Client Stories

Lily’s Kitchen

Pet food pioneers who have used the B Corp framework to bake sustainability into their brand

Founded by Henrietta Morrison in her kitchen in 2009, Lily’s Kitchen make ‘proper food for pets’.

They are an internationally recognised £55 million brand and were acquired by Nestle Purina in 2020. The Lily’s Kitchen parallel success story is their commitment to balancing people, pets and planet, using the BIA as a framework for their ESG strategy, through three rounds of B Corp certification.

B Corp

Key Information

Service
B Corp

Industry
Food & Beverage

Size
200+ Employees

Challenge

Challenge

Improving impact for people, planet and pets

Back in 2015, Lily’s Kitchen completed the B Impact Assessment (BIA) to assess their social and environmental impact. The BIA is an online assessment tool that provides a comprehensive rating on a company’s impact. Companies need to score a minimum of 80 points to certify as a B Corp.

In order to successfully certify, we helped Lily’s Kitchen to identify improvements and increase their score. This partnership continued for their subsequent recertifications and B Corp provided an ongoing framework to help them measure their ESG performance. Today, Lily’s Kitchen employees are involved in using B Corp to be a better business, with 25 dedicated B Champs sitting across all aspects of the business.

“Maintaining B Corp certification is no easy feat. B Lab reviews the BIA every three years to ensure it is updated in line with new legislation – it’s what makes it such a great framework for businesses to constantly improve their impact. For Lily’s Kitchen this means they face a new BIA each time they recertify. It’s like starting from scratch!”

Amy Bourbeau
Seismic Cofounder and B Corp expert

Approach

“This achievement [B Corp certification] is another key milestone in our journey and wouldn’t have been possible without the combined efforts of everyone across the business, as well as the support from our friends at Seismic who guided us through our impact assessment.”

Lily’s Kitchen on their 2021 B Corp Recertification.

Approach

Using the B Corp framework to constantly monitor ESG performance

Lily’s Kitchen became one of the UK’s founding B Corps when B Lab launched in the UK in 2015. They were the first pet food company in the world to be certified. They recertified in 2017 and again in 2021.

B Corp’s emphasis on social and sustainable impact ensures they remain both constant and relevant. It provides a valuable framework for improvements; Lily’s Kitchen applied 66 improvements across their supply chain, marketing, HR and environmental departments for their 3rd recertification. They also found B Corp to be a useful anchor when navigating periods of transition, such as when Lily’s Kitchen underwent a change of senior leadership and on joining the Nestle Purina group in 2020.

Impact

“Not only is B Corp a strategic framework, it also provides an ethical compass and is a North Star to help a company stay true to its purpose in the longer term”.

Amy Bourbeau
Chief Impact Officer and Cofounder of Seismic.

Impact

Reaping the value of B Corp

Lily’s Kitchen has recertified three times, using B Corp as an ethical compass to stay true to their purpose. They continue to reap the benefits from being a B Corp. For example:

Successfully securing The Royal Warrant from HRH the Prince of Waleswhich means Lily’s Kitchen is a supplier to the Royal Household. Their sustainability performance helped secure the warrant and the application process was made easier as they had the required data and evidence to hand, having collected it for their B Corp certification.
Their B Corp status was a key factor for attracting investment into Lily’s Kitchen. When Nestle Purina acquired them in 2020, one of the conditions was that Lily’s Kitchen should maintain its B Corp certification.