“Pet food is broken and we’re out to fix it — from scratch.” The team at Scratch Dog Food is leading a new wave of healthier kibble that puts dogs and the planet first.
To celebrate Scratch’s recent B Corp certification, we asked them to share more about the problem they saw with the self-regulated dog food industry and the importance of being a business that puts transparency first.
Why did you want to certify as a B Corp?
The dog food industry is full of profit at all costs — multinationals which have left the health of dogs and the environmental impact of feeding them pretty badly off.
We set out to become a B Corp from day one to guide us in becoming a different type of business. We set our governance to ensure that dogs and the planet sit at the top of our stakeholder list from day one and into the future. Our furry compadres and our planet will be better for it.
What makes your B Corp unique as a business? Tell us some of the areas where you have the biggest impact, or some of the little changes you’ve made to make a difference.
We’re a transparency-first business. Dog food in Australia is completely self-regulated and we’re the only company in the country to disclose how much we use of all of our ingredients. No dog owner can tell even something as simple as whether their dog’s food contains 10% beef or 30% beef — let alone where that came from, how they were treated, what other vegetables are in there, or whether they were chemical sprayed.
So while we donate 2% of revenue, do carbon-neutral delivery and treat sustainable meat sourcing very seriously, bringing transparency to our industry and opening up more ethical supply chain lines is where we hope to have our biggest impact on the health of Aussie dogs.
B Corps want to help transform our economy to one that is inclusive, sustainable, and regenerative. What business practice do you want to see become the norm?
Bias-free hiring. People are everything, but most businesses get in their own way by hiring almost exclusively to the biases of a powerful few. By focusing on diversity of background, thought and approaches we think we’d all have transformative businesses and make some real breakthroughs in how industries operate.
Was there a B Corp that inspired you to certify, or one that you look to for inspiration?
We’ve been learning from Melbourne neighbours of ours at Bellroy from day one — ever since we saw founder Andy Fallshaw talk at an event nearly a decade ago. Since, we’ve been fortunate enough to get investment from founders of iconic B Corps like Who Gives a Crap and Koala. We’ve learnt from and been inspired by their customer-centric business models whilst doing incredibly impactful work behind the scenes.
Do you have any tips for aspiring B Corps about the certification process?
Start it early. We used the B Impact Assessment from day one of our company, which made finally being eligible for certification much easier than undoing all the past processes. If you’re already an established business, I’d say start doing an internal analysis as soon as you think about it. Otherwise, it’s such a beast to go through (in a good way) that it could easily drag out into the years. It’s still worth it though!
