Name: Natily Santos
Title: Vice President, Responsible Sourcing
Company: Aramark + Avendra International
Years in Current Position: Five years, 11 months
Primary Responsibilities: As Vice President of Responsible Sourcing at Aramark + Avendra International, she drives sustainable procurement and inclusive sourcing initiatives that have contributed to advancing sustainable practices for operators and clients, as well as generated over $1 billion in economic impact through Aramark partnerships with small and underrepresented suppliers.
Company’s most significant accomplishment in sustainability: “There is not one thing. We are very focused on the Avendra for Good brand and how to elevate the conversation around sustainable sourcing. Our supplier recognition efforts. Communicating our efforts better. Our acquisition of long-time partner MaetaData. Aramark had worked with them for 10 years.”
Company’s most significant challenge moving forward in sustainability: “Managing legislative and reporting expectations. There is still a lot of complexity to navigate.”
PHILADELPHIA—As Vice President, Responsible Sourcing for Aramark + Avendra International, Natily Santos is part of a nine-person team focused on ESG-driven supply chain resilience. Aramark + Avendra International has long had a commitment to responsible sourcing—the integration of social, ethical and environmental performance factors into the process of procurement and supply chain management. It was almost eight years ago that Aramark acquired Avendra.
Santos was promoted to her current position in the fall of 2019, just a few months before the official start of the COVID-19 epidemic. While that challenging period shifted her role—it was a time when hotels reverted to more disposables, for example—Santos kept her company focused on strengthening ESG standards for suppliers, climate action, animal welfare, and reinforcement of local and diverse sourcing circularity and waste management.
Santos’ strategic approaches in sustainable procurement and supplier diversity have accelerated business growth while strengthening community bonds and bolstering local economies.
As a group procurement organization, Aramark + Avendra International works with thousands of supplier partners—each one on their own sustainability journey. “We push each other to be the best,” Santos says. “It takes a community to build progress.”
Avendra for Good
In its Advancing Responsible Sourcing Across the Supply Chain report, released earlier this summer, Aramark + Avendra International summarized its Avendra for Good program. It includes inclusive sourcing that drives economic impact, championing local sourcing and farmer engagement, and sustainable initiatives that equal positive impact for people and planet.
Five high impact product categories addressed consistently by Aramark + Avendra International include: animal proteins, textiles & uniforms, plastic & paper products, agricultural crops, and sustainable seafood.
When asked about the company’s commitment to reduce distribution of single-use plastic products, Santos said, “We have had a commitment in place since the mid-2000s. We need to stay on top of legislation at the state level and support more innovative products.”
In Support of Suppliers
To assist its supplier partners, Aramark + Avendra International supports the following organizations and programs, among others:
Certify My Company—An under-represented owned business specializing in certification process training, consulting and assistance with completing applications.
Level Up!—The Level UP! program is a 10-week supplier development program managed by experts from Aramark + Avendra International supply chain and procurement services with special help from Sysco, the multinational distributor of wholesale foodservice products and equipment, and Certify My Company, which assists suppliers in obtaining third-party diversity certifications.
Progress, Insight & Performance Education (PIPE) Program—An eight-week, advanced business management program that saves time and improves company performance.
Aramark + Avendra International & HARP
Two years ago, Aramark + Avendra International announced it had joined with other industry leaders as a founding member of the Hospitality Alliance for Responsible Procurement (HARP), a collaborative effort whose purpose is to improve sustainability throughout the entire hospitality supply chain.
The Alliance includes major hospitality industry peers, Accor, Hilton, IHG Hotels & Resorts, Marriott International, and Radisson Hotel Group and fellow group purchasing organization Entegra. Suppliers who participate become part of a shared supplier pool open to all Alliance members.
“Our efforts with HARP help ensure we have a deep and wide pool of hospitality suppliers to meet our clients’ sustainability needs,” said Chip McIntyre, Senior Vice President of Strategic Sourcing for Aramark + Avendra International. “With this initiative, Avendra’s clients now gain one more advantage when working toward their sustainable sourcing strategy including Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions and social responsibility, among other sustainability efforts.”
The core mission of HARP is:
- Improving the sustainability performance of suppliers in the hospitality industry.
- Enhancing actions to support environmental, human, and economic health and vitality practices over time.
Improved Supply Chain Stability for Everyone
EcoVadis, an independent sustainability ratings agency, coordinates the efforts of HARP. Aramark + Avendra International began utilizing EcoVadis as a third-party sustainability assessment and scorecard tool in May of 2020. The EcoVadis platform provides suppliers with a variety of tools, resources, and recommendations to strengthen their programs on environment, labor and human rights, ethics, and sustainable procurement. Actions on these issues lead to increased customer confidence, greater risk management, and improved supply chain stability for everyone.
