Our Material Impacts

As part of our B Corp Recertification we completed our second Materiality Assessment to evaluate our most material environmental and social impacts.  This assessment helps us inform our strategic decision-making, ensuring we focus our efforts and resources on the environmental and social issues that matter most to our business and stakeholders.

To complete the assessment, we followed a process that included defining our organisational boundaries, mapping our business’s value chain, and identifying our stakeholder landscape. We then collated a list of our environmental, social, and governance (ESG) impacts based on interviews with key internal and external stakeholders, supported by research. Key stakeholders included our Chief Operating Officer and Head of UK and Ireland, who provided insight into our own operations, as well as our strategic suppliers for beef, vegetables, and our pouch film to help identify impacts across our supply chain.

This resulted in a long list of actual and potential, positive and negative impacts across our value chain. Finally, we evaluated each impact by systematically scoring it against standardised criteria to identify the topics that are truly material.

These are the impacted areas we are working to improve:

Climate Change

• The Food we Source: Getting fresh ingredients and meat to our pet's bowl means managing greenhouse gas emissions from farming, livestock, and land use.

• Our Kitchens: Making, freezing, and storing our meals takes a lot of energy. We are focusing on making our production facilities and refrigeration systems as energy-efficient as possible.

• Our Tech Footprint: Even digital tools have a physical impact. Using AI and advanced tech helps us serve you better, but it also uses a lot of water and energy. By Q4 2026, we will review how we use AI across our business to understand its footprint and create guidelines for eco-friendly tech usage.

• Delivery & Transport: Emissions from the transportation of our boxes to customers, raw materials and additional products across our supply chain network from non-renewable sources.

Environmental Stewardship & Circularity

• Water use: From irrigating crops to caring for livestock to food production, these all use a lot of water. But we are mindful of our footprint, especially in areas where water may become scarce.

• Protecting biodiversity: Farming and production can put pressure on local ecosystems and habitats through soil, water, and air pollution.

• Reducing waste: Whether it’s in our Kitchens or the packaging that arrives at your home, we want to keep waste out of landfills. We are continuously working on better recycling, reduction, and disposal methods.

• Tackling plastics: Plastic pouches can contribute to microplastic pollution if they aren't properly recycled. We are committed to transitioning to a fully recyclable plastic pouch film for our Butternut Box pouches by 2030.

• A Safe, Welcoming Workplace: We believe everyone deserves a workplace free from bullying, harassment, and discrimination. Protecting the physical and mental wellbeing of our team is our top priority.

• Health & Safety: Keeping our team safe is non-negotiable. We maintain strict safety standards across our operations to prevent injuries and look after our people—especially our front-line team members.

• Ethical Supply Chains: We have a zero-tolerance policy for forced labor and human trafficking.

• Animal Welfare: How the animals in our supply chain are treated matters deeply to us. We hold our suppliers to high welfare standards to ensure responsible, ethical sourcing.

• Choosing the Right Partners: We don't just sign up suppliers; we manage them closely. We hold our partners to high environmental and ethical standards so we always know exactly where our ingredients come from.

Where We Are Making a Positive Impact:

• Protecting Our Oceans: We only source fish certified by organisations like the MSC, ASC, and Global G.A.P.

• Paying a Fair Living Wage: As an Accredited Living Wage Employer, we make sure our team is paid a wage that genuinely reflects the real cost of living, supporting their financial security.

• Championing Equal Pay: We actively monitor and report our Gender Pay Gap every year. We use these insights to close any gaps, promote fairness, and ensure everyone has an equal playing field.

• Boosting Local Communities: We purposefully place our Kitchens and facilities in historically under-resourced areas to create good jobs where they are needed most. Plus, we invest heavily in training our "squad" to help them grow their careers with us.