Cafe de Coral puts social practices on menu

IT IS NOT common for Hong Kong companies to have specific policies on corporate social responsibility (CSR), but local firms are increasingly discussing the subject and making it part of the corporate culture through their employees.

Hong Kong-based Cafe de Coral Holdings, the world's largest Chinese fast-food restaurant chain with more than 340 outlets in the Asia-Pacific and more than 200 in North America, has established several CSR practices in the past 35 years, although it does not have a set policy for their implementation.

Albert Wan Ming, assistant director of administrative logistics, said the company was working to make its CSR practices more systematic, and relied on its staff to help it contribute to society because 'CSR is based on each employee'.

He said more companies were also following the 'caring company' trend, as consumers had become more forthright in their demands.

A survey commissioned in 2002 by Boston-based Cone, a strategy firm linking companies' brands and social issues, found 91 per cent of the 1,040 American adults surveyed said they would consider switching brands if they found that a company engaged in negative practices. Also, 83 per cent said they would refuse to invest in the company's stock, 80 per cent would refuse to work at that company and 68 per cent would feel less loyal to the firm if they did work there.

Mr Wan said Cafe de Coral saw its social responsibilities in three main areas: its customers, employees and shareholders. This is implied in the firm's Chinese name, dai ga lok, which means happy together - bringing happiness and showing responsibility to all parties involved.