Top Companies Report

Ritual

Spreading Traceable and Transparent Roots

A Transparent Foundation

Built on principles of transparency and sustainability, Ritual publicly shares information about the source, supplier, and final place of manufacturing for all its ingredients (active and otherwise). “We invest in and partner with suppliers who care as much about their supply chains as we do,” the company said.

Ritual’s Code of Conduct for its suppliers outlines 22 detailed requirements to work with the company, including: anti-corruption requirements, human rights monitoring, environmental compliance, traceability record keeping, and anti-harassment/racism provisions.

Born as a DTC brand, Ritual products are now available at Whole Foods, Target, and Amazon. “We’re now an omnichannel brand and are meeting our customers everywhere they shop, and it’s been a huge success so far,” Schneider said. “People are buying into our vision and are willing to pay a premium for higher quality products.”

How does the company’s DTC and retail strategies complement each other in today’s market? “Our expansion has been strategic and methodical,” Schneider said. “We intentionally launched DTC at a time when no one else was doing it because we wanted education to be a huge part of our brand. People deserve to know what they are putting in their bodies and why. That means we’re not just selling transparent products; we’re selling transparent information. We developed the first visible supply chain of its kind and proudly showcased where all our ingredients come from in the world and why they are there. We went beyond ingredient transparency with our Certificate of Traceability, which showcases our third-party testing results and even the sustainability of our packaging materials.”

Schneider said that while DTC was important to earn customer trust, “we ultimately need to be everywhere our customers are. Our DTC business now plays a critical role in connecting us with our most loyal subscribers who are a ‘think tank’ to develop products from, to evolve our customer experience, and to innovate the product experience according to their wants and needs. Our retail business plays an important role in fueling our growth and awareness.”

B Corp Status

Ritual earned Certified B Corporation status in 2022, something Lindsay Dahl, chief impact officer, considers “the gold standard” for socially responsible businesses.

“Being one of the few brands in our category to achieve this certification showcases that a third-party has assessed everything from our approach to sustainability, responsible supply chains, employee benefits, and a corporate governance structure that requires the business to not only prioritize maximum profits when making business decisions,” Dahl said. “Getting B Corp Certified was not only the right thing to do for our business, but our customers are also thrilled to see the validation behind our work.”

Category Expansion

In early 2023 Ritual launched its skin care supplement HyaCera, which contains the clinically-studied Ceratiq, a plant oil extract to help reduce the appearance of wrinkles and fine lines, along with Hyabest, a lower molecular weight hyaluronic acid to help promote glowing, moisturized skin.

“We knew that the Ritual customer is skeptical about the science behind beauty ingestibles. And frankly, so was our in-house team of scientists,” said Schneider. “This was a category that we were initially hesitant to enter ourselves. When looking at the category and the ingredients, we found that either products contained ingredients with no clinical studies or clinical studies didn’t match what was actually in the bottle.”

The market was also full of bold claims while true validation was hard to find, she added. “After extensive research, we found only two ingredients that met our standards: HyaBest, a bio-fermented, hyaluronic acid with a lower molecular weight clinically studied for skin support, and Certatiq, a sustainably harvested plant oil extract which helps support smooth skin and whole body hydration.

“As a brand built on not compromising standards, we think people shouldn’t have to compromise when it comes to skin hydration, fine lines and wrinkles,” she continued. “We developed Hyacera without compromising on science, the delivery method and the experience.”

The company just expanded into the sleep category this September with Sleep BioSeries Melatonin. “Sleep was a major pain point for our consumers,” said Schneider. “We saw more than two-thirds of our surveyed consumers had issues with falling and staying asleep. When we looked at the category, we saw an opportunity to not only meet consumer demand but to set a new standard through traceability.”

Clinical Validation

By 2030 Ritual plans to have completed clinical trials for all existing products. And it’s given itself a window of three years after future product launches to complete a clinical study.

“We believe clinical studies are important for consumers to know the undisputed safety and efficacy of our products,” said Schneider. “We want to be pioneers, conducting gold-standard human clinical trials in partnership with leading universities and research organizations from around the world.”

To date, the company has completed one human clinical trial on its Essential for Women 18+ that is peer-reviewed and published in an internationally acclaimed journal. It’s also completed two in vitro studies on Synbiotic+ and one in vitro study on Essential for Women 18+. This is just the start, according to Schneider.

“We’re investing in clinical trials not only to support the efficacy of our products, but advance scientific research on these communities at large.”

