Mission: To rid the North American moving industry of its bad reputation
Assets: Profitably applying a green spin to a product everyone uses
Yield: Company expansion to three major cities in under three years
By Noa Glouberman
Casting about for an idea that would let him exit the corporate world and venture off on his own, Doug Burgoyne made the risky decision to choose an industry he felt suffered from a “bad reputation.”
“Let’s face it, moving can be a real nightmare,” said the founder and president of Vancouver-based Frogbox Inc. “Almost everyone has had a bad experience, myself included. … One of our goals from the beginning has been to try and change that perception.”
Although Frogbox, which Burgoyne launched with a silent partner in April 2008, will not haul your couch to your new condo, it does fill a niche within the moving sector that’s often overlooked – not to mention appeals to the increasingly green sensibilities of today’s consumer.
“There was a period in my life when I was moving around quite a bit, and I became really frustrated with the level of waste that accumulated as a result,” he explained. “That’s where the idea for a natural solution came in – strong, reusable moving boxes that someone else cleans, stores and reuses.”
The company’s name, he added, is meant to be as meaningful as it is memorable: “Frogs are a good indicator species, which means [their absence is] an early warning sign of polluted ecosystems. For this reason they’re often associated with lowering environmental impact.”
Likewise Frogboxes – the sturdy, stackable, bright-green plastic bins Burgoyne’s company rents out to customers for residential moves – can be reused about 400 times before they need to be recycled. Their cardboard counterparts, in comparison, can be used only twice on average.
“When you consider that in Vancouver alone about 450,000 cardboard boxes are used each month for moving, and that many of those boxes may potentially end up in the landfill … it seems like a no-brainer,” he said. “We’re also excited to be keeping everyday folks away from dumpster diving for used boxes.”
Burgoyne is similarly mindful when it comes to ensuring the green foundation Frogbox stands on extends well beyond its bins. The firm uses eco-friendly products to clean each box after use; sells sustainable moving supply products like recycled packing paper; and equips its delivery trucks with software that plans routes and schedules based on postal codes so trips are ordered efficiently and mileage is reduced.
Frogbox even sets aside 1% of its gross revenue to support frog habitat restoration initiatives in the northwest, and recently donated $1,000 to the Vancouver Aquarium’s Oregon spotted frog recovery program.
“We want to run the company in every way we can with the lowest environmental footprint,” Burgoyne said. “We believe that we can be a successful business and do what’s right for the environment at the same time, and we think the best way to minimize human impact on the environment is by creating sustainable solutions that are cost-effective and convenient, too.”
The strategy has proven successful. In less than three years, Frogbox has grown from a part-time Lower Mainland service to an international corporation operating in three major markets – Vancouver, Seattle and, most recently, Toronto. While Burgoyne stays mum about company revenue figures, he said the company grew more than 220% from last year and went from having one part-time driver in 2008 to 10 employees today.
He’s also the first to admit that he couldn’t have done it alone.
“My professional background ranges from physiotherapy to high-tech sales. I earned an MBA from the University of Western Ontario … but starting a business from scratch was something that was new to me. I knew I needed to team up with someone who had those types of skills.”
Although he won’t identify his partner by name, Burgoyne said the person has successfully taken private companies public in the past. He also revealed that after the terms surrounding the newly formed partnership were solidified, he and his partner spent eight months researching the idea and talking about the brand.
“Before we went full throttle, we wanted to make sure we were crystal clear on what the value of the business was, how we were going to grow it and that it would be scalable from the ground up,” he recalled. “For me, the ‘aha’ moment was realizing that you could move with these boxes and it would be more convenient, just as affordable and arguably cheaper, and it’s environmentally friendly. That’s when I knew that I wasn’t giving up my good-paying corporate job for anything less than a great opportunity.”
“Whatever Doug sets his mind to, he achieves,” confirmed Lululemon Athletica marketing director Eric Peterson, who knows Burgoyne personally and professionally. “I’ve known Doug for five years, and I’ve talked to him a lot about his business. By putting an environmental spin on something everyone uses, he’s really built Frogbox for maximum scalability. With such a broad market base, he’s created a company that’s a clear winner, which can grow anywhere at this point.”
Grow it has. In June 2009, about a year after its launch, Frogbox leapt into Seattle. The following March, the firm expanded to Toronto. Now, Burgoyne’s beginning to franchise, telling Business in Vancouver he’s “looking for a small number of highly qualified [North American] franchisees for 2011.”
He said all Frogbox locations are corporately owned, but the company plans to sell all but Vancouver as franchises.
Burgoyne added that Frogbox franchises range from $10,000 to $30,000 (depending on territory size) and royalties are 7% of revenue.
“We’re adopting a rapid but controlled growth strategy to ensure the quality and consistency of our program and provide a strong support base for our franchisees. As a result, we’ll only award a limited number of Frogbox franchises in 2011 … high-calibre candidates that believe in our company’s social mission and share our conviction that what we’re doing has a higher mission beyond financial.”
While Frogbox’s ultimate goal is to be in every major city in North America, Burgoyne said it won’t happen “at the expense of our values as a company, like pitching in to protect the environment and providing our customers with exceptional service.”
He added that great service can be as simple as a delivery person calling to let a client know he’s stuck in traffic and will be arriving later than expected.
“We’re changing consumers’ minds in terms of what they think about the moving industry or how they’ve been let down by the industry in the past. We’re making a difference in the market and on planet Earth. In my mind, it doesn’t get much better than that.”