What does a Canadian burger chain have in common with tree planting? When it comes to Harvey’s, it turns out that the answer is far more than you might guess.
“Harvey’s is on a journey to keep Canada a beautiful thing through a number of key initiatives, including sustainable packaging and Canadian sourcing practices,” said Shalin Shah, Sr. Brand Manager, Harvey’s Canada. “Through its new partnership with Tree Canada, Harvey’s goal is to plant 25,000 trees in 2021, right here in Canada.”
In 2019, Harvey’s switched to paper straws and in 2020 they launched their Grow a Plant initiative, which provides a plant kit with every kid’s meal. To reduce single-use plastics, kids receive a sunflower or nasturtium plant in lieu of a plastic toy. Over one million plant kits are expected to be given out annually!
Additionally, through Harvey's "Tree Size your combo" initiative this past summer at London locations, they raised $10,000 toward supporting a large planting event within the city, and on Wednesday, October 20th, 2021, they attended the event!
A dedicated team of staff members from several London Harvey’s franchises, joined by their friends and family members, came together with ReForest London to plant over 300 trees and shrubs near the storm water management pond on Sunningdale Road in London. A wide range of native tree and shrub species were planted, which will help create wildlife habitat, absorb and clean rainwater, and of course provide clean air for all.
David Colebrook, President of Harvey’s, was in attendance at the event and rolled up his sleeves to plant several trees with his fellow Harvey’s staff. He also spoke with us about these nationwide efforts.
"We support sustainable beef production in Canada, all of our packaging is now made from recycled materials, we changed our kid’s toy from plastic to a plant kit activity – so the obvious fit was to come up with a not-for-profit that we could partner with to help us on that sustainability journey. So we partnered with Tree Canada broadly and executed a program across Canada where we planted over 25,000 trees. Here in London, Zarko and Dave [Mosey] took it to the next level. They partnered with ReForest London and the Million Tree Challenge here in London and had an in-store fundraising program. They were our largest fundraisers across our system – they did a phenomenal job. When they said that they were doing this team event, I wanted to make sure that I came out and supported them and said congratulations to the team."
Thank you, Harvey’s, for your incredible dedication to supporting our environment, both nationwide and right here in London. Thanks to your hard work, we’ve taken another big step toward our community’s goal of planting one million trees in the Forest City, making London a cleaner and greener place for all!
