Feeding Families
At Tops, we believe in Neighbors Helping Neighbors and have worked with our community partners to donate more than 64 million meals through a number of various organizations across our footprint.
Feeding Families
The Tops Feeding Charities Program assists non-profit charities working with food pantries and soup kitchens to serve those who are less fortunate. Each year Tops hosts its largest food drive, Food 2 Families/Food for Families, that kicks off traditionally in early November and runs throughout the month of December. This campaign is synonymous with the phrase and image of a Little Brown Bag of Hope. Customers can easily purchase a Little Brown Bag of Hope paper icon at the register anytime they shop during the campaign. At the register customers, will be asked if they want to support the campaign by buying a $5, $10, and/or $20 bag for someone in need in our community or to round up their change.
Empowering Our Youth
We improve the lives of children by supporting local schools through Tops in Education, which helps raise money for school improvements and programs.
Captain Planet Learning Garden
John Walter Spencer No. 16 Elementary School was the recipient of a Project Learning Garden thanks to Tops Friendly Markets, Dole Packaged Foods and the Captain Planet Foundation. The Project Learning Garden program provides a context for multidisciplinary learning, ranging from nutrition and science to social studies, math and language arts. Students benefit by expanding their palates, taste-testing healthy foods, and learning about food origins; engaging in authentic science field investigations; manipulating the environment to understand math in real-life applications; recreating historical activities; and writing across all these disciplines.
Empowering Our Youth
We sponsor and support numerous youth sports and Little League teams in the community, and also work closely with youth-related programs like Junior Achievement, inspiring and preparing young people to succeed.
Providing a Secure Place
For sixteen years, Tops stores in both Erie and Monroe Counties have served as a Safe Place for children ages 12-19. As a Safe Place site, children are able to come into our stores and remain in a safe environment while crisis counseling and/or shelter is coordinated.
Strengthening the Community
In an effort to better the lives of children and combat disease, we support children's hospitals with donations totaling more than $13.1+ million raised.
Strengthening the Community
To fight juvenile diabetes and birth defects, we work closely with organizations such as JDRF, March of Dimes and United Way.
Strengthening the Community
We work closely with a number of cancer-related causes and organizations in an effort to help fight the disease.
Honoring Our Heros
We honor the men and women who have bravely fought for our country and for those who continue to fight for our freedom through our work with veterans and military organizations such as:
Neighbors Helping Neighbors
Our fundraising efforts to help families include our work with important community organizations such as:
Conserving Resources
As we look back on 2022 Tops has recycled more than 12,030+ tons of cardboard boxes, paper, newspaper, magazines and cardboard displays and over 424 tons of plastic shopping bags and stretch film annually. In 2019 Tops also began a partnership with John R. Oishei Children's Hospital to aid in their plastic wrap recycling efforts. Truly a neighbors helping neighbors-and the environment-collaboration.
Reduce Reuse Recycle
In 2020 both New York and Vermont instituted laws banning single use plastic bags, but Tops was already ahead of this trend, not only eliminating their availability before the laws went into effect, but increasing the distribution of reusable shopping bags at stores and during community events. Tops provides a wide variety of shopping bags that consist of cloth and recycled materials which can easily and economically be purchased at the store.
Tops Totes For Change
In 2019 Tops began a new campaign that not only helps the environment, but important local causes as well called Tops Totes for Change. By purchasing a special charity-designed reusable bag for just $1.99 shoppers are not only helping Mother Earth but $1 from the proceeds are donated to your community's local organization. Since its inception the program has raised over $519,846 for local charities. In 2022 we added a new charity to the lineup-our local schools! Look for our new Tops in Education Bags in store and help your local schools today.
COMMITTED TO THE CAUSE
In 2023 Tops enhanced its commitment to green initiatives by becoming a member of The North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council (NASRC). As a member we'll be able to join forces with other business equally committed to environmental causes and share ideas that drive actionable solutions.
Making Strides in Produce
Tops transitioned to new eco-fiber trays in many of its stores, making an environmentally conscious decision to shift our produce packaging from foam to fiber. Tops has also made a commitment to cut down on its fuel emissions by doing business with more locally sourced providers. Integrow, whom Tops has done business with for years, is now the sole provider of Greenhouse grown tomatoes. Instead of bringing in produce from over 2,000 miles away it's sourcing it from 45-75 miles away, 52 weeks a year.
Transitioning to a Cleaner Future
Tops recently transitioned over to clear trays for its chicken products that are more sustainable and environmentally friendly with partner Mountaire. Clearly Clean trays are made of PET - the same materials used in water bottles. These trays are durable and 100% recyclable.
