We are now B Corp Certified!
A note from Social Pantry’s CEO & Founder Alex Head on reaching this huge milestone
In 2011 Social Pantry was founded with a simple vision: to serve great food, sustainably, and with purpose.
What began as a small catering business has grown into something so much bigger than I could have imagined. From humble beginnings in my own kitchen to major, multi-day events and three exclusive City of London venues, every milestone has been a step towards something special.
I started Social Pantry out of a passion for getting people together over good food, and I’m so proud of where we are today – I’m absolutely thrilled to announce that we’ve been officially certified as a B Corp!
A B Corp assessment evaluates impact across five pillars—governance, workers, community, environment, and customers—using a scoring system based on the company’s social and environmental performance. To achieve certification, a company must meet rigorous standards, score at least 80, and agree to transparency, accountability, and continuous improvement. Companies are required to recertify every three years. I’m so proud to share that we achieved one of the highest B Corp scores in UK hospitality; 104.4.
Now that we’ve been officially verified as a company that meets high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability, we are part of a global movement that uses business as a force for good.
We’ve always strived to do better – for our people, for our planet, and for prison leavers looking for a second chance. Now, all of this hard work has paid off in a way that feels incredibly meaningful.
Throughout the B Corp process, we have worked with sustainability consultant Nash Gierak, Director of Bold Green Strategies. On the process, Nash commented, “Social Pantry are an ideal candidate for B Corp certification; they aren’t afraid to do things differently. Their impactful work with prison leavers, and meaningful investment in sustainability, has earned them one of the highest B Corp scores in UK hospitality. Working with Alex and the team long-term means we really understand the unique nature of the business. We used that insight to strategise towards a score that captures—and does justice to—the Social Pantry mission. The team have worked so hard to make this happen, and we are incredibly proud to have achieved this milestone with them.”
I’ve always been an environmentalist, and at Social Pantry, we view food-related emissions and waste as two of the most important environmental issues facing catering, events, and hospitality. We embrace this by reimagining our possible waste, creating innovative dishes that repurpose discards, and utilising preserving techniques – whether that’s creating a vinegar from spent lemons, making an ash garnish from dried carrot leaves, or jellies from leftover sparkling wine. Our kitchens operate a zero-to-landfill waste hierarchy, which includes an onsite biodigester, separate waste streams, and First Mile gold-certified recycling rates.
We have also taken sustainable steps outside of the kitchen too, like removing global plastic polluters from our drinks menus and ushering in brands that are better-aligned with our ethos; divesting from fossil fuels and switching to renewable energy; investing in electric vehicles; and using a fossil fuel-free ethical pension fund for our team.
We’re proud to be the leading employer of prison leavers in the hospitality industry, having begun working within the prison system in 2015, offering training, mentorship and employment opportunities for those inside and leaving prison. As well as being on the Employment Board at HMP Wandsworth, the team and I opened a café behind bars and training facility inside HMP/YOI Feltham. This is a huge step towards achieving our ultimate goal of securing employment for the young people on the inside, because it creates a more seamless pathway for entry into the team at Social Pantry HQ.
I couldn’t be happier or more proud that the work we’ve put into creating a catering company that has both social and environmental impact has been recognised, and we’re now officially a B-Corp. But we know that the work by no means stops there, and we can’t wait to continue pushing forwards with our mission, working towards new and even more impactful goals, like becoming Net Zero. Bring it on.
