LEADING fresh soup brand Cully & Sully has become the third Irish firm to receive B Corp certification.
Headquartered in Cork, the firm joins a prestigious global movement of certified B Corporations spanning 71 countries across 150 industries - including the likes of Ella’s Kitchen and Patagonia - who have been recognised as pioneering companies that use business as a force for good.
There are only two other B Corp companies in Ireland, namely Danone Dairy Ireland and UrbanVolt.
Regarding the news, Cully & Sully founder Colum O’Sullivan: “We are hugely excited to reach B Corp certification and to become Ireland’s third B Corp.
“We’ve worked really closely with B Corp over the past two years to achieve this certification, which looks at all aspects of our business from an environmental, community, employee and governance perspective.”
He added: “Since we launched our business in 2004, we’ve always prioritised community and environmental projects – myself and Cully are both water fanatics so our latest partnership with Clean Coasts is something we’re especially proud of and as committed as ever to do more to clean up Ireland’s beautiful coastline.
“Fundamentally, our employees have always been the most important part of our organisation. This certification is a brilliant tribute to all we have achieved together so far but we’re really considering this as just the start of our journey for improvement.”
He explained: “B Corp now provides us with a framework which not only measures our social and environmental impact, but more importantly, helps us understand what we can do to keep getting better, which will keep us motivated, accountable and driven. We really hope that many more Irish food companies will soon join the B Corp family.”
To certify as a B Corporation, Cully & Sully had to demonstrate that it meets the rigorous standards of accountability, transparency and social and environmental performance required.
They achieved that through a number of initiatives spearheaded by the company over the last 15 years - including community initiatives such as The Big Beach Clean 2019 with Clean Coast, engaging over 3,652 volunteers to remove over 32 tonnes of marine litter from the Irish coastline.
Elsewhere the company’s partnership with not-for-profit Grow it Yourself to encourage young people to grow their own vegetables has engaged more than 32,000 individuals in schools and workplaces since 2015.
The firm also supports local charities, such as homeless charity Focus Ireland and support group, Heart Children Ireland.
