b corp

doing business in the right way

Since we got cracking in 1999, we've always pushed ourselves to do business in the right way. Often the right way wasn't the easiest one, but it has meant we can look back on everything we've done and be proud of the decisions we made (even if they didn't always work out).

In 2018, we officially confirmed that our right way of doing things was the right way of doing things, by becoming a B Corp. That meant joining a growing group of businesses from around the world who, like us, believe in doing business responsibly. To be certified as a B Corp, every part of your business is looked at through a microscope to make sure you're meeting the highest standards of social and environmental performance. The application process was rigorous, but we were chuffed to get certified on our first attempt.

Being a B Corp is about more than just a nice certificate though. It's a chance for us to step forward and show the world that business can (and should) be a force for good. Let's hope we don't mess it up.

what it means to be a B Corp

being part of a community

B Corps are a movement of businesses that believe in balancing purpose and profit. By joining them, we've committed to doing business in a responsible way. As part of the B Corp community, we can learn a few tricks from other businesses and share some of the stuff we've learnt too. We can also shout louder about the change we want to see in the world and inspire others to join us.

shooting for the moon

All B Corps have to meet the extra high standards of social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency. Every three years, we're audited against the B Impact Assessment (BIA), which looks into the tiny details of our business and helps us track if we're still heading in the right direction. When we became certified, we had a score of 92.5. By 2023, we want(ed) this score to be more than 100 across our whole global business. Good news, we reached 105.2 points at the end of 2021 - smashing that target by a year.

committing to the cause

Being a B Corp is about much more than ticking boxes and hitting scores. We're on a mission to prove that business can be done differently. Not with the narrow mindset of profit above all else, but with a genuine commitment to all the people who work here, all the people who drink our drinks, and this planet we're so lucky to live on. That means planting B Corp at the heart of our business and getting everyone behind it. It also means being really hard on ourselves to make sure we're always doing the right thing - not just the right thing for our score.

putting our money where our mouth is

Our B Corp score is now knitted into our company scorecard. If you're not too sure what that means, a company scorecard is a way of measuring how well we're doing as a business. At the beginning of each year we set targets for things like revenue, margins or customer service, and if we hit those targets by the end of the year, we all get a nice bonus. Since becoming a B Corp, we've set a target for our B Corp score too – which means being a better B Corp is just as important as delivering financial results. To find out more about how it all works, read our 'good all round' report.

our B keepers

That's the snazzy name we've given to the people at innocent who make sure we stay true to our B Corp values. They come from all over the business and do a fine job of keeping things nice and responsible.

Laura

Laura is our lead B keeper across all our offices, which fits in nicely with her day job as an office and culture specialist. She makes sure that every innocent office is measuring the right information and taking steps to improve the impact of our workspaces on our people and the planet. She's also in charge of helping our offices improve their B Corp scores every year and keeps track of how they're doing.

Erin

Erin is one of our food technologists and a B keeper for our whole supply chain. It’s a big job but someone has to do it. Erin makes sure that we’re always up-to-date with the things our suppliers are working on. From scores within our hero supplier programme to human rights audit results (and everything in between), she’s the one who keeps track of the improvements we’re making with our supply partners.

Noel

Noel is our controls and compliance finance manager. In his role as a B keeper, he's responsible for pulling together all of our financial reports and finding out important stuff like how much we spend with each of our suppliers. Our B Corp team can then use that info to focus their efforts on our most significant suppliers and work on approaches that can be rolled out across the business.

Brittney

Not only is Brittney a People Data & Systems Analyst in our people team, she's a B keeper for us too. Brittney makes sure we have all the information we need to look after our employees by owning and tracking information in our people system called 'fruitbook'. For B Corp, that might mean checking how many people have taken their volunteering days, how many of us have sustainability targets on our objectives, or making sure everyone is paid a living wage.

B a part of it

We're in good company. There are thousands of other businesses who are part of the B Corp movement, like Patagonia, Ben & Jerry's, TOMS and The Body Shop. Find out more about the movement and what you can do to get involved.

take me to bcorp

things we do for people

what we're doing to help out our fellow human beings

find out

things we do for the planet

some stuff we're doing to look after this massive spinning marble

find out