Stories
Peace Cereal

peace_cereal

Peace Cereal

Created originally as a way to generate funds for peacebuilding organizations, Peace Cereal turns the old business paradigm on its head. Since their inception in 1997, Peace Cereal has donated over $1 million to peacebuilding organizations. This year they are sponsoring the Peace Film Festival in honor of the UN's International Day of Peace, as well as many other projects that support a more loving and peaceful planet.

  Introduced by Golden Temple, a long time natural foods company, the instantly successful Peace Cereal has grown from four cereal varieties to twelve, with high standards of atleast 70% organic ingredients (many flavors are 95% organic). Keeping to their focus and mission of building peace, the cereal remains an avenue to support their continual involvement in peacebuilding activities.

Each year Peace Cereal supports selected peacebuilding organizations with financial donations. They also take a role in helping these groups succeed. Peace Cereal works closely with grant recipients to clarify their message, and to develop their administrative organization. Being a successful business model, Peace Cereal has much to offer in terms of mentoring and guidance. All staff at Peace Cereal are given paid time off to volunteer with non profit organizations, often coordinating with grant recipients. Internal programs encourage employees to take the steps to volunteer.

Peace Cereal also promotes peace in the workplace. A meditative environment is a valued aspect, and the 200 plant workers take 15-minute yoga breaks every four hours or so. The internal culture is very supportive and relaxed, and people apply for positions because they want to work for a greater good. They maintain a fairly flat pay structure without much gap between upper and lower and even those at the lowest pay are paid a good living wage, as well as receiving good benefits.

Golden Temple hosts the annual Socially Responsible Business Awards breakfast, honoring socially responsible businesses in the natural foods industry. They also donate truckloads of the cereal to their local food bank each year.

Their latest project is Celebrate Peace, an ongoing national tour to promote peace through workshops, concerts and more. Each stop on the tour offers different paths to peace; through yoga, meditation and music. Celebrate Peace will also take the message of peace where it’s needed most — orphanages, hospitals and incarcerated youth. By fostering peace in individuals, this transformative power will soon spread to others, bringing about a lasting peace.

"Choosing Peace Cereal gives people the opportunity to use their purchasing power to align with their values." Guru Sadhana, brand manager, says "Everybody loves the idea of peace. When they see that we’re donating or all of the different activities that we’re doing, people love it. I think the more people know about it, the more people can feel good about their purchasing decisions. It’s great to have business be a way to promote the values of society. If we can all be peaceful then we can spread that light to each other and all those we come in contact with, and slowly humanity will be more peaceful."