BURLINGTON – Tricia Bisson pointed to her photo on the colorful “Wall of Fame” that recognizes employees’ achievements, calling her “an outstanding achievement” and praising her can-do attitude that “continues to inspire her fellow Rhinos.”
Next to her plaque is one depicting John Ritchie, a sales representative, and her fiancé.
The two met at Rhino Foods and continue to work at the Queen City Park Road factory, known for producing ready-to-eat cookie dough, brownie bits and snack bags.
Bisson, 35, a first-shift operations team leader, thought it was crazy that both were chosen.
“It’s nice to get recognition for hard work. And Rhino does a lot of that here,” she said.
Bisson’s life looked very different five years ago. She was in prison, recovering from drug abuse and about to be released, she says, when company officials came to the prison and hired her.
The 33-year-old Burlington-based company is known for its progressive employment policies and hiring of people from marginalized communities, and one of its latest initiatives is to increase support for employees in recovery.
Rhino now hosts a voluntary one-hour recovery group every Wednesday called Rhinos for Recovery in its “Crash Cafe,” a spacious area for staff to meet, with a kitchen that offers free food, tea and coffee. (A group of rhinos causes a crash, explains a poster on the wall.) At one end of the room is a small green freezer full of cookie dough samples.
Among those attending is Bisson, who has been sober for six and a half years and thanks the company for its support and for changing her life.
“It is important to me that they believe in giving people a second chance,” she said.
According to Rooney Castle, president and CEO of Rhino Foods, Rhinos for Recovery was born out of conversations with employees about two years ago.
By this point, the company already had a reputation as a recovery-supportive employer. But concerns arose that employees might relapse or be seduced by dealers in the parking lot, and it finally got to Castle. He brought the issue up at a monthly company meeting and asked employees what would work for them. They decided to hold a series of hearings over two weeks with people in recovery and a facilitator from Recovery Vermont.
The meetings Castle said he attended identified three needs among employees: a safe place in the workplace for people in withdrawal outside of Alcoholics Anonymous or Drug Addicts Anonymous, a desire to change the way substance use disorders are portrayed and destigmatized, and training on how to deal with problems such as substance abuse and overdoses.
Three people in recovery then volunteered to hold hourly sessions at Rhino, and the company offered them basic training to do so. They shared their recovery journeys and inspired others to do the same, Castle said. What began as voluntary drop-in sessions every two weeks became popular and expanded last year to weekly sessions, all paid, Castle said.
“What makes me feel good about this is the fact that the idea came from asking people what they need and that people trust us enough to come to these hearings and actually give us their honest feedback,” he said.
He is also proud that his employees are taking on this challenge and tackling it with the intention of making a difference in addition to their regular work. “I think that’s the most unique thing.”
Patrick Fleury, assistant shift manager on the third shift, attended the meetings with Bisson and said he was in “a pretty tough spot” when he started at Rhino almost six years ago.
Fleury, 45, used to work in the police force. He said he was an alcoholic and had trouble finding and even more difficulty keeping a job. He also felt “oppressed” and discriminated against in other jobs.
He was referred to Rhino while working as a temporary worker for Working Fields, a recruitment agency that works with vulnerable people, but he quit after three months.
He tried other places and soon realized he had made a mistake.
“So I called here and asked for my job back and they said yes, we’ll give you another chance,” said Fleury, who has been sober for nine and a half years. “I’ve been here ever since. I have no plans to leave. This is where I want to finish my career.”
Rhino Foods began in the 1980s when Ted Castle sold desserts at Chessy’s, his wife’s frozen custard shop in Burlington. In 1991, the company began selling cookie dough to Ben & Jerry’s. It has grown significantly since then, and Castle built its reputation as a certified Benefit Corporation, or B Corp, a company with high standards of goal setting, accountability and transparency, by developing practices that put employee well-being at the center.
These include open-book management, inclusive hiring, advance loans, on-site physical therapy, English classes, resource coordinators and a unique employee exchange program between regional manufacturers to retain employees even during seasonal fluctuations. New partners include Keurig Dr Pepper and Lake Champlain Chocolates, according to Lauren McBride, director of human resources and culture.
The company currently employs about 240 people, with about 190 in operations and the rest in administration, McBride said. As they prepare for summer – peak ice cream season – they have hired 40 new employees.
On a recent Tuesday morning, a Working Fields resource coordinator hired by United Way waited at a table to answer staff questions. Questions ranged from housing needs and language assistance to finding a doctor, understanding medical bills or their benefits, said Virginia Finn. She has been working at the Crash Cafe three times a week since January, she said.
The diversity of the workforce was evident during a reporter’s visit to Rhino. Kumar Adhikari, who has worked there for 13 years, helped train a group of three new employees – refugees from different parts of Africa – in the conference room with a slideshow on food safety. A Swahili translator helped.
Adhikari was born in Bhutan and lived in a refugee camp in Nepal before immigrating to the United States in 2009. He started in production on Rhino’s factory floor and rose through the ranks to become a quality assurance associate.
“It feels like a second home,” said Adhikari. “I like that the owner of the company sits and eats with me.”
Early one Tuesday, employees were streaming into the cafe at the end of their first shift to drop off their lunch or grab a bagel at the counter when a tall man wearing a casual gray jacket with the company logo walked in.
Rooney Castle, 37, took over the leadership of the organization after his father retired in January 2023.
“I think it became less and less about the product we were making here – cookie dough was something we discovered by accident. I know from my father, who ran the business, that his main focus was the team and getting the best out of people,” he said. “To run a good team, you had to support everyone on the team. So I just inherited that, so to speak, and I don’t know anything else.”
When asked why Rhino has so many programs to keep employees happy, Castle replied, “Why not?”
He said his priority was to listen to employees and put their opinions first, rather than making decisions from above, and Rhinos in Recovery was an example of this approach.
“I’m certainly not the one who has the next best idea or understands the needs of some of the people we hire here,” he explained. The best ideas come “from people who have had experience.”
