The Stroodles Journey from A-Z.
Hi, I’m Maxim, Chief Stroodler! It’s time I shed some light on the birth of Stroodles. How did we begin and where did this idea come from? Keep reading to find out more about the decisions that led to those first steps to create this sustainable pasta-straw company!
My Background and Motivations
Starting a business is always the result of a myriad of factors. A little bit of luck, a lot of planning, a good mindset and just being in the right place at the right time have led to Stroodles now being an official company with an impressive global reach and a loyal customer following.
To set the scene, i’ll bring you back to where I was at the beginning of all this. As some of you may know I have an extensive strategy consulting background. I’ve worked across many different industries from agriculture to cars, fashion, products for the elderly, and traditional retail. I have taken on projects and helped various companies such as Volkswagen, Mastercard and other multinationals as well as smaller niche — players — so called Hidden Champions. I was also heavily involved in the London tech — scene across various businesses. Having left my first startup in Feb 2018, I remember being struck with the thought that I was tired of the corporate world. The purpose and objective of many companies didn’t really appeal to me. I felt there was something lacking in meaning and I began looking for something that might create a genuine impact. I saw my wife taking on incredible not-for-profit projects and couldn’t help but feel jealous (as well as deeply impressed of course). She was helping shape real change and as cliche as it sounds I also wanted to leave my mark and help make the world better. I had previously tried to push some of my ethical values into earlier projects but often did not have the chance to follow through with these as there were always other people involved who had more commerical interests.
So, having departed from the startup I decided to get back into consultancy part-time whilst I figured out what to do next. During this time I tried to keep a really open mind and was receptive and keen to explore new ideas. This portion of my life allowed me to truly think about what was important to me and where I wanted to go. At this time also I had just hit 30, was newly married, and at that stage of life where your perspective on your future and your reflections of your past starts to change. Decisions I wanted to pursue were put into new contexts and I developed a new-found sense of purpose in my career objectives.
The Stroodles Idea
Through my new-found open mindset I came across some pasta tubes being used by Italians just for laughs. But this fun, silly moment stirred something, and it suddenly clicked. No joke I felt one of those light-bulb moments sweep over me like when a character has a eureka moment in a film. Puzzle pieces and a flurry of thoughts started coming together and the whisper of a thought started to make sense. It was such a simple idea… a pasta straw! It’s apparent ability to solve the huge plastic problem seemed so obvious.
I had come face to face with the plastic issue through my travels across South-East Asia where I went on many diving expeditions. In these beautiful places like Malaysia and Vietnam I kept finding plastic gloves or bags floating across the waters. It deeply upset me and concerned me. I did not become an eco-warrior but I gained a new appreciation and sensitivity about this plastic issue the world was facing. but was still living my life of convenience first, like 99.9% of the world.
Through my past experiences and this random incident of seeing some Italians use pasta tubes as a straw I put the two together to form the initial Stroodles idea and the Stroodles ethos. I was set on delivering products that would encourage rather than convert the majority to use more eco-friendly options.
The Icing on the Cake
Putting my consulting/ analytical hat on again, I questioned why this simple concept had not been realised before. Weeks went by as I pondered this. I attended Burning Man — a huge festival in the desert — and during this time I was able to reflect and consider this idea even more deeply. One of the festival’s main principles is leave no trace aka be responsible for the waste you may produce. My care for the environment and my growing awareness of its vulnerability in the face of human destruction, continued to flourish.
This festival that advocated community, green-living and being in touch with nature was the icing on the cake that made me want to follow through with the idea of helping people carry out small sustainable changes. I figured, if I can come to this conclusion then it’s possible for anyone to.
Stroodles is now the go-to sustainable alternative to the plastic straw. We have a great following already but we want to get the whole world on board. There are a lot of us here, an impressive 7.8bn people to be exact! If only a fraction of these indiviuals can switch their habits, it will be a huge fun.
It seems people are becoming more conscious. We rightfully herald figures such as David Attenborough and Greta Thunberg and we are starting to call on companies and politicians to address their green-policies.
