What is a B Corp for food & drink startup businesses?

• Certified B Corporations are a global movement of people using business as a force for good. B Corps meet the highest standards of overall social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability and aspire to use the power of business to solve social and environmental problems.
• There are over 3,700 certified B Corps, across 74 countries and 150 industries.

Why do B Corps matter?

B Corps are agents of change that:

• Create higher quality jobs
• Improve the quality of life in our communities
• Address challenging environment problems
• Inspire others to measure what matters

Why become a B Corp?

• Becoming a food and drink B Corp can make business sense in addition to solving environmental and social problems. B Corp certification can help companies to differentiate, generate press, benchmark performance, attract investors and attract top talent.
• The certification gives you a network and a platform to collaborate and share best practices.

How does the process work?

• Meeting the performance requirement:
  Complete the B Impact Assessment and earn a minimum reviewed score of 80/200 points. There are around 300 questions on this assessment and some of them are quite detailed so it would be good for a founder/someone who knows the business well to complete it. The assessment covers governance, workers, community, environment and impact business models.
• Meeting legal requirement: Bake sustainability into the DNA of a company as it grows.
• Make it official: Sign the B Corp Declaration of Interdependence and Term Sheet.

B Corps and MNCs:

• There has been a recent growth in not only the volume of companies interested in B Corp but the size of companies. We are working with a number of multinational companies who are either buying B Corps or are working themselves to become B Corp.

Key things to remember:

• Whilst sustainability is the driving factor of becoming B Corp, if your packaging is made of a non-recyclable plastic this does not mean that you cannot become B Corp. You need to show that you are committed to creating a social and environmental impact and this can be reflected in other areas of the business.
• There is an annual fee to pay that is based on a tiered system determined by the annual revenue of your company.
• Becoming a B Corp will not happen overnight. The assessment needs to be filled out in depth and the whole process typically takes several weeks.
• Your company has to have books for at least 1 prior financial year.

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