BCTA MEMBERSHIP STATUS
Alumni

SECTOR
Agriculture, Food & Beverage

HEADQUARTERS
Turkey

REGION OF INITIATIVE
Eastern Europe & Central Asia

SDG CONTRIBUTION

RELATED NEWS

Turkish hospitality company BigChefs, which endeavours to source its food and other products locally in Turkey, joined Business Call to Action in July 2019 with a commitment to increase the number of its low income women agricultural producers to 80, and provide them with mentorship on issues like logistics, packaging and alike by 2021.

BigChefs, which operates 50 restaurants in all major cities of Turkey and abroad, engages small scale female agricultural producers, many of whom are low-income, across Turkey in its supply chain. Under its unique From the Women of the Soil to the Tables initiative, the company is working towards having its entire supply chain of applicable product categories provided by women. The initiative was launched in 2018 with just 14 female suppliers, which it aims to grow to 80 by 2021.

BigChefs targets women who are based in rural areas with a daily income of less than 50 TL (USD $8.50), who rely on soil and crops for their living and strive to meet the other needs of their families / households as well. Their age averages between 30 and 50. They reside in various regions of Turkey, such as Marmara, Aegean, Mediterranean and South East Anatolia and are engaged in natural farming. BigChefs encourages these women not just to supply to them, but to create new markets via various distribution channels. Their monthly income from BigChefs is around 2,500 TL (USD $433).

The company aims to double the number of women it engages every consecutive year and ensure the number of female suppliers make up at least 10 percent of its total producers in the relevant product ranges.

This project is part of Big Chef’s overall efforts raise awareness about value and opportunity in employing low-income women in Turkey. To increase the visibility of its suppliers, BigChefs integrates logos of its female producers’ products in BigChefs’ menus, and the company’s website also features pop-ups, videos and informative stories about its suppliers.

While the cost of the products supplied from them is slightly higher compared to conventional suppliers, BigChefs believes this margin is with the benefits that the social impact of this initiative bring.