When Kate Stewart launched Stay tray in 2018 little did she know a global pandemic would throw the biggest curveball in her direction.
“Covid-19 has far outweighed any other challenge we have faced,” she says.
“Prior to Covid-19, our focus was selling trays wholesale to restaurants and cafes and small to medium sized corporate businesses. During Covid, restaurants and cafes were forced to close their doors. Corporates were forced to lay off staff and make huge cuts to their budgets.
“To avoid going under, I had to quickly pivot to selling trays online to individuals across Australia. This has been highly successful and has enabled the business to not only endure the past 18 months, but to thrive during a global pandemic.”
Indeed, Stewart had to change her focus from business-to-business to business-to-consumer and sell directly to the Aussie consumer.
“We believe that every Australian household needs a Stay tray. Every office coffee run, every fast-food run, every weekend smoothie run should be undertaken with a Stay tray. This is our goal moving forward. There is no need to use single use drink trays anymore. Not when there is an amazing reusable alternative that can be used again, and again, and again.”
Stay tray is a reusable coffee tray made from 100 per cent recycled plastic, a simple sustainable solution to carrying multiple keepcups. All design, engineering and manufacture has been kept within a 60km radius of Stay tray’s home on the Mornington Peninsula.
“There simply wasn’t a sustainable, versatile reusable drink tray to be found anywhere. Those people, like us, who were sustainably minded, were using disposable cup trays again and again. Thousands of people every day are consciously using their keepcups but are faced with only single use disposable alternatives to transport more than two coffees. We needed a reusable coffee tray.”
Stay tray is B Corp Certified, which means that Stay tray meets the highest standards of social and environmental impact.
“We understand that we are a part of something bigger. We have a responsibility to help solve the social and environmental challenges facing the world.
“There is a new breed of business owner out there. They want their businesses to thrive, but they want to do it in social and environmentally responsible ways. In Australia, we are seeing the impacts of climate change unfold right in front of us―devastating bushfires, heat waves, storms and floods. This new breed of business owner understands acting in responsible ways is just the future of good business.”
Stewart adds that B Corporations are in business to truly make a difference, something she believes retailers will appreciate.
“Retailers can be confident that they are supporting businesses that truly care about their workers, communities, environment and their customers. B Corporations aren’t in business just to make a profit. B Corporations represent a group of businesses who are dedicated to using the power of business to create a positive impact on the world. Not competing to be the best in the world but rather to be the best for the world.
“We have some really exciting innovations being developed at the moment that I can’t talk about just yet. But I can say, in the next 12 months we will have another couple of products that have never been seen before anywhere in the world. It’s a really exciting time for Stay tray.”
