Stories From The Gift Box

The best coffee in BC originated in the Gulf Islands beyond the shore of our rainy west coast. It all began in a quaint coffee shop on Salt Spring Island that was so delightful, it began overflowing with customers. As this little shop began growing, it took on a larger personality. The founders functioned as diligent parents and relentlessly reinforced the core values of the original vision: "Great coffee that doesn't compromise the earth."

When we find local, organic gifts  that are meaningful and unique, it is our duty to report these findings to you. We recently discovered a great local gift that nourishes the gift recipient while healing Vancouver’s Downtown East Side.

The Olla Flower Project was created by Megan Branson and Dionne Finch. According to Megan, these two women wove together a true obsession for plants and flowers with a vision: A small business committed to community engagement and sustainable flower production.

Last night, Paul Hawken spoke at Vancouver's historic Orpheum Theatre. The room was packed with social entrepreneurs and inspired Vancouverites, who want to improve the world for our children, and our children’s children. I was happy to see some great local characters in the house! There were students and alumni from Bainbridge Graduate Institute (BGI), local business leaders, (Salt Spring Coffee, Climate Smart, SHIFT Urban Cargo Delivery, Save on Meats, Recycling Alternative), investors (Renewal Partners), non-profit leaders (LOCO BC, SOLE Food Urban Farm, Hollyhock, SFU Woodwards) and local manufacturers (Crown Skis).

Business is a challenging game. Besides having the ability to meet people's needs in a valuable way, it comes down to strategy, execution and timing. People come together to make things happen and luck is always a factor. After all, there are only so many things one can control. I can't think of any one person who is in business alone. It's all about relationships and it takes time to build them meaningfully. As we approach the 5th anniversary at Saul Good I realize this more than ever, looking back at how it started with me in my bedroom and has grown with the help of friends, contractors, employees, consultants, allies, clients, competitors, suppliers and community. It takes a village.

Gifts can make people feel good. If thoughtful and considered, the act of both giving and receiving gifts can help you grow your business in a meaningful way. Questions I often ask myself when I'm sourcing items for our gift basket business include:

- Where did this come from?

Collaboration is key to building community. Two projects that I've been contributing too are coming together on Saturday December 4th at the Own Your Own Strathcona event. Hosted by The Strathcona Business Improvement Association (SBIA) and Loco BC we’ll be showcasing the best holiday gift ideas in Vancouver at Chapel Arts.

Today, everyone says they're 'green'. It's meaning is washed out. All too often overlooked is the social side of sustainability, the people who make up our organizations, the communities in which we operate, social justice issues, and building diverse constituents in all our stakeholder groups. It's the people who I find interesting in the work that we do as they make me feel the rewards of our labour. In Vancouver's downtown eastside and inner city there's one organization that's been doing a great job at bridging the gap between socially distraught down and out people and the businesses that inhabit the neighbourhood and drive the economy, Building Opportunities with Business, commonly referred to as BOB.

I first learned about B Corporations (B Corps) in June 2007 as a delegate at the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE) international conference in Berkeley, CA. Up on stage stood the founding B Corp members including some of the grandparents of green business. Guys like Jeffrey Hollender of Seventh Generation, Jeff Mendelsohn of New Leaf Paper, Jason Salfi of Comet Skateboards and Peter Strugatz of Icestone, people there from the beginning figuring what it means and how what how to run sustainable businesses. So why did all these deep green businesses commit to joining, and creating for that matter, the B Corp community? I argue that it's a way to support fundamental changes in how business is run. Beyond the financial bottom line, successful businesses also add value in the communities in which they operate, empower their employees and constantly find ways to be innovative with materials and processes, making them more efficient while also limiting their impact on the environment. That's why I became interested in business and see how it can be competitive advantage.

If you’ve received a Saul Good gift box recently, you’ve probably noticed that there's some unique shredded paper inside. Well it’s more than just pretty confetti, it’s an example of sustainability in action!

In putting together some corporate gifts last week we were asked by a client to include a vegetable scrub brush in their gift baskets for new homeowners. Not only did we find a great product that fit the bill but also a few others that are great for a clean, healthy and environmentally friendly home. Goodbye Detergent!, an LA based company manufacturing in Japan, uses recycled and reclaimed materials in their home cleaning products. Using them helps to reduce the amount of soap and cleansing products used for cleaning, reducing one's impact on the environment.

What does local mean?

