Coca-Cola helps the underprivileged in Hong Kong with NGOs amid pandemic

Many brands have been helping the community, especially the underprivileged, amid the current COVID-19 pandemic. As one of Hong Kong’s most well-known brands, Coca-Cola is among those offering assistance to them. Recently, it has worked with social enterprise Dignity Kitchen Hong Kong to launch a pro-bono programme with an aim to improve the diet of low-income families in the city.

Coca-Cola’s collaboration with Dignity Kitchen Hong Kong comprises two parts. Aiming at equipping families with skills to cook delicious, healthy, yet affordable meals with ingredients that are easy to source, Coca-Cola has launched a series of cooking classes for about 120 underprivileged local and ethnic minority families in town.

Each class session lasts about one hour and with four families, in which they had learned how to cook under the instructions of the chefs from Dignity Kitchen Hong Kong or guest chefs from five-star hotels in town.

The classes have incorporated its signature product Coca-Cola into the dishes, such as stir-fried udon with Coca-Cola, and stir-fried spaghetti with chicken, orange, and Fanta.

“I’ve been most impressed by how a small gesture can make a big difference to other people in need and how quality time with families accompanied by food and beverages can be so meaningful,” said Florence Yu, director of public affairs, communications and sustainability at Coca-Cola China Limited, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau, and Mongolia.

In addition to the cooking classes, Coca-Cola has also sent out a total of 2,400 lunch boxes with Coca-Cola beverages to underprivileged and ethnic minority families under the partnership with Dignity Kitchen Hong Kong, who designed the menu for these lunch boxes to suit the tastes of the beneficiaries.

Coca-Cola was not only giving out lunch boxes with Dignity Kitchen Hong Kong but also with Gingko House, a Hong Kong-based social enterprise offering job opportunities for the elder through its restaurants and catering services, to provide people in need with 5,000 lunch boxes.

The collaborations with Dignity House Hong Kong and Gingko House isare part of Coca-Cola’s effort to support the communities worldwide. Globally, the Coca-Cola system, including The Coca-Cola Foundation, is pledging more than US$100 million to support COVID-19 relief efforts in communities.

“‘Go Beyond Good’ is our brand philosophy. There are three pillars of this initiative, namely empowering the local community, championing sustainability, and building brand love,” Yu said.

“Our vision is to craft the brands and choice of drinks that people love and to refresh them in body and spirit. We also hope to create a more sustainable business and better shared future that makes a difference in people’s lives, communities, and our planet – going beyond making products to enhance people’s wellbeing,” she added.

In 2018, the company announced the global initiative “World Without Waste”. The pledges include making its packaging totally recyclable by 2025, using at least 50% recycled materials in its packaging by 2030, and collecting and recycling the equivalent of the packaging it sells by 2030.

This year in Hong Kong, Coca-Cola launched clear bottles for Sprite and 100% recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) for Bonaqua for an easier recycling process and collaborated with the World Green Organisation on a recycling programme. Last but not least, Coca-Cola will also support Swire Coca-Cola's launch of a new life plastics facility – the first food grade PET recycling plant in Hong Kong.

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