Crepes & Waffles
Crepes & Waffles
A model of women's economic empowerment in the private sector that is now working in alliance with rural communities to boost climate-resilient farming practices in Colombia.
BCTA MEMBERSHIP STATUS
Active
SECTOR
Agriculture, Food & Beverage
HEADQUARTERS
Colombia
REGION OF INITIATIVE
Latin America & Caribbean
SDG CONTRIBUTION
RELATED NEWS
The Impact Goal
In 2021, Crepes & Waffles (C&W) renewed its membership with Business Call to Action with a commitment to provide financial skills training to 50 low-income people, create 3,482 full time jobs that are direct hirings of personnel for Crepes & Waffles, and support 14 micro-SMEs through sustainability projects developed with smallholder farmers associations or community-owned companies by 2024.
C&W had first joined Business Call to Action in January 2018 with a commitment to sustainably improve the income of 100 smallholder farmers in the Montes de Maria region of Colombia by 2020 and to regenerate large areas of the country’s dry forest by creating better conditions for water conservation, contributing to farm resilience and food security.
The Market Gap
In Colombia, many workplaces are biased towards single mothers, preferring not to hire women with children, as they feel they will take extra time off for childcare needs. . A limited level of education and less work experience for such women is another barrier to getting decent work.
Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic saw the unemployment rate of Colombian women reach 60.6% in 2020 and for every two men losing their jobs, three women were laid off.
The Business Solution
Crepes & Waffles hires mainly women, reducing hiring barriers to a minimum. Currently, 56% of the employees at C&W have primary education as their highest level of education. It grants every employee a stable contract, with every employee paid over the legal minimum wage. At the same time, the company has developed training programs to increase job skills, boost self-esteem and foster leadership.
In 2008 the company created an arts academy, focused on offering tools for employees to explore their full potential as human beings, with a philosophy that goes beyond developing technical skills or contributing to a good working environment.
In 2017, this concern for the wellbeing of the workforce, especially the women responsible for the economy of their entire families, was extended to territories and communities involved in their supply system. Crepes & Waffles focused its attention on smallholder farmers, a historically neglected group by high-value markets. That was the beginning of a sustainability strategy which has seen the company buy crops from nine Colombian territories avoiding unnecessary middle -men and offering better prices compared to local markets - fostering community empowerment and environmental conservation.
About Crepes & Waffles S.A. : Crepes & Waffles S.A. is a Colombian restaurant business, established as a small French-inspired creperie in Bogota in 1980. 92 percent of its 3,000+ employees are women. Not only are they women, but many of them are single mothers, and often the sole breadwinners in their families. The chain, which has been billed as a model of women's economic empowerment in the private sector in Latin America, has 34 restaurants abroad, including in Brazil, Panama, Mexico, Chile, Venezuela and Spain.