Small businesses with B Corp certifications have gone above and beyond to demonstrate their commitment to making the world a better place.

Small Business BC sat down with BReD bakery owner Natasha Tatton to learn more about the story behind the business, why they became a B Corp, and how they used their Best Youth Entrepreneur win at the 2021 Small Business BC Awards to fuel their commitment to doing social and environmental good.

Starting BReD

Natasha and Ed opened a sourdough bakery in Whistler in 2019. Before officially opening, they had been doing weekly pop-ups out of a restaurant. However, the community demanded more bread, so they opened their bakery at the bottom of the Creekside Gondola.

“We already had buy-in from the community that they liked our bread…so we assumed that if they liked our bread, they’d like other things we can make, so we decided to open a bakery that just happened to be vegan.”

A year after opening, the COVID-19 pandemic began. It set BReD behind as they lost key team members and faced significant hiring challenges. “We kept doing everything we could to push the business forward, whether it was winning an award, getting a certification, starting a YouTube channel, writing a cookbook…anything and everything you can think of to keep the business moving,” said Natasha.

Today, they’re at a point where the business is back into profitability. “We’re a lot more confident,” said Natasha. “We’re making more big decisions, and we’ve just signed a lease for a staff house…we’re looking to expand our operation and attract and retain good people to help us grow our business even more.”

The Vegan Question

“We’re mission led. We want to see a better world, a sustainable future with wildlife, flora and fauna for future generations…there was no way we could ever profit from animal cruelty and exploitation,” said Natasha.

She and Ed have been vegan for more than 10 years, and when their community demanded that they open a bakery, they initially were “stealthy” about their veganism.

They thought about getting a vegan certification for their business but discovered that the “vegan” label was divisive, confusing, and didn’t encompass all their business values.

“We kept getting lots of people coming in looking for vegan stuff, and they didn’t believe everything was vegan,” said Natasha. “Our mission as a company is to normalize veganism, to make it accessible…why should vegans have to be the one to put the label in front of it when it’s actually a better, more compassionate choice?” said Natasha.

“We felt that the B Corp status symbol would convey our message better and maybe reach more people in a positive way … it would extend to more than just the fact that we don’t have any animal ingredients.”

Becoming a B Corp

Becoming a B Corp can be a months-long process, taking a magnifying glass to every aspect of your business. To become a B Corp, you must complete a comprehensive assessment before you get your B Corp status.

“I wasn’t sure how to do it,” said Natasha. “To be honest, I didn’t really understand, and I started to feel a bit overwhelmed and lost…. I had to use a consultancy to help me with the assessment.”

Natasha worked with consultants to guide her through the process, and her Small Business BC Award win funded the work.

“It was a lot faster than I expected,” said Natasha. As a micro-enterprise, their application was quickly handled. After submitting their application, they heard back immediately, saying that an analyst was on their case and it was time to upload more documentation.

Advice for Small Businesses Considering B Corp

Natasha had some advice to share with other small businesses who might be considering getting a B Corp designation:

• Use the assessment tool as much as you can because it’s free
• B Corp prices are tiered, so it’s affordable for small businesses
• There’s a team designated for micro-sized enterprises that pushes you forward
• Everything in the assessment is done on a case-by-case basis
• Some “controversial industries” are completely blocked from pursuing a B Corp status
• The assessment seems to be favourable for businesses located in urban areas

As a small business in Whistler, a non-urban area with unique geography and infrastructure, BReD faced a couple of challenges when trying to meet the standardized assessment criteria. For example, the assessment often didn’t account for unique regional circumstances or the specific practices of a vegan bakery. Thankfully, because the process is done on a case-by-case basis, Natasha was able to work with the analyst and find solutions for each roadblock.

Environmental and Social Commitments

“One of our commitments as being B Corp is that we donate 1% of our revenue to animal and environmental causes…the more money we make, the more we can give back,” said Natasha.

For example, they plant a tree for every two drinks sold in the bakery cafe. Through their partner charity, Trees for the Future, they have planted nearly 78,000 trees, helping farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa regenerate their land. They also make efforts to make the most sustainable choices possible, including using compostable and natural packaging.

Their social commitments are reflected in their compensation package for employees. They pay a living wage, provide staff bonuses, pay staff to do volunteer work, and recently, they’ve started providing subsidized housing to staff.

“It’s a win-win for everyone,” said Natasha. “We’re improving our compensation package for our team, and we can retain our team from season to season, and hopefully, I’m in the process of attracting more people that want to come and work with us as well.”

Growing the BReD Team

“We’re looking forward to the winter, and winter’s crazy in Whistler. It’s super, super busy. We take probably two-thirds, if not three-quarters, of our yearly revenue between December and April. So we need to expand the team and open up more days. We’ve only been able to open four days a week this summer due to staffing,” said Natasha.

The growth is “exciting and scary,” and Natasha says she’s working with an HR consultancy to help them tweak policies and systems to onboard and manage new staff.

“We are super excited about the future and the possibilities of where we could go once we’ve got a big team working with us.”

The Future of BReD

Last year, Natasha and Ed published the vegan baking cookbook “BReD”  with Penguin Random House. It was a massive project – from writing and shooting to editing and promoting.

“We’ve spread our recipes far and wide. People all around the world can buy that book…and it seems to be going quite well.”

Through the success of their cookbook, Natasha made an interesting discovery. When people buy the cookbook on Amazon, they also buy a dehydrated sourdough starter kit from another vendor based in the USA.

Now, excess discs of sourdough starter are getting dehydrated, milled, and packaged. “So now we’re looking forward to becoming Amazon bestsellers of sourdough starter,” said Natasha.

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