Joe Frankel, the Edinburgh-based entrepreneur who set up Vegware in 2006 to offer a sustainable alternative to the plastic disposables used by the catering sector, signalled that the deal could be worth multiple millions and was potentially transformational for the company, but that it was “too early” to be specific.
“I can’t name the company yet, but I can tell you it is backed by Australian money and that they plan to give Pret-a-Manger a run for their money,” Frankel said. “They have plans to start off opening three restaurants in London and four in New York, and the idea is that everything will be organic, healthy and eco-friendly.
“For us, that’s an opportunity to supply not only our compostable coffee cup lids, but cups, sleeves, plates, cutlery and napkins.”
The company’s range of eco-friendly, plant-based products also includes tableware, hot and cold drink cups, and takeaway packaging.
The renewable raw materials it uses for its products include corn, potato, cassava and bagasse, a by-product of sugar cane made from the dry fibrous residue left after the stalks
have been crushed to extract juice.
Frankel also said that the company expects to “at least” double its turnover to around £1.5m this year – and that “at a conservative estimate” Vegware expects to sell five million lids over the next 12 months, which will reduce the coffee sector’s carbon emissions by 53 tonnes.The idea behind the compostable coffee cup lid is to capitalise on the estimated 31 billion cups of coffee that are drunk in the UK every year, and to help the booming coffee sector become more sustainable by providing an eco-alternative to the ubiquitous plastic lid.
The Vegware lid, which is manufactured at factories in England, China and Taiwan, is made from a substance called PLA, a corn-based bioplastic.
The company claims that during manufacture, PLA emits 77% less carbon dioxide than standard plastic.
Vegware products are already found in numerous outlets around the UK and the US through deals with distributors on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as Royal Bournemouth Hospital, whose catering unit now uses the company’s full range of compostable packaging and catering disposables.
Its base in Connecticut has also recently struck a deal to supply its products to Boston University.
Meanwhile, Frankel said he was in further talks with a number of other companies, including a large catering group in Asia that “feeds 25,000 people every day”, and that he was also in early stage discussions with the catering units of Nato and the United Nations.
Frankel also said that Vegware’s business would likely get a boost as the cost deterrent gradually disappeared from his products.
“Of course our products cost a bit more, although there are all kinds of other value savings involved, such as real, quantifiable reductions in carbon emissions,” he said.
“But after April 1, landfill tax, which has been increasing by £8 each year, will rise again to £48 per tonne, bringing it to similar prices as commercial composting – making disposal of Vegware products both economical and eco-friendly. The size of the opportunity is just enormous.”
