Pet Food Brand The Honest Kitchen Achieves B Corp Certification

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Press release: The Honest Kitchen

The Honest Kitchen, a San Diego producer of natural, human grade pet foods, supplements and treats, has announced that it has successfully completed the rigorous evaluation process to become a Certified B Corporation, the gold standard of social and environmental performance in business. The company re-incorporated as a public benefit corporation in early 2021.

“We’ve been grounded in the principles of conscientious decision-making, such as sourcing non-GMO produce, numerous organic ingredients, and higher animal welfare meat standards since we first began,” said Lucy Postins, The Honest Kitchen’s founder and chief integrity officer. “We believe it’s our responsibility to continue to raise the bar for ourselves and becoming a B Corp is the perfect next step to cement our ongoing commitment to lasting, positive impact by using our business as a force for good.”

Certified B Corporations work to reduce inequality and poverty, make a positive impact on the environment and create stronger communities by harnessing the power of business. About 5,000 companies around the world have successfully certified as B Corporations, which balance profit and purpose by meeting the highest standards of social and environmental performance, public transparency and legal accountability. The certification process for a company to become a B Corp is not a light undertaking and requires a meticulous, top-to-bottom audit of policies, procedures and practices in five categories: governance, workers, customers, community and the environment.

Becoming a Certified B Corporation provides The Honest Kitchen with a more formalized framework for its future growth and conscientious decision-making. Policies that the company has implemented as part of its B Corp certification include the prioritization of minority and women-owned and operated suppliers, increased local sourcing, further reductions in environmental impact through packaging and distribution choices, tracking and continual improvement of workforce diversity (especially at leadership levels within the organization), further improved animal welfare standards and integration of even more organic and certified Fair Trade ingredients.

“Formalizing our policies and practices to become a Certified B Corp has really allowed us to define and execute on goals for how we care for our people, such as tracking and increasing diversity and equity across our workforce, increasing paid volunteer time for our team and improving benefits,” said Michael Greenwell, The Honest Kitchen’s chief executive officer.

The news follows the company’s recent announcement of Global Animal Partnership (GAP) certification on the chicken used in several of its recipes. GAP is one of the largest and most comprehensive animal welfare food labeling programs in North America and is an important step in The Honest Kitchen’s ongoing commitment to humane animal welfare practices in its supply chain.

“We’re thrilled to have a company like The Honest Kitchen join the ranks of Certified B Corporations,” said Sarah Silverman, director of marketing and communications, B Lab US/Canada. “This recognition marks the company’s continued commitment to sustainable sourcing, animal welfare, thoughtful production methods, and caring for its workers both internally and throughout the supply chain.”