Flashfood
Flashfood is an app-based marketplace that strives to eliminate retail food waste by connecting consumers with discounted food nearing its best-by date and is now available in 50 Tops locations. Shoppers can buy items from Tops through the Flashfood app and pick them up in-store at great prices while collectively reducing food waste. This allows customers to save up to 60% off of the Flashfood items like produce, meat, deli, bakery, and dairy.
To date, Flashfood has diverted over 50 million pounds of food, saved shoppers over $1.5 million and more affordably fed hundreds of thousands of families. Flashfood is a free app available on iOS and Android. For more information, please visit https://flashfood.onelink.me/yAxk/3jwl07a6
It's All in the Bag
Tops prides itself on working with partners who share the same commitment to environmental practices so it was a no brainer when Tops had the opportunity to employ BioFlex™ bags instead of traditional plastic bags for its potatoes.
BioFlex™ is a sustainable technology that increases the natural microbial activity in modern landfills and contributes 19 times more energy than that of regular plastic. The packaging is FDA compliant and safe for food contact. Furthermore, BioFlex™ packaging can be designed to maintain recyclability.
The new packaging is 100% recyclable and also biodegrades in landfills and converts into renewable methane gas. Tops is proud to be the first retail chain to adopt this technology and has the most distribution to date.
Reducing Waste
Our stores have recycled over 461.1 tons of organic scraps which includes unusable produce, floral, bakery cull, and unsaleable produce. By partnering with companies like Organix Recycling, Tops is able to divert food from landfills. We also partner with local recyclers and in some instances, farmers, who use this for feed.
Fresh Recovery Creates a Positive Impact
The Fresh Recovery Program that has been expanded at 130 Tops locations across NYS is revolutionizing the grocery store industry by tackling food waste head-on. Through strategic partnerships, efficient inventory management, and customer engagement, this program sets a benchmark for sustainability.
At its core, the Fresh Recovery Program focuses on rescuing and repurposing fresh produce and perishable items that would otherwise go to waste including bakery, deli, meat, seafood, frozen and dairy items. Tops has operated a similar program of this nature for decades, partnering with local food banks, food pantries, and community organizations to ensure that surplus food is redirected to those in need. By redistributing these items, the program not only combats hunger, but also reduces the environmental footprint associated with food waste.
Reducing Waste
In 2022 Tops Used Cooking Oil Program continues to work with our partners to recycle more than 117.4 tons of used cooking oil, repurposing it into other products such as biofuels that help to reduce the world's carbon footprint.
Protecting our Environment
Working alongside the Department of Environmental Conservation, shoppers will find clearly designated disposal bins located in the Tops pharmacy departments where they can dispose of their unused and unwanted medications.
Tops is pleased to be able to offer this added convenience to the community year round. Proper disposal of unused, unwanted and/or expired prescription medications helps not only protect our environment, but more importantly saves lives.
Reducing our Carbon Footprint
Not only are Tops stores more environmentally conscious, but the corporate office is making strides in this arena as well by using "greener" cleaning supplies. From hand towels and bath tissues that carry EPA/FSC and eco certifications to coreless products, all of these items help reduce waste. Additionally almost all of the paper based packaging for the products used contain post-consumer waste. The use of HEPA vacs and auto scrubbers control water usage as well, cutting back on the overall environmental impact made by Tops.
Raising Efficiencies
We continue to convert our parking lot lights and fuel station canopies across the chain's footprint to LED fixtures to reduce energy consumption. In 2021 alone six interiors and four parking lots were retrofitted to LED lighting and in 2022 we anticipate retrofitting an additional 7-10 more. In total since 2019 Tops has reduced its electronic consumption by 11.5% with various energy saving initiatives, mostly LED lighting.
E-Charging Stations
Tops was excited to collaborate with the New York Power Authority and EVOLVE NY to bring our customers the first high-speed electric vehicle charging hub, located at our Tops in LaGrangeville, NY. This environmentally conscious and convenient charging station ties perfectly into Tops' sustainability efforts and mission, reducing environmental waste and energy consumption all while providing our customers with sustainably sourced, high-quality products.
Additional electric vehicle charging stations are available in Williamsville, Rhinebeck, and New Paltz, NY. Looking ahead Tops is involved in talks with Tesla and other vendors and anticipates adding new EV charging stations in the future in Erie, Livingston, and Cattaraugus Counties.
