SWICH, a platform that helps consumers to support businesses that share their values and improve their communities, is available today in the pilot market of New York City. SWICH distinguishes itself from other review sites by providing scores that indicate the effect businesses have on the health, environment, workers, and economies of their local communities, in conjunction with location based search, user reviews and quality ratings. SWICH scores are arrived at through the combination of data from third party partners and crowdsourced information and are used to provide recommendations to consumers of “better” businesses – those with higher SWICH scores – to “swich” to.

“We created SWICH because one of the most effective ways to improve our communities and our own lives is with the money we spend everyday,” said Gerald Mitchell, Founder of SWICH. “In addition to demanding quality, consumers are increasingly searching for socially responsible options when it comes to where they shop. Up until now, finding these better businesses was overwhelming. SWICH makes it simple and easy.”

“The B Corp movement is founded on a shared belief that when businesses measure what matters – their impact on their communities – they provide transparency to all their stakeholders and can improve their practices,” said Andrew Kassoy, Co-Founder of B Lab. “SWICH has the potential to give consumers the power to choose the businesses that most reflect their values.”

SWICH has been in development since early last year, leading up to today’s beta launch in New York City, with an initial focus on restaurants. The company's app is currently available for Android and will be released on iOS platforms in the next month.

“I used to invest in small, socially responsible businesses, yet, as a consumer, I couldn’t track them down easily,” said Mitchell. “I realized there was a real need and now my goal is to help these better businesses be recognized for their efforts to do business the right way in the form of more customers.”

QUICK FACTS
Food is the third largest expenditure in American household budgets, at $6,300 annually. Almost 50% of that is spent eating out, indicating the substantial influence individual consumers can have.

If each American were to “swich” to eating at better restaurants one time per week, there would be a significant impact in several areas:

• HEALTH: Each American would lose 2 pounds and save $450 in out of pocket health care costs per year, while total savings for taxpayers would be $20B annually as a result of eating healthier food
• ENVIRONMENT: US oil consumption would fall by 1M barrels per week, while total savings for taxpayers would be $3B annually due to local sourcing and environmentally friendly production methods
• WORKERS: Over 1M workers would no longer receive poverty wages, leading to total savings for taxpayers of over $1B annually
• LOCAL: Economic activity would increase by over $35B and 525K jobs would be created annually since local businesses recirculate higher percentages of their revenue locally
• COMMUNITY: Restaurants would be encouraged to be better citizens by reducing political contributions that influence policy by $2.6M, food waste by over 6B pounds, and factory farmed meat production by 660M chickens, cattle and pigs annually

Please visit http://swich.to for more information.

About SWICH, PBC
SWICH is a platform where people can search for and “swich” to supporting businesses that share their values. Through the combination of data from third party partners and crowdsourced information, SWICH scores businesses on how they impact key criteria such as health, the environment, workers and local communities and economies. SWICH was launched in 2014 with an initial focus on food related businesses located in NYC, but with plans to expand both to different categories and geographies in order to continue to help consumers Buy Better®.

SWICH

SWICH

SWICH is a platform where people can search for and "switch" to supporting businesses that share their values. Through the combination of data from third party partners and crowdsourced information, SWICH scores businesses on how they impact key criteria such as health, the environment, workers and local communities and economies. SWICH was launched in 2014 with an initial focus on food related businesses located in NYC, but with plans to expand both to different categories and geographies in order to continue to help consumers Buy Better®.

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