CESAR® Canine Cuisine Announces First-Ever Workplace Grant Recipients

The brand is awarding $75,000 across nine businesses to help them welcome canine co-workers into their workplaces

FRANKLIN, Tenn., Dec. 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- CESAR^® Canine Cuisine, proudly part of the Mars family of brands, believes that the best life is shared between pets and their pet parents, and since 2022, the brand has been focused on helping to make the world a more dog-friendly place, starting with the workplace. Earlier this year, the brand launched the CESAR Workplace Grants, powered by the Mars Petcare BETTER CITIES FOR PETS™ program, designed to help businesses make simple changes to welcome dogs into their offices, or to further enhance their current dog-friendly offerings. Today, the brand is announcing the nine businesses across the country who will be awarded a CESAR Workplace Grant. The grant recipients will receive a collective total of $75,000 to help further their commitment to pet togetherness in the workplace.

Recent research¹ from the CESAR brand shows the powerful impact dogs can have on employee satisfaction and the return to office. In fact, 93% of dog owners in pet-friendly workplaces reported positive attitudes about going to work. Additionally, 87% of employers with dog-friendly office policies say those policies increased the likelihood of their workforce returning to the office in person. Through the CESAR Workplace Grants program, the brand is helping businesses implement or enhance dog-friendly initiatives with hopes that they will experience the benefits of canine coworkers.

"At our Mars Petcare office, we understand the impact that having your furry colleague nearby has on boosting workplace morale and given how many hours we spend a week in the office, it just makes sense to have dogs there," said Sarah Dunsmore, People & Organization Director, Mars Petcare. "I'm so inspired to see how all these organizations, from Buffalo to Albuquerque, are planning to use these grant funds to establish new dog-friendly policies or enhance their current programming and can't wait to follow along on their dog-friendly journeys over the next year."

Check out the inspiring ways the 2023 CESAR Workplace Grant recipients plan to use their grant funding:

• Center 615 will make updates to its existing pet amenities – such as adding dog waste stations and free doggy waste bags and bolstering its signage onsite – and provide company-branded dog accessories.
• Compeer Buffalo will welcome dogs into its office for the first time and create designated "Canine-Assisted Wellness Zones," thoughtfully designed to accommodate dogs and employees.
• EOA Architects, who already hosts "Pet Friendly Fridays," will welcome pets into the office on a more frequent basis. They'll also introduce a colored leash system that aligns with dogs' preference for being approached and signage letting visitors know pets may be in office.
• Five Ton Monkey will further accommodate the pets they already have in the office by establishing new policies and safety procedures and creating custom onsite pet-care stations.
• Laura U Design Collective will expand its existing dog perks with comfy dog beds, water stations, leash hooks to keep pets safely nearby their parent and a workplace pet promotion campaign. The business hopes this expansion will spur pet and pet parent health and engagement.
• MAS-HVAC will formalize their pets at work policy at their new 2024 office and has plans to add dog-friendly water fountains, leash hooks at desks, dog beds, refillable dog waste bag holders with free waste bags and signage about their pet-friendly program throughout the workplace.
• Northwood Office will establish their dog-friendly workplace program with a focus on implementing new policies, amenities and practices to test and learn for expansion of its dog-friendly workplace initiative.
• Pottstown Area Economic Development (PAED) will expand its pet-friendly offerings to accommodate more pets. They'll create a clear policy for dogs in the workplace, including signage and emergency procedures that are inclusive of doggy desk mates.
• Smith Gee Studio will provide new amenities to accommodate pets and their owners including beds, blankets, leash hitches and on-site waste stations. Additionally, they'll implement new signage, formal policies and communications to let visitors know their workplace is dog-friendly.

In addition to the grant funds, each recipient will be offered CESAR Canine Cuisine for their canine coworkers, access to pet behavior training resources from Mars Petcare and consultation from the Civic Design Center to help further their programs' success.

"We are so excited for this opportunity to welcome our dogs to our office, with the help of the CESAR brand," said Cheri Alvarez, CEO of Compeer Buffalo. "As a mental health nonprofit, we understand the psychological benefits of pet interactions. Welcoming our pups into our office will provide emotional support, stress relief and comfort to our hardworking staff, allowing them to replenish themselves so they can better serve our community."

Businesses who aren't receiving a grant can still take advantage of the resources and expertise of the CESAR brand and Mars Petcare, the CESAR brand's parent company, with the PETS WORK AT WORK™ toolkit. The toolkit is a free online resource and the ultimate guide for any business considering going dog-friendly. It includes information on making the case to leadership teams, details on ordinances and necessary amenities, considerations for developing a pet policy, how to communicate the program to employees, example signage, furniture recommendations and more tips for a successful integration of pets in the workplace.

To learn more about the CESAR brand's work in helping to make the world a more dog-friendly place, visit CESAR.com/dog-friendly or follow the CESAR brand on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

About CESAR^® Canine Cuisine
CESAR Canine Cuisine is a high-quality line of premium dry and wet dog food and dog treats for small- to medium-sized dogs. The CESAR brand wants to transform mealtime into moments of shared joy by providing irresistible taste and unparalleled variety all dogs love. The CESAR brand offers a wide variety of irresistible wet food flavors through their classic tray offerings, including the HOME DELIGHTS™ line that features comfort food favorites. The SIMPLY CRAFTED™ range is designed to give dogs a simple and tasty meal complement, while WHOLESOME BOWLS™ meals are a healthy and culinary inspired meal or dry kibble topper. The brand also offers three flavors in their dry food line. To learn more, visit www.cesar.com. 

About Mars Petcare  
At Mars Petcare we have one purpose: A BETTER WORLD FOR PETS™. Through comprehensive veterinary care, nutrition, breakthrough programs in diagnostics, wearable health monitoring, DNA testing and pet welfare we help pets in more than 130 countries. For decades we've supported research into the incredible science of human-animal interaction at the Waltham Petcare Science Institute where scientists discover important advances in pet health and wellness.  Mars Petcare is part of  Mars, Incorporated, a global, family-owned business. Follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn. 

ABOUT MARS, INCORPORATED 
Mars, Incorporated is driven by the belief that the world we want tomorrow starts with how we do business today. As a global, family-owned business, Mars is transforming, innovating and evolving to make a positive impact on the world. 

Across our diverse and expanding portfolio of quality confectionery, food and petcare products and services, we employ 140,000+ dedicated Associates. With almost $45 billion in annual sales, we produce some of the world's best-loved brands including Ben's Original™, CESAR^®, Cocoavia^®, DOVE^®, EXTRA^®, KIND®, M&M's^®, SNICKERS^®, ORBIT^®, PEDIGREE^®, ROYAL CANIN^®, SKITTLES^®, and WHISKAS^®. We are creating a better world for pets through our global network of pet hospitals and diagnostic services – including AniCura, BANFIELD™, BLUEPEARL™, Linnaeus and VCA™ - using cutting edge technology to develop breakthrough programs in genetic health screening and DNA testing. For more information about Mars, please visit www.mars.com. Join us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube. 

¹ Mars Petcare partnered with Weber Shandwick and KRC Research to inform the Cesar Purpose at Work 2.0 Program study. KRC Research conducted an online survey among a sample of n=1500 US office workers and n=300 employers. All office workers had to work in person on average at least 2 days a week. The survey was conducted from May 2 to May 9, 2023.

CONTACTS:
Nicole Serr
Mars Petcare
312-505-0834
[email protected] 

Kate Dryden
Weber Shandwick
314-406-6465
[email protected]  

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SOURCE CESAR® Canine Cuisine