Sometimes, the way eco-friendly information is relayed can feel overwhelming and as though one is being pressured through shaming. This is not the approach we want to take as it can be counterproductive and create the inverse effect, pushing people away from sustainable living. I knew in creating Stroodles that I wanted the company to be fun, digestible, uncompromising and positive.
Lift Off
After intense deliberating, calculating, and organising a business plan was made. It seems only yesterday that I was at my desk scribbling away the first ideas of Stroodles.
But wait, how did I decide on the name Stroodles I hear you ask? Well, the company would be an extension of me so I wanted the name and the logo to reflect my happy, crazy self! I spent hours playing around with different words and phrases, combining them, altering them, moving them until I saw straw and noodle written in one line and went BAM that’s it — let’s merge these. I also really wanted a mascot as all my favourite brands had some kind of character. I explained the company and the vibe to my designer, Martin, and gave him a slightly odd request “I want a pasta-man… with googly eyes!”. Confused but accepting he went to work and formed the Mr. Stroodles mascot who still champions the brand to this day.
Then there were the practicalities of creating the product to consider. After weeks and weeks of trial and error with finding factories, ordering samples, sending them back, going over to Italy, discussing, negotiating, compromising, and adapting, I finally found the perfect factory. With my first few pallets ordered, I was ready to rumble in November 2018, armed with a Stroodle and a dream. The road to get to this point was long, at times arduous and stressful, but entirely worth it.
Stroodles Milestones
Our First Trade Customer
One of the biggest milestones early on was our first customer — Laki Kane, a tropical-inspired cocktail bar and Thai restaurant in Islington. It all started when a friend of mine suggested that I attend The Spirits Show in London. I went to this show with a business card in my pocket and a tower of Stroodles sample packs in my hands. Halfway through I met Timmy from Laki Kane, who had a stand there. He immediately loved my idea, and luckily Georgi — one of the owners came by — checked out the straw and thought they were wicked. They agreed to partner with us and I couldn’t believe it. I am so grateful to the team who took a chance on me on Day 1 and are still with us as one of our biggest ambassadors today!
That first customer is what made this all feel real. It was an amazing and satisfying moment that triggered a snowball of motivation and drive to keep on going.
I also met Kieran from Lanique , which is a fantastic brand that makes spirit liquer from rose petals. Kieran has been a dear friend and advocate of Stroodles. He has given me priceless advice, teaching me about the ropes of this industry and even allowing Stroodles to be exhibited as part of his stand in another trade show. Making these inspiring and precious connections has also been one of the best parts of Stroodles.
The Launch of the Website and E — commerce
Another big moment was the launch of the website and enabling Direct-to-consumer (DTC) purchasing through this. This was launched in December 2018. After only 2 days since the launch our first order came through. I had a smile from ear to ear. Even to this day, I get that same giddy feeling when I see orders coming through as I know it means people are still enjoying our product and are keen to have Stroodles in their home/venue.
As we moved forward as a company I want us to take every oppotunity, as you never know when something amazing could happen.
Our Partners
I also want to mention our partners, who shared our vision and passion from the get go. They have helped us spread our message through collaborative events, competitions and/or other activities, enabling us to enhance the magnitude of our reach even more. Some of our partnerships include the following brands and companies: Pasta Evangelists, Little Cooks, Mount Gay Rum, London & Partners, Aloha 65, Lanique, Flawsome, British Embassy and Urban Food Fest. All have helped shape our journey and we wouldn’t be where we are today without all of them. So muh can be achieved when we work together.
Stroodles Royalty
One of the craziest and coolest things to happen to Stroodles is that we were one of the sponsors of the (British) Queen’s Birthday Party at the British Embassy in The Hague!
Seeing highly decorated generals, ambassadors, etc. Stroodling their drinks was definitely one of the big highlights of our Stroodles history.
Stroodles in the Spotlight
Another key marker for our journey was the first article and piece of PR ever written about Stroodles. This 1st article published was from Starling Bank. I was so grateful, honoured and proud to have been included in their discussion about starting an environmental enterprise. It didn’t stop there, we shortly after got an article mention from BBC Good Food! BBC Good Food is an institution, and I knew how powerful a review from this established organisation would be for Stroodles. Both articles helped cement us as a credible and innovative company.
