North Bay becomes hub of B Corp. companies that promote progressive values

In an industry of more than 11,000 other wineries in the U.S. , Ron Rubin knows it’s difficult for his to stand out in the marketplace.

The Ron Rubin Winery in Sebastopol already has a good reputation with its well-regarded Burgundian varietals from the Russian River Valley. It also has been known for Rubin’s generosity of offering free defibrillators for any winery that has its staff trained by the American Red Cross for their use.

But that’s not enough.

And thus, his winery went through an arduous process that took 651 days to become certified as a B Corporation last month. Companies must score high enough in their environmental commitment; treatment of workers; overall relationship with the local community and customers; and their business governance structure to achieve the designation, which is granted by the nonprofit B Lab organization based in Pennsylvania.

“It’s a global community, and I like to be associated with other certified B Corporations,” Rubin said.

He then rattled off the list of some of the other well-known brands that also have been granted such status, which have helped endear them to consumers over their progressive vision: Apparel retailers Patagonia and Bombas. Ben & Jerry’s hippie-inspired ice cream. Warby Parker, the e-merchant of hipster glasses.

“How can we be an inspiration for the wine industry? It's really amazing. There are so few wineries that are certified B Corp.,” he added.

In the North Coast, however, such status is nothing new as some of the most recognizable consumer products come from our own local certified B Corp. companies: The dairy products from Clover Sonoma of Petaluma; beers from North Coast Brewing Co. in Fort Bragg; fermented drinks from Biotic Ferments of Petaluma; vegetarian dishes from Amy’s Kitchen Inc. of Petaluma; and tea from Traditional Medicinals in Rohnert Park.

The companies are a reflection of the many forward-thinking executives within the area, said Ethan Brown, the interim executive director for the Sonoma County Economic Development Board.

“I think it is also driven heavily by a marketplace that identifies just as much with the social and environmental values of a given company as it does with the products. The B-Corp. designation is gaining enough recognition that consumers can make choices that align with their own values easier than ever,” Brown added.

The examples are not only in consumers goods for the roughly 15 firms that have achieved B Corp. certification in Sonoma County. Those include Boox, a producer of reusable shipping packages in Petaluma; Solar Works, a solar installation provider in Santa Rosa; and Solectrac, an electric tractor manufacturer that is located in Windsor.

It also reflects a growing movement to get such certification.

Rubin noted his delay was in part because of the influx of applications for B Corp. status as 4,000 submissions were sent to B Lab since the beginning of 2020 from companies around the world. Overall, there are 5,659 businesses that have achieved certification since the process began in 2006, covering 456,610 workers at such companies.

“It’s not only nationwide, but it’s a definitely a global trend,” said Christopher Marquis, a professor at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom and who has written a book on the topic.

The pandemic reinforced for many executives that they needed formalize their commitments and values as an overall business, especially in more progressive areas, he said. “It just created a separation among different types of businesses and companies,” Marquis added. “It’s something that is growing quite a bit.”

The growth is not without controversy, especially over concern if the worker standards are sufficient enough. The Teamsters union in March filed a complaint with B Lab over Amy’s Kitchen on behalf of longtime employee Cecilia Luna Ojeda and it alleged a “callous disregard for workers’ health, safety, and human rights” that goes against its standards.

The union is in the midst of trying to organize workers at Amy’s Santa Rosa plant.

The Teamsters noted all certified companies must sign an agreement with B Lab that includes guiding principles that “business ought to be conducted as if people and place mattered” and that Amy’s has not lived up to that by having to settle Cal/OSHA worker violations.

B Lab did not return emails on the status of the complaint.

Amy’s defended its treatment of its workers, and the company said it respects their right to unionize. The company’s worker standards were the second-highest ranking category behind its environmental work in its overall B Corp. score, with higher marks on pay as well as health and safety. A company disclosure in 2020 as part of its certification noted Amy’s had settled two class action suits by workers over rest-period claims and a technical violation over pay stubs.

Paul Schiefer, vice president of impact and communications for Amy’s, said the company spent eight months to assemble its application that consisted of more than 300 questions.

“For the most part, these allegations that have been made are really not present. We are not finding them to be there,” Schiefer said of the Teamsters’ claims. He also noted that unions have used the B Lab complaint process more frequently, which he called unfortunate.

The issue of unionization and how much companies resist collective bargaining as part of their certification may have to be settled in the future, said Marquis, who noted that B Lab is already on its sixth version of its overall standards.

“I think this is an issue of growing pains with the companies as this is now a much bigger movement and has much bigger companies. B Lab needs to wrestle with how to actually address that,” he said.

Still, other local companies have found success in the designation, especially in environmental initiatives.

One local example is Bonterra Organic Estates in Hopland, which has been certified since 2015. The company, formerly known as Fetzer Vineyards, has found the designation has allowed it to cut through the marketing fog of the wine industry where consumers face an array of different terms from sustainable to natural wine to fish friendly, said Jess Baum, the winery’s director of regenerative development and sustainability.

Bonterra has the B Corp. logo on the back of its wine labels.

“I think more and more consumers are looking for companies that stand for something,” Baum said.

The company last year was recertified and improved its score by 37% from 2017, which resulted in being ranked in the outstanding category of B Corporations. The process also has helped in its quest to be fully carbon neutral by 2030, she added.

“It really forces you to codify things that matter to you,” Baum said. “It can be way too easy for things to fall through the cracks.”

The process for smaller companies can be more taxing because they don’t have the resources compared to large companies like Bonterra. For example, Rubin noted the biggest challenge for his winery was with time management for his small staff tasked with the application, even with hiring a consultant.

But he said he discovered things to improve upon, such as implementing a code of conduct for its suppliers. The winery found one of its vineyard providers wasn’t certified as a sustainable winegrower as it claimed and was dropped.

“That won't work for us,” Rubin said. “I definitely was surprised.”

He also said that he wasn’t worried that the changes implemented could cut into his profit margin because he did not undertake certification to boost sales for the winery, which produces about 100,000 cases annually. “It's going to make us a better winery and a better business,” Rubin said.

Notably, the B Corp. certification will help in attracting employees, especially younger workers who are more inclined to work for an employer that adheres to their own values.

“I think this is the first experience I’ve had where a number of our staff have come up to me personally, and thanked me as an owner and told me how proud they are to work for a certified B Corp. And that was wonderful,” he said.