Drink beer, make the world better! This is no corporate greenwash. You can grab a delicious ale and make a direct contribution to fixing the food system and addressing the climate emergency. Consumer power creates change.
The food system is the biggest contributor to climate change and biodiversity loss, yet we waste a third of everything we produce. Nearly half of bread is never eaten.
Toast Ale uses surplus fresh bread from the bakery industry to brew its beer. Co-founder and chief operating officer Louisa Ziane explains how its beer, available from supermarkets, in restaurants and online, creates environmental and social impacts which go way beyond saving millions of slices of bread from waste.
She tells me how Toast measures and is cutting its carbon footprint, explains how it secured investment to support its growth (getting listed in supermarkets needs a lot of up-front capital) and describes how its purpose is locked into the heart of the business.
Toast is a brewery which truly does what it says on the can. I found this conversation fascinating. Also in the show today: funding for social enterprise, electric vehicles and more. Timings:
- 0 - 40:56 Louisa Ziane interview, including:
- 6:25 What being a certified B Corp means and why collaboration and open-sourcing is key to Toast's impact.
- 10:50 Toast has measured its carbon footprint for the past three years and this year its calculations were certified. Louisa explains how it is reducing its emissions and where to start when it comes to measuring your carbon footprint accurately.
- 17:40 Offsetting isn't a solution alone.
- 21:00 Why Toast is working with Soil Heroes and Feedback.
- 25:35 Equity for Good: Toast's investors have pledged that any net capital gains they get if they sell their shares in the future will be reinvested into organisations with environmental missions.
- 29:33 What were the biggest challenges in launching and growing Toast?
- 35:40 Other amazing businesses and breweries Louisa admires – pop some of these in your pantry!
Also covered on this episode: - Free trials of electric vans for businesses, social enterprises and other organisations in Sheffield. Details here.
- Funding: for social enterprises operating in the environment sector, check out the Enterprise Development Programme here.
- £150,000 (and up) grants from the The National Lottery Community Fund's Growing Great Ideas programme.
- New ShAFF (Sheffield Adventure Film Festival) outdoor screen showing Adventure Bites films, free, in Sheffield City Centre.
- Millions of people in Britain have poor or low numeracy skills. New research from social enterprise Plain Numbers about how to boost comprehension of bills and financial information.
Photo of Louisa Ziane by Joanne Warren Moore. Check out other episodes of Business Live here.