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Medium Sustainability

Keep-it-Fresh

#Agri-business
ProHub Comment

This case tests sustainability strategy development and project prioritization. The candidate must analyze environmental issues using a materiality matrix, brainstorm solutions, and select the optimal project based on NPV, timeframe, and impact—balancing the investor's desire for quick results (ASAP) with meaningful environmental improvement.

Estimated Time 26 minutes
Difficulty Medium
Source Duke
10 / 100
Your client is Keep-It-Fresh, a leading fresh fruit and vegetable wholesaler based in Atlanta, GA. Keep-it-Fresh has recently been acquired by a major impact investor, and has been asked by the new owner to improve its sustainability profile. The CEO of Keep-it-Fresh has asked your team to identify the key sustainability issues the company should be working on.

Clarifying Information

  1. Client/Company: Keep-it-Fresh is a vertically integrated wholesaler that operates farms and sells its fresh products to professional clients: supermarkets, restaurants and hotels.
  2. Industry/Competition: Keep-it-Fresh is a top 3 US fresh produce wholesalers, with annual revenue of $300M.
  3. Goal: The new owner wants to keep up the good financial returns, but is also concerned about the environmental and social footprint of its investment. Keep-it-Fresh already enforces best-in-class social practices (wages, paid overtime, health insurance, etc.), but nothing is done in terms of environmental sustainability
  4. Timeline: Investor expects to see any sustainability plan to be implemented and show positive impact ASAP
Mock Interview
Interviewer

Your client is Keep-It-Fresh, a leading fresh fruit and vegetable wholesaler based in Atlanta, GA. Keep-it-Fresh has recently been acquired by a major impact investor, and has been asked by the new owner to improve its sustainability profile. The CEO of Keep-it-Fresh has asked your team to identify the key sustainability issues the company should be working on.

You

Thanks. Before analyzing, I'd like to clarify a few key questions...

Interviewer

Good question. Let me provide some background information...

You

Based on this, I suggest analyzing from these dimensions...

AI Score
Structure Analysis Communication Business Sense Quantitative
Practicing...
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Practice this case with AI Mock Interview

Keep-it-Fresh, a $300M fresh produce wholesaler recently acquired by an impact investor, needs a sustainability strategy. The case requires identifying key environmental issues, brainstorming solutions, and recommending a prioritized project that delivers results quickly while maintaining profitability.

Key Insights:

  1. Materiality matrices combine stakeholder concern and business impact to identify priority issues—pesticide usage and produce waste emerge as most material
  2. Project selection requires balancing multiple trade-offs: NPV, implementation timeline, sustainability impact, and stakeholder expectations for speed
  3. Marketing misfit produce (Project 3) offers optimal combination of medium sustainability rating, positive NPV ($5M), and fastest time-to-results (6 months total), beating higher-impact but slower projects
  4. Strong recommendations must articulate risks and next steps, not just project selection