The B Corp Movement

The B Corp movement is officially launching in the UK today, Thursday 24th September. Here are a few words from our Co-Founder Edward Perry on where our B Corp journey started.

‘The journey’. Thanks to the parallel universe taken up by reality singing competitions on TV, this has become the most hackneyed and overused phrase in the English language. And yet…..

Five years ago my brother, James, first mentioned B Corporations to me. He confidently asserted that it was ‘the future’ and that COOK must become one. However, James ‘confidently asserts’ about a lot of things. Besides, it was 2010 and COOK was still licking its wounds from the recession and my attention was focused on the muck and bullets of running the business day to day. 

But James has an annoying habit of being right when it comes to matters of the distant future, as well as not taking “no” for an answer. So the management team at COOK began to investigate this B Corporation thing, culminating in a trip out to the US to the annual B Corp conference in 2013. That visit convinced us two years ago to certify as one of the UK’s very first B Corporations. This week sees the official launch of the UK B Corporation movement with 62 remarkable companies certifying.

‘Yes, yes, yes,’ I hear you say, ‘but what the hell is it?’ Well, the mission of the B Corp movement is no less than ‘To redefine success in business so one day all companies will compete to be not just the best in the world but the best FOR the world.’ No shortage of ambition then!

To become a BCorp is extremely tough. Not only do you have to pass a very strict (and exhaustive ) assessment which measures your impact on the communities within which you operate, your relationship with employees, your impact on the environment and the governance by which the company is run. In addition you have to go much further, changing the legal constitution (The Memorandum And Articles Of Association ) of the business to state that the legal obligation of the directors is to run the business for all the stakeholders mentioned above, rather than just for maximising financial return for the shareholders. Make no mistake , this is not something that a company can sign up to lightly.

There are thousands of companies all over the world independently reaching the same conclusion: that business should be used as a force for good. From companies worth billions, such as Latin American beauty firm, Natura, and online craft market, Etsy, to small companies such as Elvis & Kresse, who make luxury goods out of recycled materials. These companies can see that when business is conducted in the right way there is no more powerful agent of positive social change.

B Corp certification provides an empirical framework to ‘Measure What Matters’, creating a ‘no bullshit’ stamp to demonstrate that rather than just talking a good game we are actually doing stuff. For us at COOK, it’s provided the framework and impetus to really start delivering a positive impact on society through our business. Some of the specific outputs of this have been adopting The Living Wage; introducing profit share; an employment programme for underserved communities; giving all the leftover ingredients from our kitchen in Kent to a local charity, Caring Hands, that feeds 150 people a day; and putting in place an environmental programme seeking to measure, understand then reduce our water and energy usage and the waste we generate.

I can see many people at this point raising their eyebrows and sighing at the hippy naivety of it all. The traditional model says: make your money however you can and then if you are so motivated indulge in a bit of philanthropy. There is certainly nothing wrong with philanthropy. But I would argue that the future of business is all about the owners of capital taking a broader view of their responsibilities to society. Indeed, to be truly successful in the future will require this sort of commitment. Old school capitalism is like the Brontosaurus chewing the cud, blissfully unaware the comet has just struck. I am under no illusions that changing this reality will take significantly longer than my lifetime and probably my children’s. But CHANGE IS COMING. The launch of the B Corp movement in the UK today marks another important milestone on the mother of all journeys. We will be judged not by a celebrity panel, nor even a public phone vote, but by future generations.

Here's James Rutter, Brand Director at COOK talking at the BCorp UK Launch: