Couple Launches Eco-Friendly Food Wrap Business - Now They’re Near 30,000 Sales
- Andrew and Michele built a business during Covid with cotton face masks
- The couple has since pivoted and now creates beeswax food wraps
- Their eco-friendly business has been popular from the start and they’ve had almost 30,000 sales
‘Side hustle’ is the buzzword on everyone’s lips as we look to supplement our income during the cost of living crisis. Making a little extra money to get us through the month would be ideal, but it’s even better if your money-making venture can turn into a successful full-time business.
That’s the journey Andrew Roberson and Michele Gorman, from East London, have been on since the launch of their Etsy business HoneyBeeGood. Michele told money-saving community LatestDeals.co.uk: ‘We started making reusable cotton face masks in the summer of 2020 and loved working with our hands (and working together) so much that we decided to carry on.
‘It was critical to find a product that fitted with our long-held passion to be as kind as possible to our environment, and since we’ve used beeswax bread wraps for almost a decade, we decided on beeswax food wraps. Plus, we discovered how much we love working with fabric and wanted to continue.
‘Once we had our idea, the first step was finding the right product. Then there was a lot of trial and error! We had to teach ourselves to make the wraps, from measuring and hand-cutting the fabrics to experimenting with our wax mix to get it perfect, and finally, getting it on the fabric in just the right quantity. Only after we knew we could do it did we look at how the economics would work.
‘It was a real challenge to source the best materials at prices that would let us keep our prices in line with the market. Most beeswax wraps are made using machines (and sometimes factories abroad), making them less expensive to produce.
‘We set out to earn the London Living Wage, so we had to make sure our costs let us make a profit. We did it, but we keep a very close eye on costs.
‘Another challenge has been space (we’ve got a tiny studio) so we’re a little limited in our bulk buying (which is where the biggest cost-savings can be made). We’ve become experts in using every bit of available space and still being able to walk around!
‘Brexit and the cost of living crisis have been particularly challenging since both have squeezed our customers’ purses. European customers now have to pay import duties on products from the UK, which puts most of them off.
‘Plus, supply chain delays during and since Covid mean we have to plan ahead to have alternatives at the ready in case any of the material deliveries get delayed.’
Neither business owner needed to walk away from the corporate world to launch their business. ‘We didn’t have 9-to-5 office jobs beforehand. I was an author of romcoms and Andrew was writing his first novel when we launched our business. Now we both work solely for HoneyBeeGood. It’s a lot of work and we’re sticky with wax most of the time, but we love it.’
Michele reveals that one of the keys to success with small businesses is being passionate about your product - and knowing exactly why you do what you do. ‘We are driven each day by knowing that, in our small way, we are reducing plastic waste and producing items which make people happy. They make us happy too - we get so excited working with our patterns!’
Before getting too carried away with a business idea, Michele warns that it’s best to start slow. ‘We went into the business in a very careful way, making sure that we never expanded beyond our revenue. We’d seen several other small businesses expand too fast and go out of business, so we learned from their painful mistakes.’
Thanks to their cautious approach, Michele and Andrew experienced rapid growth. ‘Demand grew really quickly. Within a few weeks, we were on page 1 of Etsy, which gave us a strong retail business that only continued to grow.
‘We expanded into wholesale on platforms like Faire, and again within a few weeks we were amongst the top brands. We’ve now added our website to our sales outlets, which has increased sales again. We’re pretty busy these days!’
Plenty of businesses are struggling with the cost of living crisis, but the opposite is actually the case for HoneyBeeGoodWraps. ‘Sales have gone up because we’ve expanded our retail channels with our website, and have increased our wholesale pipeline so that we now regularly get new customers directly as well as through our wholesale platforms.’
The pair have managed to keep their work premises small, which helps them with managing costs. ‘[Our work space is] absolutely tiny! Our entire studio is less than 500 feet squared. We’ve got a fabric and materials room, a cutting room and a waxing room.
‘Andrew and I each have our own part of the process – he measures and cuts every wrap and I wax, fold and label them – and we’re very good at staying out of each other’s way when we’re working, so the space isn’t a problem.
‘Because we’re a private partnership, we don’t have public accounts, but we sold over 4,000 products in year one, and we’ve sold over 7,000 sets this past year, so we’re growing strongly and sustainably.
‘Since our Etsy store started - back when we were selling reusable face masks - we have sold nearly 30,000 items!’
Michele shared her advice for those looking to start their own business. ‘First and foremost, do your homework. It’s so important to know as much as possible about the market you’re looking to enter before you start. That includes competitors, pricing, costs, sales outlets, materials suppliers, shipping options, most popular products, marketing messages, your advantages and disadvantages.
‘Then do your homework again, running the numbers for your business to be sure that it makes financial sense.
‘Once you’re growing your business, keep costs low - don’t get caught up in the momentum and blow all of your revenue. Slow and steady wins the race!’
Tom Church, Co-Founder of LatestDeals.co.uk, said: ‘This is a really clever business idea. I’d never heard of beeswax food wraps before. You get the environmental benefit of avoiding the use of plastic products such as cling film, and going with this reusable green solution instead.
‘With more of us wanting to keep our meals fresher for longer as grocery prices continue to rise, wraps like these are also a great option for budget shoppers. You can use them for bread, cheese, salad, leftovers and more to preserve your food.’
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