Local Living Economies build wealth and keep cash in the community

The Strathcona Business Improvement Association (SBIA) recently announced that thanks to a grant from Vancity it’s looking to hire a fulltime project manager whose duties will include weaving a robust materials exchange network between businesses in the Downtown Eastside. The goal of the project is to build connections between local business owners and identify innovative uses of discarded materials and by-products. By talking to business leaders you realize that a clothing manufacturer’s offcuts are valuable rags for a screenprinting company and the woodshop down the street could use all those flattened boxes you’ve got out back.

Living the Olympic dream. With 9 days to go before the world converges in Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games we're in full swing to fulfill our commitments for 2010 Olympic partners. In November we were approached by our client Gameday Auction, an innovative sports memorabilia company based on Railway St in the Strathcona Green Zone, to help them design a sustainable packaging solution for a unique 2010 Olympic collectible, official replica jerseys (bibs), the same as the ones worn by the athletes during competition in the Games. A year ago they hired us to develop a sustainable corporate gift packaging solution for the Trevor Linden "Behind the Autograph" program and the rest has been history.

Over the last few months we've been working on a bunch of sustainable packaging projects for various clients leading up to the Olympics. Yesterday, Alex (Saul Good operations director) Andy Maier (Courageous B, graphic designer) and I had the pleasure of touring the facility of one of our packaging manufacturers. While cardboard packaging is nothing new, we were encouraged to see how the industry is finally moving towards offering 100% recycled options. For Saul Good, our involvement with this effort started over 3 years ago as part of a sustainable design project for our gift boxes. Now we've gained enough experience to become sustainable design consultants for a host of green packaging projects around the province.

Tradition is one of those things that most people accept and few people question. The Christmas tree is one of those things that's made me wonder. Apparently the origin of the Christmas tree comes from pre Christian German heritage where its meaning was in bringing the beauty of nature into the home during the time of Yule. That's something that really rings true in me, in a world that moves so fast in manufactured urban landscapes, finding time to slow down and take in nature's beauty has value in my life and my home. They Holidays are a great time to relax, spend time with family, friends and loved ones and nature can only make that a more meaningful experience. If that's at the root of this centuries old tradition, why do we cut down and kill trees to have them in our houses for a few weeks when they could live out beautiful lives for decades or even hundreds of years in the wild? It seems real odd to me, maybe because I'm Jewish but I think there's more to it.

Saul Good gifts have always been designed to be thoughtful, enivronmentally friendly, and socially responsible. In order to maintain these standards, we've learned to be innovative and think critically about how our business operates. We're constantly searching for ways we can make Saul Good better. This means meeting local farmers in order to find BC's best organic products and enrolling in programs like Climate Smart to ensure that our business is running as efficiently as possible. Now we're very proud to announce that we've adopted 100% recycled cardboard for our trademark gift boxes and shipping materials.

With the holidays fast approaching we've been busy these last weeks and months working with our clients on their corporate gift holiday programs. One of our new products this year are hand made holiday cookies by One Planet Catering, a fantastic Vancouver based sustainable catering company. Today I went by their kitchen for a tour and checked out their production line for the 12,000 cookies we've ordered for our gift baskets. As you can see each one is hand decorated. The cookies are baked in a European tradition by Michael Kraus, the man with the vision to lead the green catering movement in Vancouver, BC. Cookies are packaged in biodegradable cellulose bags and 100% recycled stylish gift boxes for presentation, and just happen to be environmentally responsible as well. Let's hope some of these tasty treats end up in your office or stocking stuffer.

I was talking with my Dad recently about Saul Good's participation in the Climate Smart program. Our conversation turned from greener business practices to the choices we can all make as individuals. He said that small changes like deciding to bring a cloth bag to the store instead of using a throw away plastic bag have absolutely no measurable impact on the condition of our environment, but they are in fact the most important kind of actions we can take. That got me thinking.

The Green Zebra guide - local savings for sustainable living, is a great corporate gift to give employees to encourage a culture for sustainability and green business within your organization. Culture is king and how people behave dictates if business strategy is executed or just talked about. The Green Zebra guide is the Entertainment book for green living, filled with coupons and offers for local, health and environmental products and services. Yoga classes, health food stores, restaurants, attractions, hotels and yes, even gift basket businesses have coupons inside, many of value worth more than the $20 purchase price of the book. If you're wondering how to get your employees to bring sustainability into the work place, why don't you try to get them to bring it into their lives. If they like it, they'll bring it to work and feel good about it too.

When it comes to One Planet Catering the first thing that comes to mind is world class. Michael Kraus is best in class, not only as a phenominal caterer but also as someone who truely cares. His goal is to give people a quality dining experience, healthy nutrious and tasty meals to fuel you through the work day. I first met Michael about a year ago when he walked into Tradeworks Custom Products looking for handmade wooden presentation boxes for his locally delivered meals. His style is impecable. Creativity, unbelievable, Michael never ceases to impress.