Raising Efficiencies
Through the end of 2021 Tops has drastically reduced its energy consumption throughout our footprint by upgrading our store's interior lighting to LED lights/fixtures thru a program with Lime Energy Services. Today 60 stores throughout the chain as well as our Corporate offices and mailroom have been fully converted from traditional fluorescent lighting to LED lighting. This saves 12,982,000 kWh of electricity. In 2022 Tops plans to upgrade 10 additional stores for additional savings.
Raising Efficiencies
New vapor-tight LED fixtures have reduced energy consumption in our freezers by 69%.
Helping the Environment
Since 2019, Tops retrofitted refrigerant in 64 of its stores to an environmentally friendly refrigerant. In 2023 Tops converted 20,500 lbs. of refrigerant at 23 stores to a more environmentally favorable refrigerant. This reduces the amount of ozone depleting refrigerants in our stores and also replaces other refrigerants with a higher global warming potential.
Solar Efficiencies
In 2022 Tops continued to increase its use of solar energy by partnering with Convergent Power + Energy and EDP Renewables to provide more than 82 stores with energy saving solar power.
Building a Better Workplace
We have more than 13,000+ associates dedicated to our customers—and each other—through our culture that promotes a positive attitude, character, teamwork, dependability and trustworthiness.
Promoting Education
Our investment in education includes two different scholarship programs where more than 22,400 scholarships have been awarded and over $ 22,153,000 has been provided to Tops associates for scholarship reimbursement. In 2022 alone, the UFCW and Tops Markets will award over 170 associates a total of more than $221,750 in scholarships and Tops will award 32 students $33,000 in scholarships this year.
Promoting Education
We're proud to offer tuition reimbursements toward advanced degrees and have a partnership with Niagara University to offer a preferred tuition rate for graduate level coursework.
Investing in Our Employees
We're dedicated to growing the careers of our employees and offer training and career advancement opportunities through on-the-job cross-training, the Tops School of Business, the Tops Leadership Academy and other competency-based management training.
Investing in Our Employees
Tops Years of Service recognition program celebrates the dedication and loyalty of our long-term associates. In 2022, we recognized a total of 269 associates reaching 25, 30, 35, 40, 45 and even 50 year anniversaries for a grand total of 8,450 years of service.
Recognizing Achievement
Throughout the course of the year our associates are recognized as not only being experts in their areas of the business with awards like Produce Managers of the Year and Top Women in Grocery, but also being good corporate citizens. Tops is proud to have the best and brightest as part of the team.
Keeping it Green
We reduce our carbon footprint by optimizing deliveries to and from our central warehouse and frozen distribution center.
Keeping it Green
In 2022 Tops will be further enhancing its fleet of trucks by converting over to 48 new CNG trucks with impressive sustainability benefits.
By fueling 1,000,000 DGEs of RNG, Tops will eliminate 3,246 MT of carbon dioxide equivalent per year. To put that into perspective that is equivalent to eliminating 33,389,607 miles driven by a passenger vehicle, 502,034 incandescent lamps switched to LED's or 563,607 trash bags of waste recycled instead of being placed in a landfill.
Giving You Our Best
Tops CORE standards ensure that we provide our customers with sustainable and traceable products that are of a high quality, sourced responsibly and serve the environment's best interests.
Giving You Our Best
We offer more than 4,500 Certified Organic items, which are free of synthetic additives like pesticides, chemical fertilizers and dyes. All of our items labeled as Certified Organic contain at least 95% organically sourced ingredients.
Giving You Our Best
With cleaner and simpler ingredients, more than 7,000 Tops Brand Products provide our customers with the highest-quality options available.
Listening to You
We continually survey our customers to make sure that we always deliver an extraordinary shopping experience.
Finding the Right Match
We conduct extensive background checks on new suppliers to ensure they meet the Tops CORE standards, with a dedication to honesty, a commitment to creating value for our customers and practices that are socially responsible.
Finding the Right Match
We purchase commodities (i.e.: sugar, oil and cocoa) from suppliers that have the necessary trade certifications.
Proud of Our Partnerships
Take a closer look at the practices of some of our trusted partners.
Supporting Local Businesses
We support and invest in our local farmers and merchants, and that includes working with more than 500 local growers during homegrown season, some of which have partnered with Tops for decades.
Supporting Local Businesses
We re-invest in the communities we serve by supplying products from more than 300 local companies representing thousands of items, putting money back into local economies.
Partnering On Principals
Tops has recently partnered with the Rainforest Alliance to provide our customers with beautiful Sunshine Bouquets all while working with certified farmers who use more sustainable farming methods that protect forests and biodiversity. This improves livelihoods, promotes human rights, and helps them adapt to the climate crisis.
