COIL Stories
Crisper:
Plant-based, zero-waste meal kits expanding their reach outside of Toronto
Crisper Kits is a completely zero-waste meal delivery service that offers a wide variety of healthy and exciting vegan meals. Through the help of COIL Activate, Crisper was able to further utilize their commercial space and install a larger fridge and a complete upgrade to its washing facility. As Crisper is a zero-waste company which recently expanded its capacity to reach more customers, they needed to upgrade their washing facility to handle the number of jars and containers being returned. These seemingly small improvements will contribute to over 700% growth of the company as it increases capacity.
The Impact
Helping you go zero-waste: Crisper makes it easy for their customers to switch to reuse and enables further recycling by offering to take any type of glass jar, regardless of if it came in the meal kit. Any types of leftovers from Crisper’s preparation are packaged in returned jars and offered at a reduced price to the community through Too Good To Go.
Addressing gaps in meal kit delivery services: Mainstream meal delivery produces a lot of waste. Since the meals come pre-portioned, they typically come in individual packaging. Crisper’s value proposition is zero-waste packaging and commitment to environmental sustainability offered through strictly plant-based meals. With their zero-waste packaging, Crisper has diverted over 34,000 packages from landfill.
How they made it work
Zero-waste is often an ambiguous term. However, Crisper is actively promoting their interpretation of it. Although not always possible, they try to source all their ingredients in larger quantities from suppliers with minimal packaging. As with all meal kit services, the ingredients are pre-portioned so there is no waste. They also forgo physical recipe cards and opt for online formats, further reducing unnecessary waste.
Part of Crisper’s COIL Activate project was a marketing audit to identify areas of improvement and possibilities for reaching new customers. With the support of COIL Activate, Crisper was able to expand to all boroughs of Toronto and Mississauga, with the goal of reaching other communities in the GTA soon.
“Do one thing at a time. We live in a very wasteful world and if you want to start something perfectly waste-free, you’ll never get started and feel like you’re never good enough. Instead, start with something you can control, create something from that and gain momentum. Give yourself a chance.” – Kieran Alkerton, Founder and CEO of Crisper