I just got back from what may have been the best business conference ever, the Social Venture Institute at Hollyhock on Cortes Island. Besides the breath taking land, mountains, ocean and forests, everything about it was all good. The sessions were first class and their format succinct and relevant. Learning from experts in the fields of branding, social enterprise, social media, strategy, business development, raising capital, basically all the things you need to have together to build a successful social mission based business. World class particpants and up and coming super stars, I feel lucky and privilaged to have been a part of it. Business is a lot more than about making money and this conference proved it. You need to have it together to be successful and profit is only a piece of success.

Getting Started

Over the past few weeks I've been chugging along as Saul Good's second employee and learning the quirks and charms of working in a sustainable corporate gift business. With a long and diverse list of projects, I've had to learn a lot on the fly, but I've found the challenge of doing something totally new nearly as rewarding as getting it done right.

After looking at the reclaimed parallam beams in our warehouse for the last 7 months I finally got around to following through on the reclaimed wood work bench I envisioned when Saul Good moved into share space with Eclipse Awards. Parallam is a recycled wood building product that Eclipse used to reinforce the ceiling to add strength for the green roof top deck on top of the building. It looks really cool, layers upon layers of in line wood grains, now playing the role of table top in our production space. It was just last week when I dropped into see our friends at Propellor Design, a local Strathcona Green Zone business that designs and builds rad lighting fixtures and furniture using eco materials, when I mentioned this project and they kicked down a super simple design that we bagan to work with. Besides scoring a design we also got a few boxes of reclaimed bamboo and nice hardwoods for our hand turned pens by Tradeworks Custom Products.

Is sustainable business possible or just a load of garbage? TerraCycle is proving that it is not only possible but a competitive way to create value in lots of places. With a robust business model that pays organizations for their waste and turns organic waste into natural fertilizer products TerraCycle has a win win.

Strathcona area businesses are finding ways to cooperate for bottom line benefts. Last week I was honored to meet with other local business owners at Sunrise Soya Foods, a Strathcona keystone business, for the purpose of exploring ways in which we can utilized each other's waste streams.  I'm happy to report back on some of the progress we've made happen to date in addition to opportunities we're continuing toll explore.  Reducing and eliminating waste pays directly into the bottom line of a business, waste = cash, but beyond saving some money this type of work also adds value by building community and relationships with our neighbours. All of this work feeds into building the Strathcona Green Zone, an initiative by the Strathcona Buiness Improvement Association (SBIA) helping local businesses maximzing value from sustainble business practices. Through cooperation we're finding ways to work together for mutual benefit and creating a progressive and innovative business cluster in close proximity to downtown Vancouver.

I am super lucky to have a view like this on my way home from work! Riding my bike over the Burrard Bridge in Vancouver, BC hosts fantastic views of English Bay out to the Georgia Straight and the Coast Mountains. I've been riding my bike to and from our Strathcona office and warehouse a few times a week, it's been an easy and fun way to start and end my work day. The new bike lane over the Burrard Bridge has made cycling safer in Vancouver and is a big step by Mayor Gregor Robertson and councellors like Andrea Reimer acting on their commitments for a sustainable city.

Although competition plays a role in challenging ourselves to improve, cooperation is key to progress in a major way. By working together, people and companies are finding amazing ways to contribute value to each other and our organizations.  While working on my MBA I was introduced to Elisabet Sahtouris, an evolutionary biologist giving us a lecture on how we can learn from nature to improve business & society. Over the past while I've noticed a few things that merge together in this space.

GreenOne Ventures is an amazing local company with deep committments to sustainability. After meeting at Sustainability 2.0 and talking more with GreenOne founder Melissa Blyth I was quick to realize a great opportunity to work together. Not only are GreenOne bags super stylie, fashion forward, and practical but also locally manufactured while supporting the local arts community. Melissa is commited to having a positive impact on the world as seen by the depth of her consideration in sourcing materials and partners in this enterprise. Saul Good is happy to announce that we've started to offer her bags, not only as great gifts on their own, but also as packaging options for our corporate gifts, gourmet gift baskets and boxes.

Signed, sealed and delivered - Saul Good is now Bullfrog Powered! I just signed up my company to purchase Green Power Certificates (GPCs) from Bullfrog Power, this means that for the amount of electricity I use in my business Bullfrog supports renewable energy projects in BC & Alberta to generate that electricity.  It's an easy way to show support for changing the energy industry and building awareness for low impact sources of power.