Take a pass on Plastic
Kath Austin founder and CEO of Bee Bee Wraps and SME Entrepreneur of the year joins us for this week’s podcast. Kath explains why she left her charity fundraising background for her heartfelt curiosity of conquering the waste that her growing household was creating. Kath solved part of her home waste problem by creating her waxed cotton, food wrap product, she explains her determination to bring Bee Bee Wraps to market and why the company has a wide appeal, not only focusing on sustainability and impact but also maintaining an aesthetic that fits alongside current retail trends. Kath explains her journey with the Judge Business School’s incubator, Cambridge Social Ventures, and subsequently how the support programme enabled the sharp growth curve of the company and the business changes required to scale.
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Kath Austin, formerly a successful charity fundraiser, has a lifelong passion for positive social and environmental impact.
With a young family, Kath started a sideline project looking at ways to address the horrifying amount of single-use plastics the family was getting through. After 18 months of development, the BeeBee beeswax food wrap went into production.
Kath also has an insatiable interest in good food, a passion which informed the development of BeeBee Wraps. Kath believes food should be fresh, as local as possible and uncomplicated. Her food heroes include Yotam Ottolenghi and Anna Jones whose dog-eared and food splattered books sit proudly on her kitchen countertop.
Kath likes to be outside, away from screens, probably up a tree, with her kids.
Produced by Mark Tomlin
Podcast links:
Stockists - BeeBee Wraps Abel & Cole, Milk & More, Aga Cookshop, Booths, ProCook plus a cohort of over 250 independent stockists across the UK.
Working in collaboration with The Woodland Trust product number WTBEE01
Working with Sky Ocean Rescue with designs by Cara Delevingne, Sienna Miller, Fearne Cotton and Kate Moss
Amara - “Looking for ways to live a more sustainable lifestyle? We’ve got just the thing. Bee’s Wrap is the natural alternative to plastic wrap. Made from cotton, beeswax, jojoba oil & resin, the natural properties of the materials helps to keep food fresh, and allows each wrap to be used again and again”.
European distributor Green Pioneer
Dragons’ Den (Episode 5, Series 17)
Business Weekly article - A startup launched from Kath Austin’s Cambridge kitchen is gaining traction with a reusable beeswax food wrap that is a sustainable alternative to single-use plastics.
Cambridge Independent - “BeeBee Wraps joins fightback against plastic”.