Ethan Justin Mercado
Alex Prieto
Harvey Kim Lee
James Uriel Galon
De La Salle University Manila
Pia Manalastas
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Eve Grocer, a sustainable marketplace, has taken refilling to a new level. They do so by offering subscription-based orders that bundle and deliver necessities daily, weekly, or monthly for proper queuing. The idea of refilling is then integrated by providing buy-in refills and returning their reusable containers on the next subscribed delivery. They aim to make daily consumption of necessities less invasive to our environment with its zero-waste implications.
The vision of Eve Grocer to eliminate and remove one-use plastic in the environment is considered very ambitious and impossible. However, the business is adamant about instilling change in the world and how we usually do things. With the issues such as the pandemic and the reluctance to trust the integrity of the brand, they plan to tackle 5 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations, which cover Good Health and Well-being, Responsible Consumption and Production, Climate Action, Life Below Water, and lastly, Life on Land. Here is the story of how they truly wanted to save the environment.
Ever Grocer sells bundles of basic necessities. It has evolved into a sustainable marketplace where it added more products totaling more than 3,400 SKUs. Eve Grocer implemented subscription-based services so that customers could receive bundles or products daily, weekly, or monthly.
With the company's goal of eliminating single-use plastic in the environment, they have built their business model around the method of using refilable containers which they deliver and pick up at customers' locations. They provide the customers with refills and return their reusable containers on the next delivery. By doing this, they ensure that only reusable containers are used throughout their life. This idea ensures they can get the necessities in need in a set time, fresh, and of the best quality. She explained that "almost all food products are being packaged in plastic, and this is the only way to sell food products since there is an issue with food handling and sustainability."
To make the subscription-based services with reusable containers work, Eve Grocer has pending proprietary technology that allows them to deploy a circular supply chain approach. Through reverse logistics, they can trace the origins, expiry dates, food safety guidelines, and other critical measures to make the company's operation as efficient as possible. Despite the challenges of being in this kind of business, they still push to be 100% sustainable and follow through in applying zero waste in what they do.
Eve Grocer's subscription-based necessity bundle featuring their re-usable packaging.
With the rising concern of climate change, coral bleaching, forest fires, typhoons, and many disasters, they wanted to secure a future for the youth and their children. Due to this, Ms. De Leon-Sandoval, with her sister, came up with an idea to create a sustainable grocery that helps reduce single-use plastics from fast-moving consumer goods. They firmly believe that single-use plastics is the primary source of plastic pollution all over the country, creating many hazardous landfills that harm the environment. The situation inspired them to create a cause by starting a zero-waste business.
However, the idea quickly became ambitious as the COVID-19 pandemic started. She stated that “in our pre-planning phase, we took the inspiration from the concept of zero-waste refilling stores that emerged during the year 2019. Like most refill stores, we decided to plan and create a business surrounding refilling body care products since its easier to distribute and deliver.” This plan was quickly wiped out and revised as the pandemic entered the country. Due to the significant needs of many people for necessities and food, Ms. De Leon-Sandoval and her sister saw this as an opportunity to jump into groceries that provide necessities and nourishment for Filipino families, leading to the creation of the current Eve Grocer.
In addition to reducing the environmental impact of the daily consumption of necessities, Eve Grocer also provides financial stability for local farms and raises awareness about sustainability. As a partner of the Department of Agriculture, Eve Grocer works hand in hand with local farmers in supplying local produce to various food and beverage companies in the Philippines. Currently, they are catering to some of the most luxurious and well-known hotels like Melco Resorts & Entertainment, City of Dreams Manila, Nobu Hotel, and Hyatt Regency Manila. Moreover, Eve Grocer is also focusing on its B2B partners, specifically restaurants with a farm-to-table concept. Through these partnerships, they can help locally-owned farms maintain their financial stability, allowing them to grow their business.
According to Eve Grocer's founder, Ms. De Leon-Sandoval, sustainability awareness is their most significant impact on society. They can educate and inform people about the importance of sustainability by collaborating with their B2B partners and other sustainable brands. Ms. De Leon-Sandoval said, "Since we are a B2B company, our target is to supply the grocery chains - to be a supplier, not a competitor, so we wanted to collaborate with all of them. We wanted to help them be sustainable so everybody wins. It's no longer a competition in this fight against pollution." As a result, more customers continue to support Eve Grocer, a sustainable brand, over commercial ones.
