I spent about half my adult life working in restaurants, so this is near to my heart. (For those of you who need a hospitality lingo refresher, “86” means “we’re out of,” as in, “86 the scampi!” Or “Tequila Betty finally got 86’d from Lucy’s for insisting on doing body shots with random strangers.”) But I’m digressing.
I loved working on this story about Alt Linen for Dell Perspectives. The short version: Home consumers order pristine, 100% cotton dishtowels and napkins as a way to cut down or eliminate disposables. When those towels need refreshing, the customer sends the yucky ones back to the company for a FREE replacement (there’s a nominal postage fee) — as many times as they want.
After undergoing a low-chemical impact cleaning and upcycling process, the old cloths find new life as commercial kitchen towels and napkins, which are leased per piece at about half the cost of most regular polyester products (which are expensive and restaurateurs are locked into unfair contracts … it’s a whole racket you can read about in the story).
I hope you enjoy this disruptive win-win-win business model as much as I do.
Even Ellen DeGeneres is including them in her Be Kind subscription box. Join the fun!