Santa Cruz Startup Wonderfil Installs Refill Station at Ethos Low Waste Store in Capitola
Ethos and Wonderfil team pictured in front of the Wonderfil refill station.
What is Wonderfil?
Wonderfil is building the most reliable package-at-purchase platform for liquid and cream products that creates supply chain efficiencies for brands, increased margins for retailers, and cost savings for consumers. We are partnering with the top natural US personal care brands to help universities and grocery stores reduce their plastic waste.
What's the story behind this pilot?:
Ethos is a low-waste store in Capitola, and it’s where Wonderfil’s co-founder Shiloh refilled her favorite personal care products to avoid plastic waste. When Shiloh told the Ethos staff about what we were building at Wonderfil, they were so excited about our system because of the improved customer experience and inventory management that our system enables.
When did conversations begin regarding the pilot?
The conversation began in winter of 2021, and we installed in March 2022.
What struggles or challenges came up, if any?
Close up of the Wonderfil refill station which holds various liquid dish soap and hand and body wash products.
There were some small kinks in the beginning, but that’s what pilots are for, right!? Now it has been 5 months with no issues, and the system is working great!
What is the goal with this pilot?
The goal is for both parties to measure how the Wonderfil refill station creates measurable operational and sales improvements for the store. We started with our base model which improves the speed at which bottles can be refilled and which notifies store employees when the station is low. Once we have a good understanding of benefits achieved with that system, we will start adding additional features and measuring their benefits.
Why Wonderfil versus the current system (what system were they using)?
Currently, it takes a lot of effort to manually pump product into a reusable container. Wonderfil cuts the refill time by 75%. Additionally, we track how much product is being dispensed so that the team can see when product is low without opening up the machine and checking unnecessarily.
What kind of impact will this have? (i.e. Reduce x costs for business, simplify x for consumer)
The goal is to build a system that tracks and automates inventory management for all liquid and cream products in the store and completely eliminates the need for customers to take the tare weight of their container.
“Adding Wonderfil to our refillery has truly simplified refilling, not just for our customers but also for our staff. We love that we get to work with a local women-owned business who is completely aligned with Ethos! Hoping to continue to expand this option for our customers.” –Meredith Keet, Founder/CEO of Ethos
What's next for your business?
Wonderfil has many more upcoming pilots at UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz, and other stores. They are raising a pre-seed round to meet the increasing demand for their system. Interested investors can reach out to amelia@wonderfil.world.