Our Next Chapter Beyond B Corp: Doubling Down on Education & Impact
Quick Facts
We’re stepping away from B Corp but remain just as committed to using business as a force for good.
We are expanding The Saxbys Experiential Learning Platform® to maximize resources for student development.
Our Public Benefit Corporation status is unchanged; we’ll continue practicing responsible sourcing, community engagement, and environmental stewardship.
We’ve trained over 700 Student Leaders and partnered with colleges nationwide—results that mean more to us than any single certification.
We still support the B Corp community. We value all we’ve learned from B Lab and other B Corps and continue to believe that business can be(and needs to be!) a force for good.
Why We’re Leaving B Corp
We’ve recently made the decision not to renew our B Corp certification. While we value the mission and community B Lab has cultivated, we’ve found that its standards and assessment framework no longer reflect our education-first approach—one that’s helping develop the next generation of entrepreneurial leaders. On this page, we’ll share the story behind our move beyond B Corp and what it means for Saxbys® commitment to Making Life Better.
Why We Became a B Corp
Since our founding, Saxbys has believed in using business as a force for good. Becoming a Certified B Corporation allowed us to benchmark and improve our social and environmental impact, standing alongside trailblazers like Patagonia and Greyston Bakery. We joined the B Corp community to underscore our commitment to fostering opportunities for students and communities—through what many saw as an innovative approach to impact.
Our Evolving Mission: An Education Company (Disguised as a Coffee Company)
Over the past few years, Saxbys has fully embraced a new identity. Today, we’re not just a coffee company—we’re an education company that happens to serve our on-campus guests coffee (amongst many other food & beverages!). The Saxbys Experiential Learning Platform is designed to develop the next generation of entrepreneurial leaders. Through student-run cafes on college campuses, we’ve provided hands-on learning to more than 700 Student Leaders—helping them build skills and launch meaningful careers.
Shifts in the B Corp Movement
As B Corp has expanded to nearly 100 countries, it broadened its reach and welcomed much larger global companies. In response, B Lab has received a ton of feedback from the B Corp community about what this means for its measurement framework. There has been a great deal written on this that we won’t comment on here, and we will simply acknowledge what this means goes forward. In 2025, the B Impact Assessment will undergo changes that emphasize breadth over depth. While we support the movement’s overall growth, these broader definitions no longer reflect the concentrated, education-focused work that is at the heart of our mission.
Why We’re Moving Away from B Corp
Misclassification as a ‘Food Manufacturer’
Despite our deep commitment to education, B Lab views us primarily as a food manufacturing business. This classification disqualified us from the “Education Impact Business Model” recognition and reduced our potential score by over 20 points.
More importantly, we found ourselves chasing “extra” points in areas unrelated to our core mission—like switching entirely to organic ingredients (which would raise menu prices to our student guests by 25-50%), rather than investing in student learning experiences.
Workforce Development Misalignment
Our cafe teams are student-run and located on college campuses, drawing from the admitted student body. While B Corp’s framework previously rewarded Saxbys’ community-based employment programs outside of college campuses, it didn’t capture the uniqueness—or significance—of our student development model.
Staying True to Our Core
B Corp certification requires fees and ongoing administrative work that, at this scale, don’t align with our mission-centric use of resources. We want to devote every possible dollar and hour to enhancing The Saxbys Experiential Learning Platform and empowering the next generation of leaders.
What’s Not Changing
Our Public Benefit Status
We remain a Public Benefit Corporation (PBC), legally bound to consider social impact in every decision.Commitment to Experiential Learning
We continue to partner with higher education institutions, providing paid, credited, and leadership-driven learning experiences for student team members of all majors and backgrounds.Responsible & Sustainable Practices
All the impactful policies we developed remain. We uphold robust environmental, social, and governance standards—like responsible sourcing, community partnerships, and thoughtful resource management.Support for Impactful Communities
We invest in academic affiliations, work with student organizations, and support nonprofits in every community we serve—because our Mission is to Make Life Better®, and we care about more than just a bottom line.
Scaling Our Impact Beyond Certification
The success of The Saxbys Experiential Learning Platform is measured by student outcomes:
Career Launch Success: Alumni of our program outpace national benchmarks for post-graduation employment, with many taking on leadership roles.
Global Reach: Saxbys alumni can be found in more than 250 organizations worldwide, including Fortune 500 companies.
Growing Partnerships: Colleges and universities continue to invite us onto campuses not merely as a cafe operator, but as a strategic partner in student success.
These results—validated by our education partners, student leaders, and employers—matter more than any single certification. By stepping away from B Corp, we can focus on the measurement that truly counts: the transformative impact we’re creating for the next generation of entrepreneurial leaders.
A Note of Gratitude
We know many people value what B Corp stands for, and we do, too. We appreciate the lessons, tools, and network B Lab provided over the years. Their work to champion “business as a force for good” remains as important as ever. While we’re no longer pursuing recertification, we celebrate the B Corp community’s drive for positive change and will continue to root for its growth and success.
What’s Next
Moving beyond B Corp certification enables us to deepen our educational mission. Our commitment to Make Life Better remains unwavering—we’re simply choosing the path that best amplifies our social impact: investing in students, expanding The Saxbys Experiential Learning Platform, and preparing tomorrow’s leaders for success.
We Welcome Your Questions
If you want to know more about how we’ll continue our mission and commitments, contact us at impact@hellosaxbys.com. We’re grateful for your support on this journey and for believing in the power of education to transform communities.
Ready to Learn More?
Explore The Saxbys Experiential Learning Platform, hear from our student leaders, or connect with us to discover how Saxbys is redefining what it means to be an education company—one cup of coffee (and one life-changing opportunity) at a time.