We recently connected with Elizabeth (Beth) Race and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Beth thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Has Covid resulted in any major changes to your business model?

We began production 6 months before COVID hit. Since our product was something consumers used to take food to work and school, and no one was going to work or school, we had a real dilemma. Until then we had been experiencing an 80% sell-through rate on our sales efforts to green and organic grocery stores. We were poised to start moving towards regional and national grocery store chains. What were we going to do?

We sat down and asked ourselves two questions:

1) How can we survive during this unprecedented time?

2) How can we help during this unprecedented time?

We pivoted and began selling our product online through online sellers. And, as New York State schools had a hard time finding supplies, we donated half of a million bags to school districts across New York State to help them get food to those children most in need. Some people thought that was overly generous.

But, Eco-Baggeez is on a mission to do good things for the planet while doing good things for the people on the planet. There were children who needed food out there. You just have to do what you can in that case. COVID forced us to become more flexible and to make a real commitment to our mission.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Several years ago, I was working with children facing educational challenges in an elementary school. I saw a presentation on the harmful effects of plastic grocery bags on the environment and wildlife. I went back to open my lunch to find I was using 3 to 4 plastic sandwich bags in my lunch every day and so were my children. I asked myself, ” What about these?”

After doing extensive research I couldn’t find anything that would work for our busy family. We would have had to make a change in our routine to fit in any reusable products – We were all busy with practices, games, and shows. And I found out something else. Each year, 97 billion plastic sandwich bags end up in landfills, waterways, and oceans from US Households alone. Laid end-to-end, they would circle our planet 430 times. And those bags take an average of 50 years to break down… meaning sandwich bags thrown out in the 1970’s are still on the planet in some form today. Crazy, right?

Because I couldn’t find anything that I thought ticked all of the boxes, I decided to come up with a solution of my own.
After 10 years of Research and Development, I left my job in the school district and created Eco-Baggeez Sandwich Bags.

Our patented Eco-Baggeez sandwich/snack bags are made of sustainable natural brown kraft paper that is biodegradable, recyclable, compostable, and even microwavable! But more importantly, they have an edge-to-edge, secure, resealable flap that keeps your food safely inside. Our adhesive is earth-friendly too! It has a tissue center instead of a PET center. Because they work in the microwave, they help reduce food waste. Just throw last night’s chicken or a day-old bagel or pastry in the microwave for a few seconds, and you have warm and refreshed food!

Our products are 100% sourced and made in the USA. We are a 100% Woman-Owned business.

As I mentioned before, we have a social mission to help people as well as the planet. We employ people facing mental and physical barriers to employment as just one way we give back to the community. We make donations to organizations and schools that need supplies for food distribution. Our plan is to donate a percentage of our profits to organizations that help clean up plastics or replant trees in devastated areas.

Finally, I would like people to know that it doesn’t take much to do something green that helps the planet in some way. Simply by reaching for a green alternative to something like plastic sandwich bags, you can make a huge difference!

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

Trying to start a business from scratch is kind of like being in the woods at night with only a matchbox in hand. You strike a match and for a short period, you can see the path you should take. Then the match goes out and you have to find another match. Strike that one. Continue on down the path. Repeat.

I have built many resources throughout the years of this journey. I began my business while never having started a manufacturing business before. I had to teach myself everything and so I researched, took online tutorials, watched videos, and read books. I created an Executive Advisory Board that I staffed by inviting people I knew to come in as non-compensated advisors. They were friends, parents from my children’s sports teams, people I knew in the community, and people that I met through other people. Each one of them had decades of experience in areas of the business I did not know about. They all volunteered because they believed in my product and what I was trying to do. They have all been invaluable! We meet once a quarter to once a year and discuss the business and where it is headed.

Beyond that, I have an excellent book that has been my playbook since the beginning. It is great for people who are starting product businesses: The Mom Inventor’s Handbook by Tamara Monosoff. It walked me through everything, Step by step. It still does! It is the best one I have found and it puts everything I have needed to know in one book.

I also watch Ted Talks for inspiration when needed. There are so many impactful videos on Ted. One of my favorites is a video by Janine Benyus. It is on Biomimicry. It has taught me to look at products and think, “How can this be made with natural materials,” or, “How would nature make this without synthetics?” It keeps my mind sharp for our type of product and has already inspired our long-range plan for materials.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I think the most important thing you can do to build your reputation in the business is to connect with people. A good solid straightforward approach allows people to trust you,

Also, having a social mission now is so important. People realize the value of getting more than just what you are selling.

Another way I have built our reputation is by competing in pitch competitions. I began doing it almost from the beginning of the journey. It was something I was definitely not comfortable doing, but my Executive advisors were all seasoned professionals and told me I would need to be able to get up and speak about my business in front of groups for everything from marketing to investment meetings. It’s great practice to talk about all aspects of your business to people. Most competitions have similar formats and content.

The first competition I took part in was a business plan competition at a university. A friend had approached me because he was going for his Master’s degree and needed a startup business to write a business plan for. Hello! I took part in their 6-week business plan writing course as part of the competition. After all was said and done, we walked away with the award for Sustainable Enterprise. After that, we received more recognition every time we entered a competition. Not only did it validate our product and business, it helped promote our mission and product, and helped us gain small amounts of funding when we won cash prizes. Most recently we won $50,000 from the Jeff Lawrence Fund during the New York State Innovation Summit. Every time we won something, we would be contacted by some media and asked if they could interview us. That helped the company a lot! Every time you can get that kind of large group exposure to a targeted audience, you increase your reputation as well.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.eco-baggeez.com
• Instagram: @ecobaggeez
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabethraceatecobaggeez/
• Twitter: @EcoBaggeez

Image Credits
Joe Kachnic Alec Rizzo