Lots of things about living in a pandemic suck, but Meredith Holland is trying to make sure drinking isn’t one of them.
Holland, a third-year Acadia University student, has come up with the Atlantic Bubble reusable straw as part of her Entrepreneurship and Innovation course.
She’s from Toronto, but her parents grew up in Halifax, and the fact they can’t come to their property in Lunenburg was part of the inspiration for her invention.
“They usually visit every summer, but they can’t, so I thought: why not bring the Atlantic bubble to people,” she said.
All of the 50 or students in Prof. Ryan MacNeil’s “really cool” course have to start their own business, which Holland, who’s actually working toward a bachelor of community development degree, knew going in.
“I was aware because I know people that had taken it in the past,” Holland said of the course, being taught online this year. “I looked at a lot of things, I looked at beach balls because I wanted to give people a piece of the Atlantic bubble to have.”
Holland’s Atlantic Bubble consists of a plastic cylinder small enough for a pocket, with a silicone straw inside.
“You unfold it, because it’s collapsible and it comes in these little carrying cases and with a little tool that you can use to clean out the straw because…they don’t go in the dishwasher, they need some tender care,” she said. “They’re potentially a safety device because, sure, restaurants have COVID-19 policies and they sanitize everything but it’s just an extra measure, because you don’t know the last person who touched your glass or (a can of pop), you don’t know when it was packaged.
“And a lot of places don’t do straws now because they’re trying to be environmentally sustainable.”
Holland turned her Wolfville apartment into a factory, hand-labelling and packing each Atlantic Bubble before shipping them. She started selling in mid-November with an inventory of more than 100 and sold out in two days, using Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. Some people bought $5 single units and others bought the $20 rainbow pack, which come in four colours.
“I had to order more to meet demand,” she said. “What was interesting was that most of the customers were from Ontario, so outside the Atlantic bubble.
“Unfortunately, they’re manufactured in China, which is not ideal, but during the span of the course I needed to find someone who could get them to me fast. Ideally, what I would like to do if I was to take this project farther….is pick a Canadian supplier.”
Holland is considering expanding into Atlantic bubble gum or Atlantic bubble bath, and trying to get her products into a retail store in Halifax. She said the project has been a lot of fun, and she is donating 15 per cent of profits to the Wolfville Food Bank.
