbon dioxide; they have launched a supplier code of conduct for labor; empowered employees to take ownership of sustainability and green initiatives; and through their commitment to organic farming have kept over 418,000 lbs of chemical pesticides out of the soil.