We didn’t start a meadery to become rich or famous (so far so good), and we certainly didn’t start a meadery for the joy of being sticky and stressed all the time.
When we founded Groennfell Meadery six years ago, we did it for two big reasons: We wanted to build a company we could be proud of and, we wanted that company to make a positive impact on the world.
To hold us accountable to our mission, we have been undergoing the extensive (and sometimes onerous) process of becoming a B Corp.
If you’re unfamiliar with B Corps, we urge you to go learn about this amazing program right now!
After hours and hours of compliance paperwork, interviews, structural changes to the company, and much more we’re proud to announce…
We’re almost there.
That’s right. We’re doing pretty well, but the reason you undergo an assessment like this one is not to pat yourself on the back, but to see just how far you need to go to be the company you want to be.
As of today, August 6th, 2019, we have an unconfirmed score of 79.4, which probably means nothing to you. Very generally speaking, the score is OK, but nowhere near where we want to be as a company.
Since starting the process, we’ve incorporated new benefits for our employees and introduced radical new cleaning procedures to reduce our water and chemical use. We’ve studied all of our packaging material and done life-cycle assessments on cans. We’ve learned more about True Source Certification than we ever thought we could.[1]
Now it’s time to talk about our big areas of improvement: Transparency.
As soon as our answers are all verified and our score confirmed, we’re going to begin regularly publishing our B Corp score alongside the full report and asking for feedback.
This is a pretty big deal for us because, to be honest, we’re not where we want to be as a company. But we’ve come to realize, throughout this process, that we’re never going to get there unless we invite our beloved meadiacs to scrutinize our business.
In an industry full of Crafty Beer owned by mega-corporations, we want to go above and beyond to be a company you trust.
Thank you for all of your support for the last six years! If there’s any way you can help us improve, we promise to listen.
[1] As usual, all of our research will be made available as part of our open source policy. We’re just tidying it up for publication right now.