As we continued to gain traction big name media publications such as the Huffington Post, Metro, Fast Company, The Guardian, and others gave us a shout out or sometimes a full article to inform their readers of our fun pasta-straw product! A very popular American monthly magazine called Food & Wine also wrote an article about us. Sam from our Kibbo Kift PR agency was astounded at the level of success we had amassed so quickly.
Other organisations like UniLad also raved about our straws helping boost our viral attention. Many news platforms with millions of visitors wrote about Stroodles e.g. Bored Panda, LADBIBLE, Economist. We even managed to get attention from internationally, and were mentioned in media from Costa Rica to Korea to Indonesia to Brazil. This interest in our brand still continues and we are so happy that our products and our message about combatting plastic pollution is being spread to many people.
Our Customer’s Feedback
A motivation that was important at the beginning of Stroodles and remains as an important and inspiring aspect of the company is the customer feedback we receive. Through people’s shared images, lovely comments and messages of positive encouragement we Stroodlers can see that our product is making people smile and making people think. We consistently have customers engaging with us over social media in affirmative ways. We hope to have more customers and brand ambassadors get excited about Stroodles to further a brand domino effect.
My First Employee — Kiki Stroodles
Another significant moment was when I hired my first employee — Kiki!
I took Kiki on 7 months into the business, which was growing exponentially at that stage. I was outsourcing some tasks and it was becoming obvious I needed some additional help. She had her interview with me on the Friday and started work on the Monday. On her first day at Stroodles she joined me at Stroodles’ first ever trade show at Imbibe, 2019.
Hiring Kiki was the one of the best decisions I made and I was so grateful to finally have support from someone who had a shared vision and set of beliefs about the company. It has been great to bounce ideas off someone, juggling tasks, dealing with the downs but also celebrating the wins with an employee. Kiki is still a dedicated Stroodler and is making excellent progress with all her projects.
A few months after I hired Kiki I took on Andrew, a brilliant sales and business development mind. He also helped enhance the team with his passion and drive. Seeing this Stroodles family increase has been a wonderful thing and as we move forward we hope to get even more amazing, smart, and out-of-the-box thinking individuals to join us.
My Dragon’s Den Experience
If you want to read in-depth about my Dragon’s Den experience click here. But for the spark notes version read on.
The next memorable milestone is Dragon’s Den — I went on this show which was my first ever TV appearance. This experience was something very special and important, not only for Stroodles as a company, but also to me on a personal level. The attention this show garnered from the press and from interested distributors was phenomenol!
Crowdfunding 215k!
A life changing moment for Stroodles came at the turn of 2019/2020 after a successful crowdfunding campaign via Crowdcube, where we raised £215k from across 540 global investors.
Having self — funded Stroodles for over a year by that point, I had very clear plans for growth and what was required to achieve our mission to become the go — to straw alternative. I knew that to really grow we had to inject cash into the business. And thankfully we were overwhelmed by the support we received from the investment community and the belief and trust people had in Stroodles and our vision.
Not only did this money serve as the financial backbone for our growth and scalabilty but it also faciliated psychological validation of our product. I am eternally grateful to all who helped invest in Stroodles, it’s hard to put into words sometimes.
From the fundraising I was able to put together a board of stellar advisors with years of impressive and relevant experience. Having a collection of people who provided and still provide advice and bounce off ideas with has been critical for the success of Stroodles.
The Stroodle 2.0
The last thing I will touch on is the birth of Stroodles 2.0 and the new website and design for our retail packs. Post crowdfunding it was evident that Stroodles had come a long way. So we needed to rebrand to reflect this. We also needed to refine our message to help reach more people. Over lockdown during COVID we gave Mr.Stroodles a new look and the website got a face-life too!
One of our next steps is gain a (physical) retail presence where anyone and everyone can pick up their Stroodles. We think these pasta-straws and our packaging is awesome. It is bold, fun and quirky and the straws sell at a very attractive price point.
We are so excited for what the future of the Stroodles journey will hold and we feel confident and equipped to take on new challenges and welcome even more milestones to our journey.
Thank you again to all our amazing partners, customers and of course all you Stroodlers!
Maxim, Stroodles Founder