Aside from assessing the supplier and providing a score, the EcoVadis platform provides suppliers with a variety of tools, resources and recommendations to strengthen their programs on environment, labor and human rights, ethics and sustainable procurement.
Supplier Recognition Program
Under the umbrella of Avendra for Good, Aramark + Avendra International has two active programs. The Avendra for Good Supplier Recognition Program highlights diverse-owned suppliers that are also participating in the EcoVadis supplier sustainability assessment program. To date, seven suppliers have been featured through this program. Aramark + Avendra International has also developed the Avendra for Good product tagging initiative in collaboration with US Foods. This program identifies products that meet specific sustainability attributes through the US Foods e-procurement platform, enabling clients to easily be aware of products with sustainability attributes to meet their sustainable sourcing goals.
MaetaData was acquired by Aramark + Avendra International in February, igniting a new era of sourcing transparency. This long-term technology partner provides innovative AI-driven technology that elevates ingredients and source transparency, engages and empowers local, small suppliers and optimizes the company’s responsible sourcing purchasing analytics and reporting practices.
The Maetadata functionality will further enhance Aramark + Avendra International’s Sustainable Sourcing reporting capabilities. It will be integrated with Mosaic, the AI-powered procurement platform that transforms data into actionable insights to help Aramark + Avendra International team members make smarter purchasing decisions and boost operational efficiency. Mosaic is part of Aramark’s Hospitality IQ, an innovative AI-powered solutions hub.
Aramark + Avendra International’s award-winning Mosaic AI Supply Chain platform allows clients and customers to receive real-time supply chain data with actionable insights for their specific client locations. This proprietary AI procurement engine powers decision making for $20B of annual purchases and delivers customized insights from across Aramark’s global supply chain databases to ensure consistency, value, and quality at every client location. These AI-powered analytics are available to Aramark + Avendra International clients.
Data Integration & Monitoring Data
“A lot of focus this year has been on AI and technology,” Santos says. “We made investments in data integration and monitoring data. We will continue to build on that.”
MaetaData began as a local food brokerage called FarmLogix.
“We started working with Aramark on a large public school district contract in 2017,” said Linda Mallers-Porzenheim, President, MaetaData. “Aramark began to value our data analytics so much that, together, we built out that capability and grew into the company we are today.”
Named after Mallers-Porzenheim’s grandmother, MaetaData has become the foodservice industry’s go-to source for tracking and analysis of local and sustainable sourcing practices. Holders of two patents on their AI-driven process, MaetaData has built the largest database for local and sustainable foods in the industry.
MaetaData’s 4 Families of Local framework identifies and distinguishes small farms, community-based businesses, distributor-sourced local, and locally founded companies to help purchasing managers, including those at Aramark + Avendra International, elevate and prioritize local suppliers.
Science-Based Target Supply Chain Goal
Aramark + Avendra International’s science-based target (SBT) supply chain goal is to have 62 percent of suppliers, by emissions, to have an SBT (or equivalent) by FY27.
Santos says her company provides webinars, mentorship, and scholarships to suppliers and works with them to gain access to capital.
In its 2024 Be Well. Do Well. Progress Report, Aramark + Avendra International summarizes its efforts as a responsible business. Progress toward Be Well. Do Well. goals is tracked through Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and targets. In 2024, Aramark + Avendra International operated 90 Certified Green Restaurants, and spent $167.4 million with local suppliers in the U.S. Aramark + Avendra International was also named one of America’s Greenest Companies by Newsweek.
From the food it serves and the products it uses to the way it delivers food and facility services, Aramark + Avendra International focuses on: sourcing sustainably, minimizing food waste, embedding circularity, and operating efficiently. In 2024, for example, U.S. pre-consumer waste was 81 percent lower than the 2015 baseline.
Making a Positive Impact
A recognized advocate for mentorship and community engagement, Santos founded Impacto, Aramark’s Hispanic and Latino Employee Resource Group. Her contributions have earned honors from the Philadelphia Business Journal, Pennsylvania’s 100 Most Influential Latinos, Aramark Volunteer of the Year and others.
She actively serves on boards including the Greater Philadelphia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Eastern Minority Supplier Development Council, and Prospanica, committed to supporting local businesses, empowering communities, and mentoring young professionals.
When asked what she enjoys most about her job, Santos said: “The people and having the resources to create positive impact.”
“I never envisioned a career in supply chain and sustainability but have always been drawn to the hospitality industry,” she adds.
Santos graduated from Temple University Fox School of Business where she received a master’s in business administration. She also earned a Bachelor of Science with Honors in International Business with a focus on Hotel & Tourism Management from Johnson & Wales University.
Glenn Hasek can be reached at greenlodgingnews@gmail.com.
