McDonald’s and Allbirds Among Brands Benefiting from Innovative B2B Product Development
What do used cooking oil and paint solvent have in common? What about the McDonald’s and Allbirds brands? It all has to do with B2B new products.
The cooking oil and paint solvent categories are both delivered in B2B closed-loop, new-product solutions that disrupted traditional approaches. By being a customer of the cooking oil closed loop solution, McDonald’s joined the ranks of mega-recyclers. And Allbirds is focused on sustainability in all its products.
B2B New Products Example: Recycling Cooking Oil into Biodiesel
Cooking oil for frying is commonly used by many foodservice customers, including brands such as:
- McDonald’s
- KFC
- Wendy’s
- Albertson’s
- Burger King
- Applebee’s
- Carrabba’s
- Chili’s
- Many independent restaurants
Disposing of the dirty, used cooking oil is a challenge. B2B new products give restaurants an easy solution that is good for the environment. Restaurant Technologies (RT) is a leading B2B provider of these disruptive new products and services. RT’s closed loop system has two tanks connected to the fryers (one for bulk cooking oil and one for waste oil) with automatic controls.
RT service trucks deliver fresh cooking oil and remove waste with “all grease recycled into biodiesel” and “an entire process done according to your schedule…no upfront capital costs.” Their new product name: Total Oil Management is very descriptive.
“With Total Oil Management, we handle the entire oil process for you—from ordering and receipt process delivering fresh cooking oil all the way to storing, handling and recycling of used cooking oil.”
Additional new product solutions from RT include Fryer Filtration Management subscription service, Grease Lock disposable grease filters, and more.
In 2018, RT was sold by private equity firm Aurora Capital Partners.
RT’s competitors include Mahoney Environmental, Oilmatic, Bulk Cooking Oil Solutions (BCOS), Dar Pro Solutions, Liquid Environmental Solutions (who operates in several spaces), traditional methods, and others.
As much as 500 million pounds of cooking oil goes is recycled through this disruptive B2B new product approach.
B2B New Products Example: Another Closed Loop System that Safely Managed Paint Solvents
Body shops are big business. Approximately 113,000 auto body shops in the US employ over 300,000 workers. The total market is estimated at $44B. Some of the largest players include:
- Caliber Collision
- ServiceKing Collision Repair Centers
- ABRA Auto Body & Glass
- Canadian-headquartered Boyd Group.
Body shop operations:
Los Angeles-based Pacific Resource Recovery offers the PRR system to body shop B2B customers. Similar to the two-tank system that RT offers, PRR uses a two steel drum proprietary model:
“One dispenses the clean solvent through a rotary hand pump. The other collects the waste through the FM-listed registered funnel with flame arrestor. PRR service trucks deliver fresh solvent and remove the waste solvent based on the customer’s unique usage schedule, with 100% of the solvent waste recycled as a supplemental fuel source.” PRR is hyper-focused on safety for customers and employees, with “complete compliance and peace of mind” a priority. They “maintain all reports taking the pain out of paperwork. PRR also offers several other additional products and waste management services to different B2B customers.”
PRR offers several other additional products and services to different B2B customers, not all of which are closed loop systems.
Other Examples: Sustainability in B2C and B2B New Products
There are several other examples of quasi or full closed loop production processes that promote sustainability. Allbirds crafts “with planet-friendly natural materials, like merino wool and eucalyptus trees, because they’re our best chance for a sustainable future.” Nike has a closed-loop supply chain system, with 75% of products using recycled textiles. Eagle Ottawa offers recycled leather for the automotive market. LA-based FABFAD is doing its part for a sustainable transformation of the global apparel industry.
B2B New Product Strategy Broader than Closed Loop
The purpose of highlighting the cooking oil and paint solvent closed loop examples is to generate new thinking for B2B new products, not to suggest that the only approach is closed loop.
Beyond closed loop, the broad strategy is offering new products that add value to your customer by saving them time, money, risk and management attention on services that can be better handled externally. Solving these problems is a rich source of new products for B2B companies.
In this case, new products are broadly understood to include new services, sometimes combined with tangible products. Combining these new products with a recurring revenue business model, patented technology, AI, scalability and compelling business case for the customer is a winning strategy for growth.
So, what disruptive B2B new products can your brand offer to save your customers regulatory challenge, time, money and more? Contact us for help with disruptive new products.
