Ceylon Cold Stores blazes a winning trail with more awards

Ceylon Cold Stores PLC continued its winning streak in the Sri Lankan food manufacturing sector in 2009 by clinching more quality awards. Adding to its portfolio of accolades, it took top honours at the prestigious Ceylon National Chamber of Industries (CNCI) Awards by winning the National Gold (Joint) Award in the Extra Large Category (Manufacturing Sector)

 
Days prior to this, it also won a Certificate of Commendation – Manufacturing Sector (Large Scale) at the Provincial Productivity Awards conducted by the National Productivity Secretariat.
 
Chairman CNCI Newton Wickremasuriya said, “This award is in recognition of CCS’s commitment to quality, productivity, employer / employee relations, adherence to statutory requirements, respect for the environment, and effective contribution to national development”.
 
This award also recognises the company’s profitability, commitment to value addition, social responsibilities, fulfillment of industrial and occupational health and safety, energy conservation systems in use and the amount of energy saved during the period of assessment. 
 
President, Consumer Foods Group of JKH, Jit Gunaratne said that this was undoubtedly a superlative endorsement of the quality of ice creams and beverages manufactured by Ceylon Cold Stores. “As the market leader in the ice cream and beverage sectors, we’re no doubt proud of our achievements. These awards not only strengthen our commitment to quality, but also strengthen our resolve to innovate and give our customers best deal always. 
 
The Productivity Award recognizes CCC’s continuous commitment to the enhancement of productivity, development of human resources and maintaining of industrial harmony. While assessing its environment, health and safety systems, it also saw how the productivity concept has been promoted and spread among all levels of the organization and even up to their homes. Added to this were initiatives the company had taken to promote the productivity concept among schools, community development projects and CSR activities.
 
Elephant House Ice cream commanding over 2/3rds of the local ice cream market, is a popular household name across all age groups and social strata in Sri Lanka. Elephant House ice creams has also asserted its dominance in the Maldives commanding over 50% of the ice cream market.
 
The unique taste of Elephant House Vanilla Ice Cream is in the key flavoring ingredient used, which is 100% natural vanilla essence from locally sourced vanilla beans. With this initiative about 2,500 vanilla growers in the country are provided with a livelihood and a steady income from their vanilla crops.
 
Elephant soft drinks with its colourful history of over 100 years, is Sri Lanka’s strongest beverage brand offering time-tested and legendary flavours combined with modern variants. It also commands a significant presence in the international arena with its flagship brand Elephant Ginger Beer (EGB) capturing the attention of the rapidly growing natural and organic foods markets across the world.
 
‘EGB’, is the only natural Ginger Beer in the local market to date which has maintained that quality throughout the years giving the consumers a beverage with a unique, natural and distinctive taste. The product is made using natural ginger extracts which are sourced from local farmers.
 
As a major social initiative to source natural ginger extracts used in the product, CCS works directly with a community of ginger farmers in the Hatharaliyadda and Poojapitiya towns in the Kandy district, where this essential raw material is grown and harvested for production. This helps provide a direct sustainable livelihood for approximately 250 ginger farming families in the region and has improved their livelihood as a result of this partnership with Ceylon Cold Stores PLC. 
 
These projects eliminates market risks faced by farmers and CCS alike due to the guaranteed sale price confirmed in advance, while also enabling them to maximize their income by eliminating the ‘middleman’. On a much wider scale, the economy of Sri Lanka benefits through import substitution and foreign exchange conversion.