In December 2020, kencko became a certified B Corp.

What is B Corp certification? In B Lab’s own words: “It means that a company has been verified as meeting B Lab’s high standards for social and environmental impact, that it has made a legal commitment to stakeholder governance, and that it is demonstrating accountability and transparency by disclosing this record of performance in a public B Corp profile. 

And by becoming certified, we joined a global movement of companies committed to using business as a force for good.

The B Corp certification is the beginning of a journey of continuous improvement.At the time of our original B Corp certification, we received an overall score of 83.1. And we are thrilled to announce that after this most recent round of recertification, our score has improved to 92.0!

Here’s a quick look at just some of the things we’ve been working on behind the scenes that led to our nine-point improvement.

Quality Assurance and Sourcing

Our quality assurance and sourcing teams have worked tirelessly to implement improvements to the feedback systems we have in place with the various companies that contribute to our supply chain. That means that the lines of communication between kencko and the other businesses that are essential to our success are always open, we’re making sure all parties are happy.

Product

We’re continuing to use organic ingredients in all of our products, which contributes to lower levels of soil toxicity, among other environmental advantages to this practice. We’ve worked with our suppliers to develop a truly unique, home-compostable, packaging for our products’ packets. And we’ve increased the percentage of suppliers we work with who hold various certifications reflecting their commitment to fair business practices as well.

People

We really do love our kencko-ers. That’s why whenever it’s possible, rather than seek out talent externally, we aim to foster it from within. We’ve made a point to promote internally as much as we can, and provide pathways for kencko-ers to pivot their careers and pursue their interests within kencko. It not only ensures we work with people committed to our mission of making fruits & veggies more accessible. It also means our people grow with our company.

Environment

We’ve worked to improve the percentage of materials and byproducts of production that we recycle. And we’ve also begun the process of even more accurately measuring our greenhouse gas emissions, both from our business operations and products.

While we’re extremely proud of our certification and improved score, we also know that our work is never truly finished in terms of being a socially- and environmentally-conscious company! Stay tuned for future updates.