Case Study
Ceres Market’s Path to B Certification
Timeline of Certification Journey: April 2024 – April 2025
Overview
Ceres Market, a New Jersey-based startup founded by Tatiana Gomez, is built on a mission of sustainability and toxin-free living. As a solopreneur balancing a full-time job while growing her business, Tatiana saw B Certification as a way to further Ceres Market’s mission of promoting circular living and increasing accessibility to low-waste solutions. As Tatiana got started on her journey, she realized that navigating the Certification process while managing daily operations would be a tall task.
Tatiana then sought support through B Lab U.S. & Canada’s Level program, where we at Enharmonic Encounters are one of the resident consultancies. We then stepped in and began assisting Ceres Market on its journey.
The Challenges: Limited Time, Structural Gaps, and an Overwhelming Process
While Tatiana’s commitment to achieving B Certification was firm, the journey revealed a number of unforeseen hurdles:
✔ Limited Time and Bandwidth: As a solopreneur, Tatiana’s availability to focus on the daily minutiae of the B Certification journey was restricted.
✔ Infrastructure Gaps: The need for more structured operational policies and tracking mechanisms added complexity to the journey.
✔ Unclear Path to Certification: With limited operational scale, identifying and maintaining the right impact business models throughout the review process would be absolutely critical to earning a passing score.
✔ Maintaining Momentum: The complexity of the journey often felt overwhelming, requiring strategic focus and encouragement.
The Solution: A Guided, Step-by-Step Approach
We provided expert strategic oversight and structure, ensuring that progress remained steady and focused:
✔ Facilitated an amended corporate filing for Benefit Corporation status by coordinating with pro-bono legal counsel on behalf of Ceres Market.
✔ Refined financial documentation by working with a bookkeeper to resolve inconsistencies.
✔ Identified viable impact business models—leveraging Local Economic Development and Toxin Reduction/Remediation to optimize impact capture and scoring potential.
✔ Developed key operational policies to strengthen Ceres Market’s business practices and compliance with B Certification standards.
✔ Provided ongoing motivation and clarity, ensuring Tatiana had the tools and confidence to persevere on the journey.
✔ Organized all documentation and interacted with B Lab during the review process on behalf of Ceres Market.
The Impact: A Stronger, Certified Foundation for Long-Term Growth
Confident in our diligence and preparation, we submitted the B Impact Assessment in December 2024. Our expert knowledge of acceptable documentation allowed us to successfully make the case for Ceres Market’s newly formalized commitments to serving a customer base that is at least 75% local and independent, in addition to selling products that use fewer toxic materials than market alternatives. With this impact accurately captured, we guided Ceres Market to the end of the journey, with favorable results:
✔ B Certification Achieved: Ceres Market officially became a Certified B Corporation in April 2025, just in time for Earth Month.
✔ Formalized Business Operations: We entered the review process with an initial score of 81.7, and finalized B Certification with the same score, meaning we successfully substantiated every question that was examined during the Verification stage, ensuring operational integrity and a clear path for growth.
✔ Stronger Market Positioning: Ceres Market now stands out as a mission-driven brand.
Tatiana’s Perspective:
Jeffrey has been instrumental in our journey to become a Certified B Corporation. He has been super communicative, supportive, and helpful in this process. Not only was he a resource we could lean on for the Certification process but also was willing to introduce us to others in his network that aligned with our values and goals.
The B Certification process required patience, strategy, and adaptability. Through our expert guidance at Enharmonic Encounters, Ceres Market was able to establish a structured approach in aligning with B Certification standards.