HOPE RIVER - Pieter Ijsselstein didn’t think he’d be squeezing the juice out of potatoes for a living.
“(But) the demand was there," he said.
Ijsselstein and his wife had moved to P.E.I. in 2008, ultimately settling in Hope River. He then studied at UPEI for his master’s degree in business administration.
“Our idea was to develop a number of income generator opportunities.”
They explored a variety of crafty business ventures, including market gardening, pottery, candle making, and papermaking. An important component to making paper is starch, which Ijsselstein knew he'd have no problem sourcing from the Island’s potato industry, he said.
So, he got a juicer, set it up in his basement, and decided to give it a try. He started wringing potatoes through it, expecting to simply dip his hand into the juice and extract the starch that accumulated at the bottom.
But it was the juice that caught his eye.
“I was just amazed at all the suds. It looked like soap suds,” he said.
Ijsselstein rubbed the suds on his hands and his skin, noting it had a velvety feel to it. Later that evening he planned to work on another side-venture that required a base liquid in its recipe – bar soap.
“Why don’t I just try this liquid?” he said.
Four years later, and after moving operations out of his basement, he's now making over 1,000 bars of potato soap a day.
Island Potato Soap Company ended up being one of Ijsselstein’s most successful ventures. He’s selling tater-made soap out of about 150 retailers across Atlantic Canada.
“It’s a great product for under $10,” Ijsselstein.
He uses organic P.E.I. potatoes that are typically too damaged to go to market. Some of his partnerships have his products shipping as far as Taiwan and Hong Kong, and online sales have been a huge plus.
“Our main markets are still the tourists that come here,” he added.
Some of Island Potato Soap Company’s products are named after licenced Anne of Green Gable characters. This includes:
-Anne Shirley’s Lavender Soap
-Marilla’s Rosemary Soap
-Gilbert’s Coffee Soap
-Lucy Maud Sweet Pea Soap
And one based on another P.E.I. icon – Bud the Spud Beer Soap
He’s also developed a coffee soap that he’s currently pitching to Tim Horton’s. He likes to add humour to some of his products, with one being named Sin Washer Soap, and he's thinking of creating an Impeachment Soap for U.S. tourists.
Ijsselstein’s business was featured on a Japanese documentary about P.E.I., and he appeared on CBC’s Dragons' Den to potentially make a deal with the show’s hosts. The episode never aired, possibly because he refused the offer he was made.
He also started making skin cream, as part of the appeal of his product is the skin benefits. Potato juice is rich in vitamin C, and while many skin creams have about 40 to 50 chemical ingredients in them, his has less than 10, he said.
“Sometimes it’s not what’s in your product, but what’s not in it that makes it good,” Ijsselstein explained.
One of Ijsselstein’s biggest challenges moving forward is space constraints. Fulfilling bulk orders for bigger companies would be hard right now due to his small working space, which he’s hoping to upgrade, he said.
But it’s not slowing him down. He’d like to someday develop a spud-infused sunscreen, and he’s been working with Holland College's Culinary Institute to develop a potato beverage.
“It would definitely be promoted as a health drink,” he said. “It could also be a good source of energy drink,” he said.
The potato drink could be flavoured, and perhaps even carbonated. It'll likely be a few years before it’s shelf-ready, but he's already joking about what they should name it – Spudweiser.
“The Culinary Institute was quite pleased with the results,” he said. “The one that we developed tasted really good.”
