From ‘Mr & Mrs Coconut’ initially supplying locals out of their home kitchen, to building a 800 square meter factory in the sunny surf town of Raglan and now shipping to over 600 stores & cafes around New Zealand, Raglan Food Co has been a roller-coaster ride of learning how to grow a business while staying true to its original hippy values. They’re all about lifting the vibe and helping to accelerate the shift to a plant-based diet for humankind. Becoming a Certified B Corporation was the natural next step in reinforcing their commitment to using business as a tool for good.
Why did you decide to become a B Corp?
We’d heard from others that it was the most comprehensive and credible form of certification out there – we were already Living Wage and Carbon Zero certified, but this is something that assesses every single area of your business. How you interact with your Community, Suppliers, Customers, Team, Environment, and your Governance. We wanted to be held accountable to the highest possible standard and B Corp seemed like the right path to go down.
What was the most notable part of the certification process?
It was a loooong process for us, taking nearly 2 years from when we first started working through the assessment process until finally becoming certified in early 2021. It helped us put in place new systems and processes that we didn’t have before and made us review pretty much all areas of our operations. We were amazed at the level of detail the assessment covers; literally no stone is left unturned! So we were thrilled when we received our final score of 96.7 as we felt this reflected the level of effort we’d put into the process.
Can you share some of the projects or initiatives you’re proudest of achieving within the business?
We’ve done heaps of different initiatives over the past 6 years in business; including planting trees along polluted waterways, sponsoring permaculture beehives for schools and families, helping restore local dunes, donating yoghurt to many charities, creating a Team Health Fund & a profit share program for our crew, and supporting Surf Lifesaving NZ, Paws Awhile Animal Sanctuary, and Kiwis Against Seabed Mining with monthly donations. But one of the big ones we’ve been working towards for some time is cleaning up 1 Million Pieces of Plastic from New Zealand’s beaches – we’re currently about to hit 600,000 pieces.
What’s your vision for the future of business?
We think in the future being a B Corp will become the norm for companies around the world. It simply won’t be acceptable anymore for businesses to operate without concern for how they’re treating people & the planet. Being kinder and more focused on the long-term impact of your product or service will be built into businesses from the start.
Do you have any tips for others considering becoming a Certified B Corporation?
We can highly recommend it – although it’s a lot of work and effort, it will only improve the way you operate, so treat it as a ‘coaching program’ of sorts for your business and you’ll get a ton of benefit out of it! We’re stoked to have joined the ranks of B Corps around the globe doing things differently and better.
A big congratulations to Raglan Food for achieving B Corp certification!
