Why does the popular Ooni pizza oven brand want to build a regenerative business

Kristian Tapananinaho and Darina Garland, the man-watched duet after Ooni, want to build a regenerative business.

“For us, it means becoming a business that helps create conditions for everyone to thrive. We want to go beyond causing zero damage to humans and the planet – we want to have a positive net effect, with restorative and regenerative impacts, “says Garland.

They sell pizza ovens – or at least so far have been their flag product. So how does it become a regenerative company while selling pizza ovens (especially given that some of those furnaces use wooden cartridges)?

The idea of ​​a removable oven driven by the fugitive pellets in the tapanaho over a decade ago when he was at home in Finland. Given the country’s focus on sustainability, Tapananinho was also thinking about how he could do so in a more eco-friendly way. “I even thought that can we buy a steadily managed forest and emanate our cartridges in a way that is less harmful to the land?”

This was the impetus for building a goal -driven company. Today, Ooni has looked at every aspect of their business to see how they can move in a more regenerative direction – though the founders admit it is many times difficult.

To do this, they have taken a multi-party approach. It’s not just about supply chains or carbon tracks. They are trying to treat it from all point of view: they have stripped their packaging back to the bases and avoid the cheaper (but devastating) materials as styrofoam; partnership with Eden’s reforestation projects to plant over 4 million trees; Given again to MAD agriculture, a US -centered organization protecting regenerative agriculture; measured their goals 1.2 and 3; experimented with “games” for their employees to reduce their carbon consumption; And eventually hired the former durability at Kate U upshon’s body store to lead their regenerative vision. Plus, they are in 2023, they became a Corp B, and have been a 1% member for the planet.

“Funny funny because when we started, we talked to a business consultant and shared some of the environmental and social projects we interested, and how we could make that part of the brand identity. She told us, ‘people don’t care’. It is clear that much has changed in 10 years. We find our sellers and customers appreciate everything we do,” says Garland.

Materials are a large part of their consumption – whether on packaging or simply in the production of the product itself. Tapananita remembers going to visits to the factory overseas and seeing the “Styrofoam Mountains”.

“It was really scary enough to see these wide mountains of Styrofoam and I really didn’t want to contribute to this.”

Thus, the ooni run in recyclable packaging. Today, 97% of the packaging for their ovens is recyclable and is made from renewable materials. They have not yet been done and hope to hit 100% soon.

Even for the ovens themselves, they use recycled materials. But the recycled metal, says Tapaninaho, is more expensive than the virgin material and for their product, it should be safe foods. So it is not always easy or affordable for companies to make this change.

Then there are their offices in Scotland and Austin and the trail of this. In 2023, the company was able to avoid sending any waste material to the UK landfill. On the contrary, waste was recycled or sent to energy from waste facilities to create energy for the network.

Plus, Tapananita explains that whenever they make an update in their offices, they choose more eco-friendly technology. For example, they recently established a new heating system in their Scotland office; Instead of going for a gas unit, they went with a heat source heat pump. “Yes, it costs more, but we saw it as a good long -term investment. Especially in a country like Scotland where you have to have heat all the time.”

But Ooni has been able to make these investments – and follow this general regenerative approach, Garland says, because the company is still owned by them. “We are not driven by money. We are often asked, ‘When are you winning the cash registers? When are you selling it? ‘We have never had him to be our goal. “

“Companies backed by private capital are usually not compatible with the regenerative business. Their goal is how to escalate something in 3 years. This is not what we are doing here, ”says Tapaninaho.

Ooni found success in Kickstarter during a decade ago, which immediately linked them to a global audience of pizza fans. Although they were decided to collect 7,500 GBPs, they ended up taking 30,000 GBPs to the order. This led to the attention of the media. However, the duo notes that for seven years, they spent a lot of time explaining their pattern of pizza oven for humans. And that meant that they didn’t always earn a lot.

However, Pandemia really helped the company grow with everyone at home and interested in cooking. Today, the company is over $ 200 million on sale, selling in over 90 countries, and with a staff of approximately 200 widespread across the globe.

“Now, digital marketing has become expensive, the economy is different, and so it is not the same thing. But, on the contrary, we are investing in our retail partners – not everyone is online and buyers will go to stores to discover new products.”

In addition, they are entering a new category – mixers.

This April, Ooni will launch Halo Pro, a spiral mixer similar to those found in professional kitchens, bakeries and pizzeria. What most chefs use at home are planetary mixers, explains Tapananinho, which are not optimal for mixing the dough. Halo Pro will allow pizza and bread baking fans to have the restaurant quality dough in their home-many as the way ooni innovated with pizza ovens to bring wood pizzas. In addition to making the dough, it will come with a whip and flexible beater to meet all other baking needs (cakes, cookie, tart).

“We haven’t finished yet, as we said. We are really excited by the idea of ​​how to do we give the chefs at home and cook the best tools to make pizza and everything related to it,” he adds.

And as they do, they want to show that business can do well. Last year, the company gave over 500,000 GBP for environmental and social reasons. And now, Garland says, “We’ve thought about the next 10 years and what kind of heritage or impact we want to have in the world. We were very fortunate to be in such a trajectory during the pandemic. We want to share some of them.”