The company has started clinical trials on both Essential Prenatal and Essential Postnatal “with one of the most ethnically diverse universities in the United States (Cuny Brooklyn College),” Schneider noted. “We’re examining the impact of Essential Prenatal on nutrient status of key nutrients like folate and metabolism during pregnancy as compared to the top prenatal multivitamin on the market. We’re also examining Essential Postnatal’s impact on nutrient status of key nutrients like omega-3 DHA and breast milk quality during postpartum.”

Impact and Sustainability

Ritual has continued to invest in building an industry-leading sustainability program. The company brought on a Chief Impact Officer to its C-Suite in 2022, solidifying the importance of sustainability in Ritual’s business and operations.

“It was also a testament to us chartering new work in this industry and applying the same level of scientific rigor to our impact work as we do for our formulas,” said Schneider. “There is no other supplement company with C-level impact/sustainability leadership, and we’re proud to have credible programs that range from climate change to sustainable packaging, and ingredient traceability.”

The company has set three ambitious sustainability goals that, according to Schneider, “showcase the pillars of our sustainability work.” These include 100% of active and other ingredients “Made Traceable,” 100% sustainable packaging by 2025, and Net Zero Emissions by 2030.

“Setting goals was just the first step. We rolled up our sleeves to understand the impact of every part of our supply chain by completing custom carbon footprints for all our products, detailing the climate impact of its raw materials, packaging, manufacturing, and distribution,” said Schneider.

In 2022 Ritual met its ingredient traceability goal. According to Dahl, Ritual showcases its 55 active and other ingredient suppliers and final places of manufacturing on its website. “It’s the first visible supply chain of its kind in the supplement industry. We’re proud to have achieved this goal in 2022, but our traceability work does not stop there. In 2023, we are working diligently to understand what level of traceability we have beyond the final place of manufacturing, down to the origin. This full level of traceability is where we can really have confidence in the safety, sustainability, and quality of our ingredients’ full chain of custody.”

The company is aiming for Net Zero emissions by 2030. So what’s the game plan considering 99% of the company’s emissions reportedly fall under Scope 3?

“The first step is having actionable data,” said Dahl, “so we partnered with PlanetFWD to create custom carbon footprints for all products. We now have emissions data for the entire life of each Ritual product, from ingredients, production, packaging, transportation, consumer use, and end-of-life. This level of data allows us to see the hot spots and biggest priorities across our entire portfolio. Ritual recently published those carbon footprints publicly for each product as part of our Sustainability Scorecard, which can be found on each products’ page.”

Ritual is also targeting 100% “sustainable packaging” by 2025. What does that mean and what challenges does it face? Dahl defined “sustainable packaging,” as packaging that is recyclable, made from recycled material, or refillable.

“Currently, 77% of our packaging meets this requirement,” she reported. “Our biggest challenge now is figuring out how to introduce refillable packaging while still preserving the integrity of our formulas. We’re a science-based company and ensuring the safety and efficacy of our products is the main priority while still pushing for best-in-class sustainable packaging. While we continue to innovate, we have solutions like our partnership with Pact Collective, a take back solution for harder to recycle packaging.”

For Ritual, “impact” extends to advocacy. For example, the company has called on Congress to enact stricter standards for all dietary supplement products.

“We’ve written various letters to elected officials advocating for paid leave for all and meaningful action on climate change,” said Dahl. “Most recently, we called on Congress to empower the FDA with greater oversight of the safety and marketing claims in the supplement industry. This was the first (public) step of many urging Congress to update laws made over 30 years ago in an industry that has grown 20x in size. We submitted a letter to the Senate HELP committee (Health, Education, Labor and Pensions) and met with committee members ahead of the June 2022 hearing which addressed basic traceability requirements.”

The response has been positive from both Democrat and Republican offices, Dahl added. “We see this as a nonpartisan, consumer safety issue and will continue to engage Congressional leaders in meaningful conversations.”

What else can we expect from Ritual in the future?

“We have more products in the pipeline that will deliver innovative solutions to the problems customers are experiencing most,” said Schneider. “We’re going to double down on our commitment to traceability and having an impact not just on our own products, but the industry at large through our strategic advocacy initiatives. And we’re going to continue to focus on reducing our impact on the planet.”

In addition to sharing “Sustainability Scorecards” that detail the carbon footprint for each of the company’s products, “We are also excited that our entire line is now Clean Label Project Certified,” Schneider said. “This means our products have been independently tested for over 200 environmental contaminants and harmful chemicals like heavy metals (including lead, mercury, and glyphosate), pesticide residues, plasticizers, and antibiotic residues.”