Merryfield is now Certified B Corp!

We started Merryfield to have a real and positive impact on the world, by making it easier for people to choose healthier products, educating consumers on complex issues around nutrition and sustainability, and helping truly mission-driven brands stand out. We’re now several years into that journey, and we’ve brought together a powerful collective of industry-leading brands, a dedicated community of app users, and a world class team to fulfill our mission. 

Today I’m proud to share that Merryfield is officially a Certified B Corporation! Over the past year, our team has worked hard to demonstrate our deep commitment to transparency, positive social and environmental impact, and ensure that our purpose-driven company is truly acting as a force for good in the world. We’re honored to join the global B Corp community, a thriving and dynamic community of business committed to transforming the world!

Third party certifications build trust in products and brands, by showing that a credible authority has thoroughly audited the company and verified that they’re truly doing what they say they’re doing. In the natural CPG world, The USDA Organic Seal, The Non-GMO Project Verified Butterfly and so many others help show consumers that a trustworthy authority has verified that it’s really organic or non-GMO. B Corp Certification also builds trust, but instead of verifying that a product is organic or Non-GMO, it verifies that a company meets high standards for transparency, ethical practices and positive social and environmental impact.

A Certified B Corporation is a company that has been certified by B Lab, a non-profit organization, to meet its strict standards for social and social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency. 

Unlike product certifications that look at a specific product (such as USDA Organic or Certified Vegan), B Corp certification looks at the entire company and its practices and operation, including employee engagement, community relationships, environmental impact, governance structure and customer relationships. 

The certification covers three major areas:

1. Verified social and environmental performance: To meet this requirement, a company must earn at least 80 points on the B Impact Assessment, a tool which measures a company’s impact on its employees, community, customers and the environment. We scored 82.7 and we’re already working on ways to improve our score.
2. Legal accountability: Certified B Corporations must legally consider the impact of their operations on all stakeholders. There are a number of ways to do this — we decided to incorporate as a Public Benefit Corporation (PBC), a legal designation that requires a company to consider the impact of its operations and decision on all of its stakeholders.
3. Public transparency: All B Corps must share their B Impact Report publicly on bcorporation.net. Our report shows our scores on each category of the B Impact Assessment. 

We’ve watched the B Corp movement grow over the past decade, particularly among the mission-driven natural and organic brands we’ve worked with, and we’ve been impressed by the community of mission-driven brands that have become Certified B Corps. As a deeply respected third party program, B Corp certification gives credibility to the brands it certifies, by verifying that they’re truly fulfilling their commitments to positive impact and transparency. As a mission-driven company committed to transparency, sustainability and making a real impact in the accessibility of better-for-you products, we felt such a strong alignment with the values of B Lab and the vibrant community of Certified B Corps, including 16 of our Merryfield Member Brands. And since companies are scored every three years, we’re challenged to continue to grow in all of these areas and incrementally improve our performance for our next review.

There are many paths to B Corp Certification — the B Impact Assessment measures and quantifies many areas of a company’s performance and impact, and requires a minimum score of 80 for a company to become a Certified B Corporations. Here are some of the practices that helped us achieve our score:

• We incorporated as a Public Benefit Corporation. This is a legal classification that requires a company to consider the impact of its decisions and operations on all stakeholders. 

• We established a robust offering of employee benefits, including unlimited PTO, flexible schedules, paid family leave, 401(k) matching, health insurance and more. In addition, we continually measure and address employee engagement and morale as we grow. 

• We quantified the impact that our purpose-driven member brands have on our business, and we documented the stories and missions that make each of our brands unique.

• We measured our diversity as an organization, and we identified areas in which we need to grow. We adopted more inclusive job posting language and practices.

• We gave back, committing 1% of our revenue to No Kid Hungry, supporting its mission to end childhood hunger. 

The B Impact Assessment is an amazing tool that helps us track where we’re doing well, where we’ve improved, and where we have room to grow. We’re already working on our plans to evolve more areas of our business and score higher on our next assessment.

A whopping 16 of our current Merryfield member brands are also Certified B Corps: Amy's Kitchen, EO, Everyone, Good Culture, Hand in Hand, Hilary’s, NadaMoo, Nellie’s Free Range, Once Upon a Farm, Pete & Gerry’s Organic, Prima, Ripple, Stonyfield, Type:A, Uncle Matt’s Organic and Vital Farms!

We are thrilled that so many members of our brand collective are also a part of the global B Corp community and share a deep commitment to environmental and social performance, transparency and impact. And we’re excited to help tell the B Corp story and help our community understand what the B Corp logo means on a product label. It’s a great story and we’re excited to share it!