As an enterprise, the concept of Eve Grocer is patterned like Amazon but more sustainable. It is similar because of its online presence, low prices, vast selection, and fast delivery. Because of how it operates, the company can expand globally. As mentioned by Ms. De Leon-Sandoval, "Sustainability is a global issue," and with their existing franchise model, it is easier for them to find global partners and scale up. Currently, Eve Grocer has partners in Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Tunisia, Costa Rica, Indonesia, and Pakistan.
Furthermore, as mentioned by Ms. De-Leon Sandoval, "If we wanted to grow and sell more products, we could have grown 100 times faster." However, since Eve Grocer is deeply rooted in sustainability, the company had to find other ways to remain competitive. To do so, the company is conducting product development initiatives that could transform its business. An interesting concept that the company is exploring is how to reduce waste products from rejected but edible products such as fruits and vegetables and find a way to process this and turn them into viable products.
"Entrepreneurship is hard. If you are going to make something, you must do it with a passion and a better cause." Ultimately, Eve Grocer's vision of making daily consumption of necessities less invasive to our environment keeps the company sustainable yet profitable simultaneously.
GOAL 3: Good Health and Well-being
Eve Grocer currently promotes and carries products within their sustainable marketplace that are all waste-free commodity products such as body care, meat, dried fruits, eco-friendly, and many more products. They ensure that the products that they are offering to the customers are top quality as well as fresh on delivery. They also created and featured different products, such as their veggie bundle, vegan sampler, necessity bundle, and plant-based products, which help ensure people have healthy lives and promote well-being. Ms. Sandoval also mentioned, "We have tied up with farmers and the Department of Agriculture to bring farm-to-table products to the business.” This means that they can provide local, fresh, and quality vegetable products to the marketplace for the health and well-being of the customers.
GOAL 12: Responsible Consumption and Production
What makes Eve Grocer distinct from other online grocery stores is its initiative to implement a zero-waste system in the way they do business. To operationalize this, they use the concept of refilling by sending out subscription-based bundles daily, weekly, or monthly using refillable containers. The customer returns the containers once they receive their new fortune on the next subscribed delivery. In addition, Ms. Sandoval shares that they are "into a lot of product development initiatives. We are into studying the procurement of waste products, overripe products, not-so-good harvests, and rejects. We want to focus on that." Through these initiatives, Eve Grocer aims to reduce the food waste generated by utilizing rejected goods and processing them to create a new product, which will be sold in sustainable packaging.
GOAL 13: Climate Action
Eve Grocer's advocacy aims to promote a cleaner lifestyle for people through refilling. Ms. Sandoval shares, "With more and more greenhouse gasses being emitted from the production of plastic, our climates start to become warmer and warmer with the potential of making dangerous natural calamities such as forest fires and super typhoons that may hit our country." With their zero waste initiative, they are actively contributing to reducing plastic waste. This, in turn, dramatically affects the fight against climate change since plastic from food packaging is responsible for much plastic waste that fills up hazardous landfills. Aside from this fight, the company also takes action by hosting events that raise environmental awareness, like their recently concluded Climathon Paranaque 2020 — a city-wide ideathon aiming to provide city-wide solutions to climate issues per municipality.
GOAL 14: Life Below Water & GOAL 15: Life on Land
"We are trying to eliminate the single-use plastic packaging." The zero-waste initiatives set by Eve Grocer significantly contribute to life below water and life on land by reducing single-use plastics that often cause pollution in these critical areas. Furthermore, with less litter, the company can bypass the system where plastics are dumped in a landfill, which eventually get carried away as microplastics through currents from wind and water. These microplastics make the environment around them toxic, thus making it difficult for life to flourish.
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Ma.Leonelle Sandoval, The founder and CEO
Eve Grocer aims to eliminate one-use plastic in the environment and continue their goal of making daily consumption of basic necessities less invasive to the environment. Customers can subscribe to receive necessities daily, weekly, or monthly for proper queuing through their website or by reaching them on their mobile phones.