Food for Thought: MIXT CEO on Becoming a B Corp
CEO Leslie Silverglide Shares the MIXT B Corp Journey of Becoming a Source for Good Food and Doing Good
When Leslie Silverglide graduated from Oxford University in England in 2004 with a Master of Science in biodiversity, conservation and management, B Corp Certification was not a thing. The first class of B Corps would not be inducted until a few years later, but she just knew that whatever business she chose, it had to be a force for good.
“I was struck by the environmental impact of business in general,” she says. “I started thinking about how businesses can lead the way and change how resource intensive they are and how they can be more environmentally responsible. I knew that there was the opportunity to prove that not only did being environmentally responsible make sense for the environment and climate change but could also make good financial sense and lead to competitive advantages.”
After graduation, Silverglide moved back to the United States with her husband, David, and they started thinking about what business to start. They considered a “green” version of home improvement retailer Home Depot but decided against it for several reasons, including their combined lack of construction experience. Driving home from a vacation in the mountains, they talked about the dearth of delicious, healthy, high-quality fast casual restaurants and abundance of places serving burgers, pizza, and burritos. The idea for Mixt Greens — now simply MIXT — was born.
“Just looking at the restaurant industry, there was so much work to be done,” says Silverglide. “I’m very passionate myself about health and wellness. So, I was really excited to tackle doing two things: bringing better, healthier food to everyone and also being able to be an example of an environmentally responsible restaurant, to hopefully lead to industry change.”
The Silverglides opened their first fast-casual location brimming with hearty, healthy salads on Sansome Street in San Francisco’s downtown business district in 2006. The line was around the block that first day. They ended up selling out of food. The next day, the crowd doubled. For their business model to be sustainable, they needed to serve 250 people a day. By the end of the first month, they were up to 800 people a day. Clearly, the demand for healthy fast casual was there.
It’s All About ‘Going Green,’ in More Ways Than One
At the time, according to Silverglide, the company was leading the way by dissecting restaurant operations and looking for opportunities to make it even more environmentally sustainable. She says many people automatically think about food sourcing, which is the most obvious area for improvement. But Silverglide wanted to go beyond: “I thought there was so much more we could do, and especially helping people think about eating plant-based diets. So that was one aspect of it. But then also looking at the construction of the restaurants and how could we build using green materials and create healthy environments for our guests and employees? How could we integrate water conservation and energy efficiency? Also, how could we look at diverting as much waste from landfill as possible?”
Fast forward to today. “The amazing thing is that 15 years later, a lot of what we were doing in the beginning that was completely novel at the time is now just best practices in the industry,” says Silverglide. But there is still a long way to go. Many food-related businesses talk a lot about being green and sustainable but aren’t actually going far enough, she says.
Why a B Corp?
One way that MIXT set itself apart from the growing number of competitors is by getting its B Corp Certification, which it received in 2018. “I was really excited for us to become a B Corp, because it gives us that third-party stamp of approval. It says, ‘We’re not just saying this, we’re doing this,’ and it’s verified,” she says.
She admits that, for MIXT, getting the certification was a lot easier than it is for most companies. “We didn’t have to change anything to get the certification,” Silverglide says. “But there’s always opportunity to improve and different ways we can look at things, and that’s what B Corp really helps us to do.”
In addition, B Corp Certification opens doors on both the employee and customer sides, she says. “It has a tremendous impact on recruiting talented, passionate people especially as we see Gen Z coming up. They are even more cognizant of having their work and personal passions align. We don’t have a team member that joins our team who doesn’t say that part of the reason they are attracted to us is because we’re a B Corp.”
On the customer side, it creates more brand allegiance, she says. “There definitely is customer recognition. There are a lot of people today that like to voice their position with how they spend their money. We hear from customers quite frequently, ‘Oh, I love that you guys are a B Corp.’”
Silverglide says that applying for certification is “not for the faint of heart.” It is an arduous process, she admits. A questionnaire with “several hundred questions” is followed by analysis about how your company’s operations and business model impact your workers, community, environment, and customers.
“It has to be in a core part of your business, because you’re not going to be able to answer those questions and score well to be able to be a B Corp if you don’t have these values already implemented in your business,” Silverglide says.
Her advice to other businesses considering applying for B Corp Certification is to get familiar with your company’s numbers. “They’re going to ask you what percent of your employee base comes from an underrepresented population, for example. So, having the resources to be able to pull that information is very important as well as things like knowing the environmental standards of your suppliers.”
While Silverglide would love to eventually see every company become a B Corp, she says the impetus to do it has to be authentic. “If it is something that the company is passionate about, then it’s absolutely worth it,” she says. “If it’s not and they’re looking to just have a stamp of approval, then I would say they shouldn’t do it.”
In the meantime, while other companies play catch up, she has big plans for MIXT. She says she would love to see locations in every major metropolitan area of the U.S. Currently, MIXT is in Northern and Southern California, Texas, and Arizona.
“In 50 years, we hope that MIXT is a beloved, timeless brand like In-N-Out,” she says. “Our ultimate goal is national salad domination.”
This article was originally published by YPO, which has partnered with B Lab, a global network of organizations transforming the global economic system, to engage and combine resources, knowledge and networks to create a positive impact in lives, businesses and the world. Members of YPO can get connected with the B Corp community by joining the B Corp Certification Sub-Network and the Sustainable Business Network and check out more at YPO Live: The Shift Toward Stakeholder Capitalism with B Corp Certification.
B The Change gathers and shares the voices from within the movement of people using business as a force for good and the community of Certified B Corporations. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the nonprofit B Lab.
