Being a Force for Good
It is with immense pride we operate as a certified
Benefit Corporation Company (B Corp).
Using our business as a force for good is something that we’ve been compelled to do from inception.
Now we’ve been independently verified for our high standards of social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency. With a minimum of 80 points required for certification, we were recently awarded a whopping 101.7. This score puts us well in the top tier of B Corp companies in the world!
Five Senses began in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea and has always existed to benefit people, communities and the planet. Our network is now extensive through-out
many countries, yet we’ve maintained our strong business and personal
relationships with coffee growers and traders at origin.
Our founding mission of Impacting People Positively was established in the 1990’s and continues to hallmark what we’ve done every day since.
Our coffee buyers have first-hand experience of the particular challenges at origin. With a great sense of fulfilling our mission, we have been delighted to engage directly with these agricultural communities at their point of need. Whether it’s helping large neighbourhoods in Tanzania access fresh water or raise fundsfor a rainforest extension in Burundi, we’ve been able to respond to the noticed needs.
In our own Australian suburbs, we’ve enjoyed partnerships and collaborations that have transformed lives through the hospitality industry. During the Covid lockdown period, Five Senses embraced a stringent review of our processes to assess just how well we were living out our mission. Although we felt like we were doing well, only an independent body could objectively ‘lift the bonnet’ on our working procedures. The B Corp Assessment process became an invaluable tool to measure performance in the areas of Governance, Workers, Community, Environment and Customers.
At the beginning of the certification process we estimated that all our ‘do gooding’ would award us about half the necessary 80 points to qualify. Rigorous amounts of research, shifts inpolicy, system reviews, documentation and procedural change were all part of the adjustments needed. At times, significant effort and reformed practices only awarded us 0.6 of a point. It turns out that becoming B Corp certified is really, really…really hard!!
For three years our team hovered a microscope over the entire supply chain to ensure that the well being of everyone was considered, from origin to office staff. Our highscore is a satisfying achievement that proves the heart of our mission to Impact People Positively is being fulfilled with fervour.
Since 2020 we’ve been operating as Carbon Neutral after substantially reducing power usage, setting new targets and purchasing offsets.
Years of significant and thoughtful company changes, at considerable time and cost, have enable us to achieve an impressive result. It is with deep satisfaction that we produce delicious coffee at such a worthy standard of social and environmental excellence. Being a B Corp company is about being a force for good, having a positive impact on people, places, products and the planet.
