As you may remember from last year’s B Corp post, we said we wanted to be a certified B Corporation because our mission has always been to have a bigger impact than simply baking incredibly tasty sourdough. BReD is a company that puts people, planet, and animals top of mind: “We have always wanted to do more than just do business, so we injected our ethics into it from the beginning,” explains Co-Founder Natasha Tatton.
We’re proud to announce that in July, we achieved our B Corp certification!
In order for a company to obtain B Corp status, it must get to 80 out of a possible 200 points using the B Impact assessment tool. Over 150,000 companies have used this assessment and the average score of an ordinary business is 50.9. Only about 10% of businesses who use the tool certify.
BReD has so far achieved a score of 87.1 but has future goals to improve on this score when they recertify in three years’ time. Now that we’re one of the 5600+ certified B Corps around the world, we’re responsible for continuously improving our business and its impact. “A certification instantly conveys impact and gives customers the faith that a third party has scrutinized our business from the inside-out, so we mean what we say. We felt B Corp encompassed all our values more than any other certification.” explains Tatton.
Aside from being able to display the B Corp certification logo on our products or marketing materials, anyone who wants to learn about our impact can visit our profile at bcorporation.net to see where we have accumulated points in five impact categories: Governance, Workers, Community, Environment, and Customers.
We plant a tree for every coffee sold with our partner charity, Trees for the Future, totalling close to 50,000 to-date. We donate 1% of our revenue to animal, social and environmental causes such as Whistler Animals Galore Society (WAG), The Happy Herd Farm Sanctuary, and AWARE Society. Most of our ingredients are sourced locally and from organic suppliers, including farms in Lillooet and Pemberton, or even foraged by Ed and Natasha Tatton.
Animal ingredients—including more than 14,000 eggs—have been eliminated from our menu in place of cruelty-free, plant-based alternatives. There is no extra charge for plant-based milks as an act of animal advocacy. Prices are kept in line with other conventional cafes. “People shouldn’t have to pay a penalty for choosing the ethical option,” Tatton affirms.
BReD strives for zero food waste, encouraging locals to order online which helps predict sales, and has donated hundreds of loaves to the Whistler Food Bank, and baked treats to the Medical Centre helping get staff through long weekends of ski and bike injuries.
Certified B Corporations are legally required to consider the impact of their decisions on all of their stakeholders, a model known as stakeholder governance. The legal requirement ensures that B Corps remain legally accountable to all of their stakeholders: workers, communities, customers, suppliers, and the environment—not just shareholders. While the legal requirements for a company differ based on the company’s legal entity type, it often involves an update to the company’s Articles of Incorporation or equivalent governing document, reincorporating as a benefit corporation, or making other structural changes.
The certification process can be difficult to navigate as a small business if you’re completing an impact assessment for the first time. Some of the jargon involved may not seem relevant to your company. Visit bcorporation.net to learn more. You can also partner with agencies or consultants like Decade Impact to help you achieve your 80 points to become a B Corp.
Be on the lookout for the B Corp logo as we continue to shout our new certification from the mountaintop!
