Logie Road - Millie Bach

Hone Program 1

1 May 2022

Introduction

With the move towards sustainability and the reduction of single use straws, Millie is a change maker and agronomist from Dalby who sees an opportunity to produce a 100% Aussie, biodegradable natural oat stem drinking straws which will give the sipper a sublime sucking experience compared to underperforming paper straws. By value adding oat crops and using the stems of the plant cut to size as an alternative to paper straws Millie and her future customers are making a pledge towards reducing waste.

Millie wanted to showcase her local area and named her new venture Logie Road, after the home farm. With more consumers actively seeking biodegradable and sustainable one time use straws, Millie set out to capture this high potential growth market.

Hone Journey

During the Hatch Program Millie drilled down on her two main customer segments:
• Women of all ages who are conscious of her environmental footprint and willing to pay a premium.
• High end sustainable and eco conscious cafes.

Once Millie had completed over 10 interviews, she uncovered some surprising pain points that she was not expecting - some people were sceptical of the ‘natural & organic’ status of products. As a result Millie understood she will need to market her straws in a different way to educate consumers and work harder to capture the B2B market.

Millie worked hard on her idea throughout the Hone Program and found the legal, accounting and social media sessions the most valuable as she mapped out Logie Road’s company structure and marketing channels. Millie has mapped her next 6-month goals to get her one step closer to having a product to take to market.

Her biggest achievement during the program was building her own website from scratch, creating the Logie Road brand, complete with logo and brand assets. At the same time, Millie stepped out her comfort zone and into the world of social media, setting up her Instagram account @logieroad and posting for the first time.

I have benefitted immensely from the knowledge of the F2F crew to help me grow my idea and business. I have learnt various new skills in particular, marketing that has definitely helped me to launch my product as well as possible.

What's next

Millie has connected with food testing experts during Hone to ensure her straws will be safe and already has 2.5Ha of oats in the ground ready to manufacture and test her MVP. Once she has finalised all required food safety tests, she will start building her team for cutting and packing the straws ready for sale.