AB, diversity and inclusion even during the lunch break with the new ABreak project

Orzinuovi (Brescia), May 8, 2023.

Starting today, ABreak, an innovative and sustainable lunch break service, is available to all AB employees. In recent days, the company presented its new food truck, which will travel between the various company sites, offering simple, healthy and tasty food with a truly inclusive feature: the service will be entirely managed by people with disabilities.

AB, the Italian multinational recognized globally for its energy sustainability solutions, has expanded over the years in line with the growth of its business and now operates from several facilities located across the provinces of Brescia and Cremona, in the municipalities of Orzinuovi, Villachiara, Romanengo and Cologne. Until now, the company's more than one thousand employees could either bring meals from home and use the staff dining areas or take advantage of a pre-cooked meal delivery service. From today, however, they will be served directly by the food truck, customized with dedicated and attractive graphics.

With this new initiative, AB addresses two seemingly separate needs. On the one hand, it responds to requests gathered through employee focus groups for more diverse food options and additional opportunities for social interaction. On the other hand, it represents a further step in the company's commitment to diversity and inclusion, including through the employment of people belonging to protected categories. The ABreak project enables employees with disabilities to work in an environment where they can fully express their potential and have their skills recognized, while also allowing other employees to encounter and experience disability as part of everyday life.

For this project, AB selected a partner already active in the fields of catering and the vocational training of people with disabilities. The chosen organization is Inchiostro Social Cooperative, founded to promote, organize and manage education and professional training activities, as well as initiatives supporting employment and workplace integration. In addition to managing three vocational qualification programs (Meal Preparation, Table and Bar Services, and a customized Meal Preparation program for people with disabilities) and a Culinary Technician diploma course, in 2022 the Cooperative launched DITUTTALTRAPASTA, a work inclusion program dedicated to people with disabilities aged between 17 and 35 who are leaving school or have been unemployed for a long period.

Through the ABreak service, the new food truck and Inchiostro Cooperative's expertise, AB can now offer all its employees a widespread meal service that is healthy, organic, diverse, inclusive and focused on promoting local products.

"Sustainability has always been for AB not just a simple word but a way of thinking and acting. Today, more than 40 years later, sustainability is no longer limited to our products and manufacturing processes; it also extends to our governance model, corporate culture, supply chain, relationship with the ecosystem in which we operate, and the relationships among our employees," commented Chiara Baronchelli, Member of AB's Board of Directors. "ABreak is much more than a food truck. It is the tangible expression of a sustainable approach, both from an economic perspective and, above all, in terms of social inclusion; a place to eat well, eat healthy, connect with others, and take a moment to reflect on the many ways in which people can be different without being distant."

"With this project, we put into practice the ability of a community to generate transformative processes by building alliances that create shared value among business excellence, forward-thinking public administrations, social innovation initiatives and citizens," commented Alessio Gatta, President of Inchiostro. "A proposal is born: to see each of us, without exception, as a fundamental part of a supportive ecosystem capable of making relationships, resources and skills available to everyone, transforming new gaps into successful enterprises that help others succeed, creating places that generate hope, work, culture, welfare and citizenship."

Watch the video HERE

Read the press release HERE