Multimillion-Dollar Global Food Leader Bama Companies Credits Success To Baked-In Stakeholder Governance

Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Bama Companies CEO Paula Marshall says: “In our family, we have been taught … [+] that it’s people before profit”

Bama

As a family-owned business that specializes in frozen desserts and baked goods, the Bama Companies growth story is impressive: From its start of homemade pies made in grandma’s kitchen to its current-day products for restaurants and retail sold in 17 countries, Bama has grown into a global business with more than $300 million in annual revenue. 

But the Tulsa, Oklahoma-based company that creates biscuits, pies, and pizza crusts for large national chain restaurants stands out for more than bottom-line success. It also operates with the goal of consistent quality and opportunities for the people who power its sales and live in its communities. 

CEO Paula Marshall, granddaughter of the company’s founder, started with the company in 1970 and has led its growth since taking the top role in 1984. Marshall has maintained a culture of caring and accountability throughout the company’s growth, including by securing B Corporation Certification, a third-party measure of a business’s impact on all stakeholders, in 2017. 

Marshall and I recently spoke as part of my research on purpose-driven businesses so I could learn more about how Bama developed its stakeholder-minded policies and practices and became a B Corp, and why she encourages other companies to act with people and planet in mind. 

“Unfortunately, the business world has a bad name because profit gets put before people. In our family, we have been taught that it’s people before profit. And it’s always paid us to do that,” she says. “I’ve always been about trying to change the world of business. To me, B Corp is another way. It’s another group of people that we can align with that think the same, that have a lot of the same values.”

It also put Bama in the position to introduce the concept to its stakeholders — including business partners, companies in its supply chain, and team members — as the first manufacturing company to become a B Corp in Oklahoma.

“For a number of years, we’ve been talking about B Corp as a strategy, as an umbrella, as being a force for good makes sense for a lot of our team members,” Marshall says. “B Corp, for us, is a more all-encompassing concept of business being a force for good. Sustainability goes under that. Our diversity and inclusion initiatives go under that. Anything we do in the role of volunteerism. We incorporate almost all of our people initiatives under the B Corp umbrella now.”

Making It Personal

Bama Companies CEO Paula Marshall

Bama

While becoming a B Corp appealed to Bama because it already did many of those practices, Marshall says she has honed an explanation of the concept to others in her local business community.

“People in Oklahoma are rugged self individuals and don’t want to be told what they are supposed to do,” she says. “What I try to do is explain it as helping real people. The people who work in our companies are worthy of the same rights, the same growth opportunities, the same educational opportunities, the same volunteer opportunities as anyone. It’s up to us, being management, to work on processes that will allow them to do that. And so I try to take it away from the ideological to just talk about people and make it personal.”

One example she points to is Bama’s Second Chance Program, which helps women who have been incarcerated — a common barrier to employment — get a job. She notes that Oklahoma incarcerates a higher percentage of women than any other state. “Once someone checks that they’ve had a felony on that job application, the next step typically is put it in the trash,” Marshall says, adding that Bama launched the program five years before learning about B Corps.

Another Bama community initiative is done in partnership with Food on the Move, a Tulsa organization that fights food insecurity. “We’ve served over a million meals since March, and we continue to do that on a two-times-a-week basis,” she says. “We received a government grant for the program and also take food from food banks and break it down into small boxes, so people can come and get a box of food every week or twice a week. And we don’t ask them any questions. They come, we load it in, and off they go.”

Through these programs and others, Marshall says the Bama team aims to help others in its community find opportunity and move out of poverty. “They feel good about working for Bama,” she says. “Volunteerism is a wonderful part of our strategy that’s been there for many years.”

Putting a Law on the Books

To build the community of purpose-driven businesses in Oklahoma, last year Marshall helped advocate for the successful adoption of benefit corporation legislation in the state so that Bama and other companies can ensure their long-term mission and values will remain in case of ownership or leadership changes. 

“It took very little time because it’s really hard to argue with. It doesn’t cost anything. It’s just putting a law in the books. And that is helpful from the structure of trying to explain it to people,” she says.

Now she promotes the governance structure with business colleagues and leaders in her state, encouraging them to take the legal step and prioritize stakeholders as well as the bottom line. “There’s a pretty diverse, small manufacturing group of companies here that aren’t giant that also want to be good corporate citizens,” she says. “So I try to talk about it as being inclusive and being a good corporate citizen. It includes our suppliers. It includes who we buy products from. It includes our community.”

While legalizing and formalizing that commitment as a business takes work and introspection, Marshall sees it as a way for leaders to make people a priority along with profit. 

“Do what’s right. Do what works for your company, but also, think about the people that work for you, that are there making your bread and butter work every day for you on your table,” she says. “Just think about them, and think about what they’re doing for you, and try to put as much emphasis on that as you do how much money you’re going to make.”