The Good Club and New Horizons Bulgaria: Turning Employee Benefits into Measurable Impact

The Good Club and New Horizons Bulgaria: Turning Employee Benefits into Measurable Impact

Agriventures member company The Good Club, in partnership with New Horizons Bulgaria, has demonstrated how a traditional employee benefit can be transformed into a strategic ESG instrument with measurable impact on local food systems.

Food vouchers are typically directed toward large retail chains, where only a small share of the final product price reaches primary producers. In many cases, farmers receive roughly a quarter of the consumer price, while the majority remains within retail and distribution structures.

With strategic support from Agriventures in identifying market opportunities and refining its sustainability assessment methodology, The Good Club developed an alternative model that redirects corporate food voucher budgets directly toward local, sustainability-assessed producers. Within this structure, between 90 and 95 percent of the value flows directly to farmers and food producers.

The pilot implementation with New Horizons Bulgaria produced concrete results within its first month. A total of €1,146.02 was invested directly into sustainable food systems. Nine local producers were supported, each assessed under defined sustainability criteria.

Employees placed 46 orders from a curated portfolio of more than 150 locally sourced products. Participation reached 100 percent, demonstrating both operational feasibility and strong internal engagement.

Beyond the financial metrics, the impact is structural. The supported producers apply practices that contribute to reduced greenhouse gas emissions, improved animal welfare standards, responsible water management, biodiversity protection, fair trading relationships, and decent working conditions. The sustainability methodology, strengthened through collaboration with Agriventures, ensures that impact is measurable, transparent, and embedded in procurement decisions rather than treated as a marketing claim.

This initiative illustrates how ESG principles can be integrated into everyday corporate operations. Instead of positioning sustainability as a separate initiative or corporate social responsibility activity, New Horizons embedded impact directly into an existing budget line: employee benefits.

By doing so, the company aligned employee wellbeing with support for resilient local supply chains and measurable environmental and social outcomes.

Agriventures contributed to this success by supporting The Good Club in opportunity mapping, refining its sustainability framework, strengthening ecosystem partnerships, and positioning the model within a broader strategy for food system transformation. As an organization dedicated to advancing innovation in agrifood and biotechnology, Agriventures focuses on enabling scalable, market-based solutions that create economic and societal value.

The collaboration between The Good Club, New Horizons Bulgaria, Agriventures, and FOODITY demonstrates that systemic change in food systems does not necessarily require new funding streams. It can begin with the strategic redesign of existing financial flows.

By transforming routine corporate spending into targeted support for local sustainable producers, this model offers a practical pathway for companies seeking to move from ESG commitments to measurable implementation.

The Good Club is currently utilizing the Tailored Plan on the Agriventures platform (https://agriventures.co/), where the team receives structured consultation, strategic guidance, and access to curated funding information relevant to their stage of development.

Through this support, the company continues to strengthen its methodology, expand partnership opportunities, and prepare for scalable growth.

The Good Club’s experience confirms that when sustainability is embedded into daily business decisions, impact becomes not an aspiration, but an operational reality.