Eight More of Our Favorite B Corps
/By Dan Carlson
A few months ago, we posted a list of some of our favorite B Corps. Let’s run it back!
Why? Because it’s B Corp Month, baby! We also have a new employee who missed out on the last one (Hi Haley!), plus there’s nearly 4,000 B Corps in the world and highlighting another eight ain’t exactly hard.
Without further ado, here are eight businesses that we think do fantastic work while balancing profit and purpose.
Haley (Taproom): Bees Wrap
Bees Wrap, a food wrap made with cotton instead of single-use plastic, is something I use every single day in my home and I was so excited to learn that the company that makes them was a B Corp! I have owned my set of wraps for more than 3 years, and they still function perfectly.
A few fun facts about Bees Wrap:
Started in 2012 by Sarah Kaeck
Wraps are biodegradable and compostable
Voted into top 10% of “Best for the World: Environmental Category” B Corps in 2019
I fell even more in love with them as a company when I began to learn more about them. Something that started as a woman experimenting in her home with methods to reduce plastic waste became an entire business committed to reducing their impact on the planet and paying their employees a fair wage. I truly believe that if the majority of businesses operated this way, we wouldn't be facing the serious socio-economic and environmental crises we are today.
Rebecca (Taproom): Dash Water
A B Corp that caught my interest recently is Dash Water. They are based in London and gained B Corp certification last October.
Forty percent of fruits and vegetables grown in the UK go to waste each year, and farmers have been taking the hit for the product that they cannot sell. That’s where Dash Water comes in. They buy all of the “wonky” - i.e. misshapen, squished, discolored - produce and add them to British spring water. Top it off with a bit of carbonation and you’re enjoying a tasty beverage with no calories and no sweeteners or sugar.
Their product is packaged in glass or aluminum to reduce their carbon footprint (did you know using recycled aluminum only takes 8 percent of the energy used to produce new aluminum cans?). To date, they have saved 1.2 million pounds of produce by utilizing “wonky” fruits and veggies in their water, and put money into the pockets of the hardworking farmers in the UK. They have recently started shipping their tasty drinks to the US and I cannot wait to get my hands on some!
Dani (CEO): Miir
Being a B Corp certainly makes you more aware of other B Corps, whether it's on the store shelves, their websites, or their marketing materials. One of my favorites, which a friend recently introduced me to, is Miir - a metal drinkware company out of Seattle (think Klean Kanteen, which is also a B Corp). In addition to being a Certified B Corp, they are 1% for the Planet and Climate Neutral Certified.
I'm obsessed with their products, and their creativity and innovation is driven by doing good. Their authentic partnerships with artists and community members result in special, stunningly beautiful collections. They've also integrated "Give Codes" on all their products so you can see which impact project your purchase goes to support and follow along with its progress. Spending just five minutes on their website inspires me with all kinds of ideas of how we can make our business better, which is the entire point of B Corps. And yes, we will indeed be sourcing Redemption Rock branded products from Miir this spring and summer.
Greg (Brewer): Jim’s Organic Coffee
One controversial fact about brewers is that even though the importance of beer in our lives is well-documented and expected, there’s another beverage that can actually make a legitimate claim to the throne - coffee!
Brewers are known for being wet and tired all the time and because of that we take our caffeination very seriously. We need coffee, a lot of it, and because our palates are much better than yours, we need good coffee, roasted thoughtfully by kind people. I am particularly blessed that my work life grants me unfettered access to the excellence produced by our friends at Acoustic Java and Atomic Coffee. But I don’t always want to take my work home with me, so more often than not I stock my pantry with Jim’s Organic Coffee out of West Wareham, MA (right down the road from one of our maltsters!).
Similar to us with beer, Jim’s makes a wide variety of coffees that are fun to drink to a wide variety of people. I am partial to their light roast blends because I enjoy the nuanced flavors and punchy aromas of light roast coffee, and blends keep me out of the weeds of comparing my current Yirgacheffe to past Yirgacheffes. But they do take care of dark roast fans and single origin nerds, as well.
