Brewery Vivant Named 2015 West Michigan Sustainable Business of the Year

West Michigan Sustainable Business Forum members have chosen Brewery Vivant as its 2015 West Michigan Sustainable Business of the Year.
Brewery Vivant is a neighborhood brewery and restaurant founded on being a small, but influential, sustainable business. It measures and reports on 15 sustainability goals annually in its “Beer the change…” report. Highlights from 2014 include sending less than 1% of waste to the incinerator, donating 11% of profits and 233 volunteer hours to local charitable organizations, and reducing energy intensity by 17%, mostly due to purchasing 100% renewably generated electricity. It is Grand Rapids’ fourth Certified B Corporation, a Certified Bicycle Friendly Business, and located in a LEED Certified the building, the first brewery to do so in the nation.
It recently helped initiate the creation of a sustainability committee through the Michigan Brewer’s Guild, with a goal of elevating the level of sustainable business and brewing practices throughout the state’s many craft breweries by providing online resources and opportunities to share best practices.
“We are humbled to be the WMSBF Sustainable Business of the Year,” said Kris Spaulding, Brewery Vivant Sustainability Director and Owner. “We are so fortunate to be part of West Michigan, which as a region is a leader is sustainability and has many truly amazing companies to learn from and be inspired by. As a Certified B Corporation, we aim to use our business as a force for good and being recognized by our peers is a wonderful affirmation that we are on the right path.”
The award was announced at the Second Annual Triple Bottom Line Bash on Thursday, November 5. Other nominees included Aquinas College, BIFMA, Busy Bea’s, Clothing Matters, Direct Trade Coffee Club, Goodwill of Greater Grand Rapids, Habitat for Humanity of Kent County, Herman Miller, and Steelcase.
Nominees were chosen by a committee comprised of WMSBF Hall of Fame honorees George Heartwell and Bill Stough, past WMSBF presidents Gabe Wing, Carol Parsaca, Su Paauwe, and Jennifer Wammack, and WMSBF Director Daniel Schoonmaker. The winner was selected by a vote of the membership.