In December of 2021, Lost Grove Brewing became Boise’s newest B-Corp and the first B-Corp brewery in Idaho. They joined nine other Boise businesses in the global movement to be more intentional in what they do and how they do it, be it brewing beer, putting on a music festival, or creating educational toys for toddlers.

What is a B-Corp?

First things first, what the heck is a B-Corp? In short, B-Corp certification is essentially a badge of honor. It shows the world that a company is a force for good, inside and out. When you interact with a B-Corp business, you know your money is going to a company that treats their employees well, supports their community, doesn’t dump garbage into the environment, and actually benefits its customers.

A lil more in-the-weeds definition: B-Corp is a designation that a business earns by meeting really high standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. A business is scored on its practices in different factors of business, from charitable giving to employee benefits to environmental sustainability. More on that here.

Receiving B-Corp certification is no walk in the park. It involves a lot of time, reflecting and assessing, decision making, and paperwork. Lots of paperwork. Lots of time.

Businesses begin with the B Assessment. This online tool measures a company’s impact on its workers, community, environment, and customers. It's free and you can take a 30-minute snapshot assessment or a 2-3 hour full impact report. You'll answer a bunch of questions about your business and how you run it. When finished, the assessment compares your answers to thousands of other businesses and gives you feedback on where your company excels and where it needs work. The last step is improving, and the assessment gives you a custom plan to implement best practices and improve your B Assessment score.

In order to become a B-Corp business, companies have to:

• Score 80 or above for its social and environmental performance on the B Assessment. Most companies score 50 the first time they take it.
• Make a legal commitment by changing its corporate governance structure to be accountable to all stakeholders, not just shareholders, and achieve benefit corporation status if possible. (You can read more about the difference between B-Corp certified and benefit corporations here.)
• Exhibit transparency by allowing info about their performance measured against B Lab’s standards to be publicly available on B Corp profile.

Lost Grove finds its path

Lost Grove Brewing had B-Corp certification top of mind before it even opened its doors in October 2017.

When Lost Grove owner Jake Black first dreamed up the business, he envisioned a brewery that not only made good beer, but did good things for its community. As he was pitching his idea to potential investors, one came up to him after a presentation and told him, what you’re doing lines with B-Corp – check it out. This was the first time Jake had heard of it, but after a little research he knew this was the right path for Lost Grove.

The first time Kylie Bolland, General Manager of Lost Grove Brewing, heard of B-Corp certification was in her first interview with Jake. This was back in July 2017 and Jake told her then that Lost Grove would someday be a B-Corp.

Lost Grove’s journey began then, and the work started shortly after. Kylie took their first B Assessment in early 2018 and immediately began implementing recommendations and ideas as the brewery was getting off the ground.

“I had managed different bars and had worked in the service industry, but I had never actually helped start a business from scratch. To be actually the one creating those things… I was like I don’t know what the hell I’m doing,” laughed Kylie. “But it was great in that way. I keep telling people, even if becoming B Corp certified isn’t that important to you, just look at the assessment and fill out. Because it just has so many good ideas.”

Starting when they opened their doors allowed Lost Grove to have B-Corp standards at the backbone of the business. Lost Grove began with hiring, making sure they had ethical employment practices in place for their first and future employees, and has continued to improve those practices. Lost Grove employees are paid livable wages, reimbursed for volunteer time, have incentives for using alternative transportation, and have 25 paid vacation days a year. The brewery also started its Powerful Pints program, which raises money for local nonprofits, and began working towards becoming carbon neutral.

Now, four years into business, Lost Grove is officially Idaho’s first B-Corp certified brewery and the 19th brewery nationwide.

“One thing I love about being a B-Corp is how it’s incorporated in all of our conversations,” said Kylie. When Kylie and the Lost Grove crew are making business decisions, big or small, they are crystal clear on their mission and values and makes moves to stay aligned.

Kylie hopes that Lost Grove's new certification will inspire other local businesses and ultimately create a broader B-Corp community in Boise.

"There are a decent amount of Idaho B-Corps, but there can be so many more," said Kylie. "There’s so many other awesome businesses in Boise and I’m hoping that this helps inspire them to formalize their commitment."

Meet Boise's B-Corps

You already know about Lost Grove Brewing, but you can check out their B-Corp profile here.

​Oliver Russell was Boise's first B-Corp business, certified in January 2012. They help change makers connect with purpose-driven consumers through brand design, integrated campaigns, and cause marketing.

​Treefort Music Fest became the first B-Corp certified music festival back in 2015. The five-day fest (which is coming up next month on March 23-27) earned its certification for its intentional mission, community impact, and environmental responsibility.

​Lovevery makes stage-based learning and play toys for children that are designed by child development experts. They became certified in 2021.

​Caprock Financial creates custom wealth solutions for ultra-high-net-worth individuals, families and select foundations. They have been certified since 2007.

​Jitasa is the first and largest national accounting and bookkeeping services provider dedicated to the nonprofit sector. The company earned B-Corp certification in 2012.

​Happy Family Organics earned B-Corp status in 2011 for its innovative children's nutrition products and resources.

​Our Gorongosa is a coffee company headquartered in Boise but works mostly in Mozambique, Africa. The company produces specialty coffee using regenerative practices that support human development, wildlife conservation, and rainforest reforestation in Gorongosa National Park. 100% of its profits support these initiatives. The company became B-Corp certified in 2021.

​Warm Springs Consulting guides businesses to higher profitability through sustainability initiatives. They earned certification in 2018.

​Saalt creates healthier, more sustainable period products. They became a B-Corp business in 2019.

The B-Corp revolution

To get perspective on the prevalence of B-Corps and what it means for Boise to have another B-Corp business, I chatted with Russ Stoddard, founder of Oliver Russell. You could say that Oliver Russell is an OG B-Corp. It’s been a certified B-Corp for 11 years and is listed at number 299 on an ever-growing list of certified B-Corps, which is nearly 5,000 companies long these days.

Russ told me that more and more companies are starting to seek out B-Corp certification, and the reason behind the uptick is three-fold.

“First of all, consumers, shoppers, human beings, individuals are starting to look for this certification as like a mark of trusting companies they want to align themselves with. Second of all – this is really a big one – companies are having a hard time hiring people. And guess who doesn’t have a hard time hiring people? B-Corps. Because everybody wants to work for a B-Corp. And that’s a big advantage,” he chuckled. “And the last one is that investors are increasingly looking at the B-Corp badge as a mark of trust. They think okay, this company has its stuff together, it’s built to future proof itself going forward, and it’s minimizing a lot of risks that we might take otherwise, so okay, this is where we’ll put our money.”

So why should we all give a damn which companies are B-corp certified or not? Well, you don't have to. But caring about a company who cares about you too just feels better, doesn't it? And when you consider a whole world in which companies truly care about the people that work for them, the customers who interact with them, the community in which they exist, the future b-comes just a little bit brighter.

Thanks for reading!

With love from Boise,

Marissa

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