At Golden State Foods, the biggest wins for its employee-run foundation often come in small gestures of giving.
John Page, corporate executive vice president, recalls the moment when the GSF Foundation provided a young Santa Ana boy with new sneakers—replacing the girls-style sandals he’d been wearing daily to school.
“It’s simple but transformative,” Page, chairman and chief executive of Golden State Foods (GSF) Foundation, told the Business Journal.
The Irvine foundation, which has raised over $65 million and served more than 850 charities and schools since 2002, is among 50 companies featured in the Business Journal’s Companies That Care report.
In Orange County, GSF Foundation’s impact is widespread as it works with a combination of client partners and nonprofits to help children and families through programs such as Focus on Food, Back(pack) to School, Bike Building, Best Foot Forward and Coats for Kids (see story, this page).
Through these programs, GSF employees provide meals, school supplies, bicycles, shoes and winter coats to underserved youth, often working directly alongside local organizations such as Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Orange County, Families Forward, Laura’s House, Project Hope Alliance, The Shea Center for Therapeutic Riding, Orange County United Way, RAD Camp, New Vista School and Friskers.
“Our associates participate through their financial giving, their own money, their own choice,” Page said. “Our associates drive the giving.”
One Leader’s Vision
Golden State Foods, established in 1947, is one of the world’s largest suppliers to the restaurant industry—providing liquid products and condiments to fast-food giants such as McDonald’s, Irvine-based Taco Bell and Wendy’s. It is a key distributor for Newport Beach-based Chipotle Mexican Grill, Starbucks and Raising Cane’s.
It also supplies beef patties to dozens of McDonald’s restaurants in the U.S.
Today, it is Orange County’s sixth largest private company with 2024 revenue of $5 billion, according to the latest Business Journal data.
In 2002, GSF Foundation was formed as a natural extension of the company’s ethos under then-CEO Mark Wetterau, who passed away in 2023.
“It was born out of his vision,” Page said.
That mission is derived from one of the company’s core values—treat others like you want to be treated.
The foundation’s business model is intentionally different from many corporate foundations.
About 80% of Golden State Foods’ roughly 6,000 companywide associates fund the nonprofit through payroll contributions.
The amounts vary, ranging from a few dollars per pay period to thousands of dollars a year. Employees make up 33 local committees nationwide, including one in Irvine. The panels nominate and approve support to charities, with a focus on groups that help improve the lives of children and families in need.
Employees and their families are the foundation’s volunteers, as well.
And that’s what sets the GSF Foundation apart—it is entirely driven by full-circle employee involvement—from funding to decision-making to volunteerism.
“They literally bring the head to the hands and the heart,” Page said. “That’s the uniqueness of this. The underpinning of that is engagement.”
Simple Gifts, Deep Impact
Speaking with passion from Golden State Foods’ 11th-floor offices in Irvine, Page pointed to a quote widely attributed to Leonardo da Vinci to explain how the foundation views its work.
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication,” said the 21-year GSF veteran.
Programs like Backpack for Kids, Build a Bike and Best Foot Forward provide staples to local children in need—but their impact runs deeper, he says.
“Some people may think of these as simple programs. We think of them as sophisticated mechanisms that give children a bit of character, integrity, pride, confidence,” Page said.
That philosophy came to life this year through hands-on events like bike-building. Children assemble bikes alongside Golden State Foods employees and nonprofit partners.
At two events this year, one with the Taco Bell Foundation, 43 bikes were assembled with children and gifted to them through the Irvine foundation.
“We don’t just give them the bike,” Page said. “We actually have to build it. And they build it with their hands.”
That process builds confidence and a sense of ownership for the children, he says. “When that child helps you put together that bike and rides away, they have just given you a statement, ‘I own this.’”
Page describes that lesson as central to the foundation’s mission. “How do you make one plus one equal more?”
That same idea applied to the Santa Ana student who Page witnessed receiving a pair of sneakers through the Best Foot Forward program, where the foundation provided 150 pairs of shoes to children this year.
The gift met a basic need and took the issue of affordability out of the equation for the boy, who was previously wearing girl’s shoes.
But it also delivered something less tangible—dignity.
“That child, if you see his face,” Page recalls. “For a boy, to give him shoes that he could walk to school in, he could feel good about it. Perhaps the teasing stopped.”
Golden State Foods Foundation: 2025 Giving Highlights
Focus on Food: The GSF Foundation donated $35,000 to Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County, providing more than 75,000 meals to families facing food insecurity. The local effort contributed to a foundation-wide total of $225,000, supporting more than 1.25 million meals this past year. Since 2020, the program has delivered more than six million meals nationwide.
Back(pack) to School: The foundation gifted 1,008 backpacks filled with school supplies to first graders in the Santa Ana Unified School District.
Bike Building: Partnering with the Taco Bell Foundation, the Irvine committee hosted a bike-building event that assembled 22 bikes for children served by Big Brothers Big Sisters of Orange County. In a separate event, volunteers built 21 additional bikes for children awaiting mentor matches. Since 2022, the foundation has donated nearly 10,800 bikes nationwide.
Coats for Kids: In late 2024, the initiative provided about 500 winter coats to children in need, including nearly 40 coats donated by the Irvine committee to homeless and unaccompanied teens. Since the program’s launch in 2022, the foundation has distributed almost 6,800 coats.
Best Foot Forward: The program is projected to distribute 3,500 pairs of shoes nationwide in 2025, with the Irvine committee contributing about 150 pairs to underserved local youth. Since inception, the foundation has provided more than 40,000 pairs of shoes to children across the U.S.
RAD Camp: Foundation volunteers spent six hours over the course of two days helping support kids with disabilities.
—Nancy Luna
