Simon Griffiths, 38, from Melbourne , has dubbed the limited-edition coffee line ‘Blend No. 2’ in a tongue-in-cheek nod to his popular toilet paper venture
The founder of trendy toilet paper subscription service, Who Gives a Crap, has launched his own line of coffee.
Simon Griffiths, 38, from Melbourne, has dubbed the limited-edition coffee line ‘Blend No. 2’ in a tongue-in-cheek nod to his popular toilet paper venture.
The eco-friendly toilet paper company has launched their new limited edition coffee bundle today to accelerate their impact by accelerating your morning trip to the loo.
The B Corp™’s mission is to ensure everyone on earth has access to clean water and a toilet. As such, they donate 50% of their profits to water and sanitation charities around the world.
‘We’ve heard from reliable sources that coffee makes some people need to go to the bathroom. As a toilet paper business, we found that pretty interesting,’ Mr Griffiths said.
‘After all, the more toilet paper people use, the more we can donate to the billions of people living without safe access to a toilet.’
The eco-friendly toilet paper company has launched its new limited edition coffee bundle today
‘We’ve heard from reliable sources that coffee makes some people need to go to the bathroom. As a toilet paper business, we found that pretty interesting,’ Mr Griffiths said
The toilet paper company currently sells 28 rolls per second, rising to popularity during the toilet paper shortages in 2020 and 2021.
The coffee kits come with 500grams of Fairtrade coffee, whole or ground, a roll of the company’s bamboo toilet paper and a ‘home compostable’ coffee bag.
But the run is ‘very limited’ according to the company, who released the coffee on October 19, and can be purchased on their website.
Femail previously sat down with Mr Griffiths who revealed he first came up with the toilet paper subscription service idea in 2009.
But it took a crowd-funding campaign in 2012 to get it off the ground and the global Covid pandemic of 2020 to send sales into the stratosphere.
Simon, whose empire now sells 28 rolls per second, has revealed how he grew his business.
‘After all, the more toilet paper people use, the more we can donate to the billions of people living without safe access to a toilet.’
The brand’s rolls (pictured) are made from super-soft, 100 per cent recycled toilet paper, with an impressive 50 per cent of profits going towards building toilets in the developing world
Who Gives A Crap isn’t like any regular toilet roll business.
The brand’s rolls are made from super-soft, 100 per cent recycled toilet paper, with an impressive 50 per cent of profits going towards building toilets in the developing world.
While Simon and his co-founders Danny Alexander and Jehan Ratnatunga had some business experience before launching ‘Who Gives A Crap’, nothing could have prepared them for their unique crowd-funding experience.
Simon (pictured with his co-founders) went from strength to strength with the business in 2020, when sales doubled before going 12 times more and even 40 times more in March 2020
Simon said they spent $50,000 on 50,000 rolls and knew they needed customers to take the toilet rolls off their hands while they didn’t have a warehouse.
So Simon agreed to sit on a toilet until they sold the first 50,000 rolls in order to boost sales.
‘The idea in theory was great, but it turned out there were people buying the toilet paper from all over the world, Brazil, Greece, Australia,’ Simon said.
‘So I had to stay awake for 50 hours until they were all sold. I was in a state of delirium by the end of it.’
Who Gives A Crap’s rolls (pictured) are unlike other rolls insofar as they are extra long and there is an ’emergency roll’ at the end reminding you it’s time to stock up
What sets Who Gives A Crap apart from other toilet roll businesses?
* Who Gives A Crap donates 50 per cent of their profits to help build toilets in the developing world.
Who Gives A Crap donates 50 per cent of their profits to help build toilets in the developing world (rolls pictured)
* The company has been able to donate $8.3 million to help provide proper sanitation for the two billion people in need.
* The brand’s rolls are made from super-soft, 100 per cent recycled toilet paper.
* Who Gives A Crap allows you to do a big bulk order of ‘extra-long rolls’ so you run out of toilet paper less frequently.
* As you near the end of a box, you will reach an ’emergency roll’, which has been designed to help prompt you to stock up or re-order.
* The rolls don’t use any inks, dyes or scents, meaning they are good for your bum.
* They are B Corp™ certified for the highest standards of social and environmental impact.
Source: Who Gives A Crap
Following the launch, it wasn’t long before the idea of Who Gives A Crap took off around the world.
‘Customers love the fact that we think about everything when it comes to toilet paper, including selling extra-long rolls and labelling the rolls at the end of the a multi-pack ’emergency rolls’ so you know it’s nearly time to stock up,’ Simon said.
The most environmentally-friendly product Who Gives A Crap sells is the recycled toilet paper.
‘Some 27,000 trees are cut down globally every day and 10 per cent of those trees that have been cut down go to toilet paper,’ Simon said.
‘When you buy Who Gives A Crap, you’re not taking trees out of the ground and then just flushing paper down the toilet.’
‘The reaction to the pandemic and everyone rushing to stockpile toilet paper was actually quite natural,’ Simon said (empty toilet roll shelves pictured in Melbourne 2020)
With the onset of the global pandemic and people rushing to stockpile toilet paper, Who Gives A Crap has only gone from strength to strength.
Last year, the business peaked at selling 28 rolls per second.
‘The reaction to the pandemic and everyone rushing to stockpile toilet paper was actually quite natural,’ Simon said.
‘Everyone realised they were going to be at home more, and supermarkets can’t stock all that much toilet paper because it is bulky and doesn’t bring in much money so they could do with saving the shelf space for something else.’
The entrepreneur added that the rational response when something is scarce is to buy more.
‘It took a few months for the manufacturers to re-centre and catch up,’ he said.
Who Gives A Crap’s sales doubled on March 1 2020, then went up by 12 times on 3 March and 40 times by 4 March.
‘It was wild for a bit. We were doing more than a month of sales in one day,’ he said.
‘But we’ve learned how to deal with it now, and we just re-direct stock to different states, depending on lockdowns.’
The Who Gives A Crap customer, for Simon, is someone with a ‘certain set of ethics’, as people want to know where what they’re buying has come from (rolls pictured)
The Who Gives A Crap customer, for Simon, is someone with a ‘certain set of ethics’.
‘Profits and purpose have become inextricably linked in the modern world, and we’ve figured out that doing good ends up with good business,’ he said.
Who Gives A Crap has extended into selling things like paper towels, tissues and cloths, with more ranges planned over the next year.
‘I think our purpose resonates with people, who now realise that every dollar they spend is a vote for the future,’ Simon said.
‘People are digging more deeply than ever to find out how things are made, about the money they’re spending and where their cash is going.’
To find out more about Who Gives A Crap, you can visit the website here. You can also follow the brand on Instagram here.