The global pandemic has led us to rethink how we shop for groceries and other essentials.

It has caused us to look beyond the option of crowding into a supermarket, and services has quickly stepped up their game to cater to changing consumer demands. Supermarkets, grocery stores, and even restaurants have quickly jumped on the opportunity to provide home delivery meal kits, and meal kit delivery businesses have seen a sharp rise in demand for their services.

In such unique times, Vancouver entrepreneur Andy Chou is forging ahead with his network of zero-waste refill stations. Aptly named Drinkfill and Soapstand, these vending machines dispense beverages such as kombucha, cold brew coffee, hand soap, and dish detergent. The goal is to minimize human-to-human and to make zero-waste living the "new normal" by making it easy, affordable, and convenient to refill beverages and household soaps into consumers' own personal containers.

Designed and manufactured in Vancouver, Drinkfill and Soapstand machines will be installed in public spaces including shopping malls, grocery stores, hotels, universities, and airports around the globe. There are currently pilot Drinkfill stations located at UBC and Langara, but Chou is in talks with potential partners around the world.

Intrigued as to how Chou is planning to establish and grow his global network of zero-waste refill machines, we had the pleasure to dive a bit deeper into the business model for Drinkfill and Soapstand.

A: Andy Chou, Founder, Drinkfill and Soapstand

Tell us a bit about your background. What collection of experiences brought you to where you are today?

A: I started off as a management consultant and worked for my family’s company in Taiwan. Prior to starting my entrepreneurial journey, my personal relationships triggered a realization of my impact as a human being in this world, and I sought to align my actions with my values by starting businesses that could give back to the world we live in. Thus far, I have led a career with projects in the real estate and waste-to-resources space. I developed Soapstand to provide the world’s first stand-alone zero-waste soap refill station. To tackle a larger issue of plastic pollution from the beverage industry, we develop a version for dispensing beverages named Drinkfill.

What spurred your interest in creating zero-waste, zero human-contact refill stations?

A: I love a great beverage. Food-wise, there are two things I can’t live without — rice and sugary drinks (ie. Bubble tea). The terrible problem with the latter is that it is so hard and inconvenient to get this in a reusable container. I have to bring one with me and actually find places that will accept it. It’s not feasible long-term, especially during COVID. Now that we are in a pandemic, human-free consumerism is increasingly important. This is why we really pushed on Drinkfill.

As for Soapstand, I have to credit my then co-founder (Abner Tsai) for bringing the initial idea to me. We worked together on refining it and built a beautiful concept that won us a national award. Our inspiration stemmed from the growing movement to refill bottles at brick-and-mortar zero-waste stores.

What led you to choose kombucha, cold brew, and soap/detergent as your product lines to focus on? Was there market data to support this decision?

A: In addition to kombucha and cold brew coffee, Drinkfill offers many other options, such as craft soda and specialized drinks and products. The 2 biggest factors are (1) what can we get locally and (2) what does the customer want? While market data shows that demand for kombucha and cold brew is growing tremendously, it is ultimately most important to speak to the customer. We work with our consumers to offer them products that they actually want.

When did you start conducting R&D for the refill stations? How did you fund the R&D process?

We started lightly in 2016 and really pushed it starting in 2019. I funded the company myself with some assistance from the Canadian Government through hiring grants. 

We delivered several versions of the product to the market. The most complete version we delivered was in early 2020 which received overwhelming support from the sustainability community.

What kinds of obstacles did you encounter when starting your company?

A: The easier question would be what obstacles did we not encounter! It’s not easy to develop hardware from scratch in a city that is mostly software-centric. We were lucky to have recruited our staff - past and present - to bring us this far. 

Another difficulty is sourcing from suppliers. It is hard to find products that are (1) sustainable, (2) work with any system and (3) affordable.

When you first started pitching this idea to your partners, what type of response did you get? What kind of objections did you get?

A: To building managers, they were generally enthusiastic about the idea because they were already pushing the direction of evolving their buildings and redefining the “office tower”. One objection from building managers was they did not want to upset their existing tenants who were selling beverages.

The apartment owners were more skeptical but mostly the solution was to show them the numbers. Once they see it they can make an informed decision.

Suppliers were in favour of the idea because it meant an additional revenue stream; rather than an objection, a constraint for suppliers is that buying locally also means higher product cost.

With Covid-19, more people are working from home, learning from home, and spending less time traveling through airports, perhaps leading to less foot traffic at your target locations, has this impacted the business?

A: Yes, but while we are impacted, we sympathize with brick-and-mortar retail which must pay rent and staffing costs. COVID provided us with the opportunity to reexamine our distribution strategy of previously only focusing on commercial buildings. We are now taking a closer look at residential buildings.

What is the competitive advantage that Drinkfill and Soapstand have over other types of refill machines and services? What’s keeping your competitors from copying your product?

A: Our advantage is that we are delivering products that are hard to find anywhere else in a sanitary and experiential format. Competitive advantages are built over time and really just mean that we do not just do one thing well, but everything well. That is what we are doing and plan to keep doing. 

If another competitor copies us, we welcome it. It will only expand the pie. The market is new and we need more friends to help make this whole movement a reality for every single person.

What’s your vision for the business? Where do you want it to be in 1, 3, 5 years?

A: The vision is to make the zero-waste lifestyle truly desirable and convenient. It is not good enough that we do it because it’s the right thing to do, it must be the common sense thing to do. Drinkfill and Soapstand are building the infrastructure to make this happen. Without stations like ours, reusable bottles will only be for water (less than 50% of our beverage consumption) and a lifestyle of the few.

In 1 year, we will survive COVID and build out Vancouver as a city of reuse. 

In 3 years, we will have expanded to key North American cities with Drinkfill while helping brands and entrepreneurs empower their zero-waste passion with Soapstand.

In 5 years, we will have established a global network and work with brands, large and small, to become zero-waste through not just Drinkfill and Soapstand, but also through some upcoming technologies that is still under wraps at the moment!

How are you going to get there?

A: There are 5 key actions we will take to realize our vision.

1) Talking to the customer and being obsessed with their challenges

2) Building a passionate team that is willing to go above and beyond

3) Finding partners that care about more than the bottom line and scaling through their network

4) Driving all costs down, while building out features that will enhance the customer experience

5) Introducing a whole suite of reuse technologies that will complete the experience

Both commercial and residential buildings are rethinking how the community within will interact with each other post-covid, and touchless, zero-waste refill stations appear to be in line with this vision. The next generation of consumers, university students, have shown the strongest level of support for the business, which will help Andy and his team sign on more universities at home and abroad.

We want to thank Andy for taking the time to share with us his story of starting Soapstand and Drinkfill, and look forward to exciting new developments from the business such as a fully touchless experience to make zero-waste refills even safer and more convenient.

Photos courtesy of Drinkfill and Soapstand