Abigail Forsyth, KeepCup

On a casual Spring afternoon, I met Abigail Forsyth in her then-office, aptly located in Fitzroy, Melbourne, for a chat on her business, KeepCup. We talked mostly about her journey towards creating the first barista standard, reusable coffee cup.

A day before the move, the space was a vision of an organised mess. Boxes containing inventory stacked up on top of one another, patiently waiting to be transported to their new homes. In the office, bare working tables did not stop the team from being hard at work (it was so quiet I had to fight the urge to break out in dance). Contrary to the office, the warehouse was filled with action. Technicolour KeepCups were being assembled, packed into boxes, and loaded into the bicycle trailer, KeepCup's preferred mode of delivery and transport (of course!). 

I couldn't recognise Abigail initially. Sitting among her people, she did not spot her signature pixie cut. Dressed down in striped sweater and denim jeans (it was casual Friday), she smiled warmly as I approached and walked me to the front of house.

Pulling out two chairs, she asked, casually, "should we chat outside?". I jumped at it. The nineteen degrees sunny afternoon was too perfect to be indoors.

Abigail Forsyth, founder of KeepCup

Beginning of Everything

Consciousness and a lifelong dream to run her own business led Abigail to kick start KeepCup. After graduating with a law degree from the University of Melbourne, Abigail worked at a law firm, before starting a café business with her brother.  

BlueBag was one of the first F&B outfit to introduce a convenient takeaway model in Melbourne. "My brother, Jamie and I ran BlueBag for 12 years. As it so often happens in small businesses, you work really hard, and get so focused on sustaining the business, that you don't really look out there," she recalls, knowing that she wanted to do more with her life.

Overtime, she became concerned about the amount of packaging, particularly coffee cups, that they were using. She took a step back, and began looking at methods that would help reduce BlueBag's carbon footprint. Noticing that while customers would utilise reusable food containers, they would not do the same for coffee cups, despite the city's massive coffee culture. 

"Working behind the [espresso] machine, I saw that while a few people who did [bring in reusable coffee cups], cups which existed in the market then did not fit under the portafilter well. They were also bulky." she observed. 

Calculated Risks

At that point, it was a daunting step to start manufacturing their own cups as they had no experience with the production industry. The siblings conducted a mini experiment in 2007, testing the market through their existing pool of customers in BlueBag. They bought a mug, provided discount for the customers who brought the cups back to be filled, in place of disposable cups. 

The mugs were neither pretty nor portable, but at least 15% of her customers brought it back – it was enough. They knew they had found a gap and if anything, it would be a global market. They engaged product design studio, CobaltNiche, and branding studio, SouthSouthWest to work on the design and identity of the cup respectively. Both companies still work with KeepCup now, 8 years later.

The design completed relatively quickly. Having worked behind the coffee machine, the Forsyths knew what worked and what didn't.

Early sketches of KeepCup. Image courtesy of KeepCup.

The real challenge (or cost) came in when they began looking into manufacturing and tooling. "The guys (manufacturers) were like 'are you crazy, this plastic cup? You guys, what are you thinking? If you can't sell these prototypes, just forget about it, because so many people go broke from this!'. At first I was like 'what does this guy know?' but it turns out that this was the best advise that we ever got," she reveals.

After listening to her manufacturer's warning, Abigail phoned up about 100 businesses she had gotten to know from BlueBag to pitch her idea in order to secure early buy ins, cushioning investment costs. "Firstly, I honed the pitch, and then I found out what businesses were really interested in. Rather than selling the product, I sold the idea, since we didn't even have a product at that point. 

I went to the National Australian Bank, and they bought the terrible looking prototypes – you couldn't even take the lids off – but they liked the idea. Energy Australia also bought them. We made them pay a deposit, and that gave us some good cash flow to pay for the tooling, as well as an enormous amount of confidence that we were on the right track," she says.

When the Going Gets Tough, Get Support

In 2010, Energy Australia ordered some KeepCups for a staff roadshow, putting in a sizable order over one weekend. "We didn't realise how long it took to fine-tune it [the cup], so there were all these testing going on. When they produced the first batch of cups, I remember being in my kitchen, putting the bands [coffee sleeve] on and assembling them, but the band was this skinny little thing with a logo that you could almost wipe off, because it had not dried properly, but we had to deliver them.

The client called me up and went, 'I'm really sorry we can't accept these, they are leaking, the seal is not reliable, the band is too skinny and its just too hot to hold.' But she knew that I was having some trouble and said 'If you can get it to me by the end of next quarter, and its right, I'd leave the order in the system.' She was really supportive and kind," she shares.

Integrating Coffee Culture

The rise of KeepCup may perhaps be attributed to a worldwide coffee movement, where people are becoming more conscious and interested about the caffeinated beverage they are consuming. Common questions people are asking include, Where are the beans sourced? When was it roasted? How can I be a part of a movement? Consumers takes pride in being involved and influencing others. "It is interesting that in new coffee markets like China and Ukraine, we are going in as the (coffee) market grows, and the idea of 'reuse' is part of the start of the coffee conversation," she shares.

Abigail's office up keeps this culture by possessing an industrial grade coffee machine in their pantry, perhaps not unusual for a city that breathes coffee. It was a conscious decision as Abigail recognises it as an integral part of her business: while selling KeepCups, they visit roasters and purchase beans too, in support. Abigail's cup is a flat white.

Drive

As with every entrepreneur and creator, Abigail still gets excited each time she sees someone on the streets with a KeepCup in hand. "It is an easy entry into people's conversation about sustainability. For a long time, people thought that unless you were a 'greenie', you couldn't be a part of it, even though the fact is that we all have to play our part and improve the way we live on Earth.

Often people purchase KeepCup because it is about specialty coffee, or they like the colour or something that has got nothing to do with sustainability, but they start using it anyway and wonder what else they can do. It starts them on a journey."

These are the baby changes that drives her, as she observes that other businesses are now doing something similar through objects like reusable bags and chopsticks. "Feeling like I'm making a difference, solving problems creatively really excites me," she concludes.