Pete and Gerry’s Organics Achieves B Corporation Certification

Pete and Gerry’s Organics, the parent company for both the Pete and Gerry’s Organic Eggs and the Nellie’s Cage-Free Eggs brands, has been named a Certified B Corporation. B Corps – the B stands for “benefit” – are a new kind of company that use the power of business to solve social and environmental problems. Pete and Gerry’s Organics, led by fourth-generation family farmers dedicated to humane treatment of animals and to supporting small family farms, is just the third company in New Hampshire to achieve B Corps status. More than 960 other companies in 32 countries have B Corp status. Certified B Corporations have been compared to Fair Trade certification, except the entire business must be certified, not just a particular product. With performance standards that are comprehensive and transparent, B Corps are measured by their impact on all their stakeholders, including workers, suppliers, community and the environment. “At Pete and Gerry’s, we’re incredibly proud to join international brands like Patagonia, Seventh Generation and Ben & Jerry’s as true leaders in sustainable business practices,” says Jesse Laflamme, a fourth-generation farmer, co-owner and CEO. “The vast majority of our B Corps peers are service providers; to achieve B Corps status as a business that also meets or exceeds strict environmental regulations while humanely raising livestock on small family farms, we have to work extra hard.” B Corps third-party verification of sustainable business practices is operated by the nonprofit B Labs, co-founded by entrepreneur and social business visionary Jay Coen Gilbert. To mark the announcement of Pete & Gerry’s joining the B Corps ranks (Pete & Gerry’s achieved B Corps certification in 2013), B Lab’s Gilbert toured the company’s headquarters in Monroe, N.H. on Feb. 18. Gilbert also is participating with Pete and Gerry’s CEO Jesse Laflamme in a Feb. 19 panel discussion at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H. Additional panel participants include Robert Hansen, senior associate dean of Tuck; Steve Voigt, CEO of King Arthur Flour; and Bryan Welch, publisher and editorial director of Ogden Publications. King Arthur Flour and Ogden Publications also are Certified B Corps. The Certified B Corporation seal on Pete and Gerry’s cartons guarantees that the company is not just talking about running the business in a socially and environmentally conscious way. Pete and Gerry’s is living those values, and always will, because it believes it’s good business. The company must regularly earn and maintain a minimum score on B Lab’s B Impact Assessment – a comprehensive set of standards that measures overall social and environmental performance.