Also close to our heart, Jim’s takes the environmental impact of their business very seriously. They pay a fair price for certified organic beans to farmers who take extra special care of their farms’ soil and surrounding biodiversity. They run their facility on 100 percent renewable energy, donate their process by-product to local farms (that sounds familiar!), and donate money back to the communities their coffee is sourced from.
In conclusion, Jim’s Organic Coffee does everything you’d hope a coffee roaster would - they take care of their farmers, hold high standards for the quality of their ingredients, and make some damn fine coffee right here in MA. Give ‘em a rip!
Dan (Marketing): Brewery Vivant
Reasons I would like Brewery Vivant, a craft brewery in Grand Rapids, MI, even if they weren’t a B Corp:
The name’s real fancy.
The brewery is built in a former funeral home chapel, which is metal as hell.
They do farmhouse stuff, which you just don’t see too much of anymore.
Two of our regulars (some of the nicest people you’d ever want to meet) used to work there before moving to Worcester, and they brought us a bunch of their beers after the holidays.
The beer was good!
But Brewery Vivant is indeed a B Corp, and a mighty impressive one at that. Their B Corp score of 110.1 beats the hell out of our 96.8, and is highlighted by the fact that they’re the world’s first LEED certified microbrewery. They’re also very publicly transparent about their progress toward their ambitious goals for local sourcing, waste reduction, community donations, and employee volunteer hours.
Although it’s a shame their beer isn’t currently available in Massachusetts, I recommend making friends with someone from Michigan who can mule Brewery Vivant for you.
Bronwyn (Sales): Bella Tunno
“They’re not called chew toys.”
This is just one of the million things a day I am learning as a newly minted parent - but I maintain that human babies and dog babies are similar in a lot of ways, especially when it comes to chewing.
I try to be aware of what it is my baby is putting in her mouth, and that means her toys need to be safe, functional, and fun. And with products filled with sayings to reflect personalities and a no-frills stance on major social justice issues, Bella Tunno is my go to. Bella Tunna is a mission-driven, woman-owned business in North Carolina that is committed to ending child hunger in America by giving one meal to one child for every product sold. I feel that now more than ever is the time to be deliberate about the choices I make and the businesses I choose to support. The best thing about B Corporations is that they are deep and diverse - all you have to do is care to care.
Kevin (Taproom Manager): Boloco
As you can probably tell from my two choices of B Corps, I love particularly indulgent food. But I have a very special relationship with Boloco. I’ve always respected their choices as a business, both in their restaurants, and in the community. They donate proceeds to a rotating charity every month (Boston Children's Hospital for March), they care about their employees and their benefits, and they decided that having a business with a greater purpose than money was cool before a lot of other people did. And with all the burrito competition out there, they have always stood out to me.
Their burritos also got me through my super-poor-college-kid days. Dan Carlson (of Redemption Rock taproom, delivery, and marketing fame) and I used to work in the mailroom at Northeastern University. We scraped together a few dozen “$3 large burrito” coupons from those incoming student coupon books laying around every college campus, and used them every day on our delivery routes. That gave me just enough daily calories to get through that whole semester. I loved Boloco before and after that, but that time always has a special place in my heart. Most likely in my arteries.
Jen (Taproom and Events): South Mountain Company
Buildings are awesome – they are shelter, they are home, they are places for comfort, collaboration, work, and play. But their construction is a huge contributor to greenhouse gases. How do you balance the needs of the planet, your essential needs, your comfort, and your wallet when constructing a new building (or even better, renovating an existing one)? You hire a responsible designer!
South Mountain Company is an architecture & engineering, interiors, building and renewable energy firm based on Martha’s Vineyard. They are a worker-owned cooperative that considers a Triple Bottom Line: people, planet, and profit (and really, you shouldn’t have that third one without considering the first two, in my opinion). What’s interesting is that unlike other companies on this list, they do this by providing a service rather than products, and they do it by integrating their mission and core principles into the guidance they provide their clients.
There is just too much good about this company to outline in a couple of paragraphs, so I encourage you to check out their website to learn more and see how a service company that offers a service can do good for their employees, planet, and customers. And clearly, they do it well - their current B Corp score is an extremely impressive 183. Seriously, check them out!
