Gung Ho! Receives B Corp Certification, Partners with Shepherd's Field Children's Village

Gung Ho! Pizza has always been at the forefront of sustainable business practices in Beijing, whether it's through organizing a huge Earth Day festival, leading trash picking missions at the Great Wall or conducting a gender audit of their own company and creating a roadmap for diversity. Now their efforts have been recognized on an international level, receiving B Corporation certification. 

What is a B Corporation you ask? Well, according to their website, B Corp is to business what fair trade is to coffee or USDA organic certification is to milk. In order to become a B Corp, businesses have to meet strict standards of social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability and demonstrate that they are using the power of business to alleviate poverty, address climate change, and build strong local communities and great places to work. Companies are reviewed on the above aspects and given a score out of 200, with a score of 80 required to qualify (Gung Ho! scored 82, FYI). 

Well known B Corps include Patagonia, online marketplace Etsy, purveyors of delicious ice cream Ben & Jerry's, and trendy eyewear brand Warby Parker.

There are more than 1,900 B Corps in 50 countries around the world, but Gung Ho! is just the third in China, alongside First Respond 第一反应 in Shanghai, a social enterprise providing first aid training and solutions, and Education for Good in Hong Kong, which offers education and training to encourage the development of social entrepreneurship.  

Speaking about what the B Corp certification means to them, Gung Ho! explains thus: "Ultimately, we’ve always had a dream to inspire other companies in China and the world to think about how they can in turn impact more companies, and how we can work together to make the world a better place. For us, becoming a member of the B Corp community is a big step into making that dream a reality."

To celebrate their certification, Gung Ho! is working with Shepherd's Field Children's Village, located in Tianjin, to offer one complete meal to one of the facility's at-risk, special needs orphans for every large pizza they sell from December 25-31. Shepherd’s Field Children’s Village (SFCV) is home to 70 to 100 children at any given time. Their goal is to assist local orphanages in caring for seriously at risk orphans who have been abandoned because they were considered useless and broken. Since it was established in 1999, the facility has cared for more than 4,000 orphaned children, provided more than 3,000 critical surgeries and other medical procedures, and helped more than 900 children find adoptive families.

So, this Christmas, support a commendable local business, give back to society, and treat yourself to a tasty pizza, all in one.

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Photos courtesy of Gung Ho! Pizza