Case study: Astin Min Fine Food's BYO reusables happy hour

A clear upward trend in customers bringing their own reusables emerged throughout the trial and as a result, the café reduced the frequency of its single-use cup orders. The table below shows how the number of reusables captured during BYO Happy Hour (calculated as a percentage of all sales) more than doubled from week 1 (25%) to week 7 (56%).

Owner Jodhi Pretlove believed the promotion inspired customers to BYO their reusables outside the happy hour time slot and observational surveys to capture reuse data outside the happy hour timeslots supports her theory. The results showed a baseline of 14.3 per cent of customers were opting for reusables prior to the trial, with 25 per cent of customers choosing reusables during the trial and an impressive 50 per cent were converts when the post-trial survey was taken.

The team at the café were overwhelmed by the response to the BYO Happy Hour trial and reported that they even started to see the increase in 'bring your own' cups outside of the designated hours quite early on. "It created a greater sense of awareness about reuse and was a talking point," explained Jodhi Pretlove. "A lot of customers were grateful for the discount but not necessarily motivated by it, which was great to see."

Benefits included attracting new customers who wanted to support the café "purely for the environmental focus" and "seeing great habit changes" among regular customers. "They now always bring their cups, whereas before they would often forget." In addition, the café also reduced its footprint and its single-use packaging costs. "It’s taking longer to get through a carton."

Astin Min already offered its environmentally conscious community ceramic borrow cups they can use and return. It also sells reusable lids and has begun to stock reusable containers, supplied by a local initiative. "We offer coffees, smoothies, sandwiches and salads all in reusables to takeaway."

During the seven-week trial, they fully committed to promoting the BYO Reusables Happy Hour by displaying signage and having the range of reusable products front and centre on the counter. "They need to be in your face for people to notice them."

Crucial to the success of the trial was uploading social media posts and stories, which were often shared by the Northern Beaches Clean Up project. "Showing actual people was vital. Seeing friends, people that live in your building or people you work with doing something good is very impactful."

After the trial, the café implemented a flat 10% discount for BYO, but without the added promotion, reuse decreased – proving ongoing effort is required. "It’s about being consistent in your approach and trying to ensure that there’s lots of different initiatives that suit a range of people and situations. We’re all in this together, so we all need to do our part to make sure we’re taking care of the environment."