Vermont Smoke & Cure Achieves B Corporation Certification

Hinesburg, VT (June 19, 2016) – Vermont Smoke & Cure, a leading small-batch meats and meat snacks company, has received the prestigious B Corporation (B Corps) Certification. The designation is granted to for-profit companies that are able to prove their business meets the highest standards of social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency.

Vermont Smoke & Cure qualified for B Corps certification because of its sustainable and socially conscious business practices such as sourcing meats raised humanely and without the use of antibiotics, using ingredients from local farms, offering commercial meat processing services to family-scale farmers, and utilizing solar power. The company also fosters an ownership culture by granting employee stock options to each of its employees.

Vermont Smoke & Cure received this prestigious award after B Lab, a nonprofit organization that certifies and supports B Corporations, extensively evaluated their values, practices and overall environmental and social responsibility. The Company is proud to join an esteemed group of businesses dedicated to using business as a tool for good beyond the financial bottom line, in alignment with the company’s mantra: Better Meat for All.

“Consumers want to be able to trust where their meat comes from,” says Chris Bailey, Vermont Smoke & Cure CEO, “and it is in our Company DNA to be transparent about our ingredients and sources, to seek out and use ever more humane, sustainable and healthy, high-quality ingredients, and buy from long-term partners we know and trust.”

Bailey continued, “and customers and the state of the world further demand that we as meat companies act as good neighbors, by minimizing natural resource use in our operations, and helping small farms as well as larger ones have market access by providing necessary services. Meeting these needs and inspiring others to also do so defines our central purpose as a Company.”

“As a Certified B Corp, Vermont Smoke & Cure will continue to improve its practices, reduce resource use and become a sought-after employer,” Bailey concluded.

“B Lab is honored to welcome Vermont Smoke & Cure into a growing community of Certified B Corps,” said Jay Coen Gilbert, co-founder of B Lab. “The company is an example of how a business can thrive by being transparent, accountable and responsible. We can only hope that Vermont Smoke & Cure’s practices will help pave the way for other likeminded companies in the Green Mountain State and beyond.”

About Vermont Smoke & Cure: Vermont Smoke & Cure has been consciously crafting delicious smoked meats and meat snacks since 1962. It uses humanely raised meats, whenever possible, and simple, local ingredients. Its team of employee-owners makes everything in its Smokehouse in Hinesburg, Vermont. It’s one-of-a-kind bacon, ham, pepperoni, summer sausage, and meat sticks are available online at vermontsmokeandcure.com and at retailers nationwide.

About B Corporations: Certified B Corporations are leaders of a global movement of people using business as a force for good. They meet the highest standards of overall social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability and aspire to use the power of business to solve social and environmental problems. There are more than 1,500 Certified B Corporations in over 120 industries and 40 countries with 1 unifying goal – to redefine success in business.

About B Lab: B Lab is a nonprofit organization that serves a global movement of people using business as a force for good. Its vision is that one day all companies compete not only to be the best in the world, but the Best for the World® and as a result society will enjoy a more shared and durable prosperity. B Lab drives this systemic change by:

• Building a global community of Certified B Corporations who meet the highest standards of verified, overall social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability;
• Promoting Mission Alignment using innovative corporate structures like the benefit corporation to align the interests of business with those of society and to help high impact businesses be built to last;
• Helping tens of thousands of businesses, investors, and institutions Measure What Matters, by using the B Impact Assessment and B Analytics to manage their impact — and the impact of the businesses with whom they work — with as much rigor as their profits;
• Inspiring millions to join the movement through compelling story-telling by B the Change Media.