Fox Fold, which aims to innovate the toilet paper and facial tissue market, has expanded within the hospitality sector throughout North America.

Launched in February, the company has raised over $3 million and sold more than 5,000 dispensers in the region. It began with boutique hotels like Pacific Sands Beach Resort, The Oswego, and The Annex Hotel, but has since expanded to serve major brands in Canada and the U.S., including Accor, Hilton, Sheraton, and Choice Hotels. It’s also working with ownership and management groups in both countries, such as S&L Hospitality, Evergreen Hospitality Group, and Westmont Hospitality Group: one of the largest firms of its kind.

Fox Fold’s products are designed to help clients achieve their sustainability goals while reducing costs, without compromising on quality or design. With toilet paper, the company provides a patented wall-mounted dispenser that releases sheets one at a time. Its function eliminates the need to throw out unfinished rolls and reduces consumption by up to 40 percent. It’s also more hygienic, as the sheets are kept in a fully enclosed unit, whereas rolls can trap bacteria due to exposure.  

As for tissue paper, the company offers a box made from durable metal with an anti-scratch finish, providing a sleek alternative to typical cardboard boxes with decorative patterns. Because it's reusable, it eliminates the tedious process of opening and disposing of boxes — which requires removing the plastic before folding them up for recycling. 

“For the chains, we saw a lot of interest at the ground level, but obviously because they're large organizations they’ve got to go through brand [executives] and head office,” Gregory Hegger, co-founder and COO of Fox Fold, told the Vancouver Tech Journal.  “For those groups, it was just a matter of ensuring that they saw traction with the other hotels. We showed them success stories to prove that the product actually worked. So, one by one, we just started checking the boxes and answering all of the questions they had [...] We want to work with every single brand out there, but we’re happy with what we have right now and will continue to showcase all of our benefits.”

Hotels were a focus for Fox Fold when it started, given the environmental concerns and cost loss from paper. On average, a typical hotel goes through nearly 40,000 rolls of paper per year, with up to half of the inventory being discarded because standards dictate that every new guest requires a fresh roll — resulting in billions of dollars in sunk costs annually. 

Over time, the company attracted other businesses across B.C. These included Kissa Tanto, the Michelin-star Japanese-Italian restaurant by celebrity chef Joël Watanabe; Tofino Brewery, one of the province’s most popular taprooms; Suki’s hair salon chain; and Ignite Pizzeria.

With both its toilet paper and tissue solutions, businesses can order custom designs, and paper-wrapped bamboo sheets are provided. The choice helps save costs and reduce CO2 emissions during shipping, as the flat packing does not contain excess air and allows for three times the supply compared to rolls.

“We're trying to make it easy for people to make the choice they want,” highlights Gregger. “I find that with sustainability, often you want to practice it, but it's outside of your regular behaviour, or there are hurdles involved in doing so. Oftentimes, that's why people just don't do it. But if we make it easy for you — if the product is simple to install, you're buying it the same way you would buy your rolls, we're in the same distribution channels, and we're competitively priced — then at that point, it’s really just a choice, right? There's no extra effort required to pick us over the other. So, we're trying to remove all the barriers so that it really just becomes choice A or choice B, with the second option offering far more benefits.”

Having received much feedback, Fox Fold is now working on changes to ensure it can accommodate different layouts. Among the developments are products that can be integrated into walls or placed beneath a vanity. The company is also exploring other materials to make its offerings more affordable and, hopefully, increase adoption. 

Looking ahead, Gregger envisions venturing into other applications, like paper towels for hotel and restaurant staff and customers. As for the original focus, he hopes that in 10 years, it will be surprising for anyone to enter a bathroom and see a roll with sheets dangling to the floor.

For anyone else inventing a product that disrupts its market, Gregger shares lessons from Fox Fold’s early days when it had yet to sign a client.

“When we started, we had zero dispensers sold,” he shares. “Now we have a line of sight and understanding of how to get to 100,000 dispensers sold [...] I would say, talk to a lot of people within the industry you're trying to solve for, and if you get the validation you're looking for from enough of them who say, ‘Hey, this is actually a pain point, and if you could solve it, I'd be very interested,’ then go for it.”

He adds: “Find the right partners who can help you get there. Have the vision. Be incredibly diligent and strict in how you get there. But just go for it. A lot of times people will say, ‘Well, surely someone else has thought of it and there's a reason this doesn’t exist.’ But oftentimes, it’s just that no one’s ever thought to do it, so go do it.”

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