We recently connected with Kelli Pelc and have shared our conversation below.

Kelli, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

One of the components offered by The Refilleri is zero-waste wine. I came up with the idea, as I love wine but hate the waste associated with it. As I started researching, I found that there are options for zero waste wine available, but none where I live. So I’m setting out to change that :)

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?

I’ve always been interested in sustainability and the environment. Even from a young age, my family actively recycled and tried to be more eco-friendly (sometimes not even intentionally), so it was instilled in me from childhood. In college and after in my adult life, as I learned more about the importance of living sustainably, I’ve continued to actively pursue environmentally practices. This especially hit home a few years ago when a study was published regarding recycling rates in my adopted home city of Chicago. They were a mere 9% on average, which I found shocking and disheartening. I knew more had to be done. I then embarked on my own journey to start reducing my waste, as we can’t merely rely on something to be recycled by our municipal systems. As I continued to become more zero waste myself, I found it difficult as you have to go to multiple places, or websites to get these kind of goods. Especially in Chicago, there are very limited options for refill or zero waste stores. I want to change that by making zero waste easy and more accessible for people.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

Social Media, press coverage, and my local chamber of commerce! As a business owner in my late 30s, I can’t say that Instagram or other social platforms are my forte, but I’m learning! It’s easily been the best and most cost effective way to reach my customer base. Additionally, with the help of my local chamber of commerce, I was fortunate to be given coverage of the store opening from some of the local Chicago publications.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I built my presence organically. I started with 5 followers, and am almost at 1000. (Which I know is still small in the scheme of social media, but we are constantly growing!) My advice is just to post post post. Keeping up a flow of information for your followers is key. Also, posting reels and tapping into the hashtag functionality can help span many more followers!

Contact Info:

• Website: refilleri.com
• Instagram: @therefilleri
• Facebook: facebook.com/therefilleri

Image Credits
Zac Andereck