Our history
One morning in 2014, we received a phone call that would change our lives. My aunt informs us that she has incurable cancer. She dedicated the last weeks of her life to understanding the impact of consumer products on human health. She was particularly interested in household products and was shocked to see the legal vagueness surrounding this sector in Canada. When he passed away, my mother and I wanted to keep this awareness we had inherited alive.
Around our kitchen island, we set out to reinvent people's relationship with household products.
Several years of research have allowed us to create a range of products geared towards a healthy lifestyle. Inspired by ancestral recipes for cleaning products, we have revisited the great classics to meet the level of performance required by today's families!
The reflection
One morning in 2014, I received a call that would change my life. My aunt tells me that she has incurable cancer and asks me to do palliative care at home with her. As I was completing my doctorate at the time, I adapted my schedule to be able to be present with her during this ordeal. During his journey toward death, we had a discussion that changed my life: the impact of household products on human health. Without knowing it, it was the greatest legacy she left me!
After research and reflection, my mother and I decided to start a small business that would act as a “side business”. We will manufacture our household products. You are never better served than by yourself!
Passion
After my aunt died, my mother and I left with coffee in hand to take lessons in making natural household products. We therefore spent several weekends at the botanical garden, at coop coco, noblessence, lesâmes fleurs in order to acquire our basic knowledge. It was OK but no wow factor in terms of the results obtained.
While I was teaching at the university, I received an international intern with whom I discussed the knowledge acquired in these courses and it was then that she told me that I had to work with Marseille soap.
We ordered a block from ebay and just one test convinced us that this ingredient had just changed everything! This is how we integrated this European ingredient with our Quebec knowledge to create our first unique Planette recipes.
Sales on the kitchen island!
I was on maternity leave for my 3rd child, so a perfect time to go shopping on the weekends and set up a small, basic online store. In September 2016, Planette officially began selling its products online. The magic of word of mouth is gradually doing its work.
Our activities mainly took place at my kitchen island where we had small bottles and homemade printed labels. My daughter snug in the carrier, our main instrument was a stainless steel whisk and bowl!
After making various markets, we opened a Facebook page and a non-transactional website. People need to email us to order! Start of official sales of Planette products, September 2016.
Word of mouth does its job
Word of mouth does its job. We are experiencing great natural growth and are starting to find our kitchen island cramped for our production. We therefore decide to invest in renovating part of our basement to increase our production capacity. Our current tools? Stainless steel bowls, hand mixer and measuring cups. We are launching a transactional site.
After taking evening classes with François Charron's site.ca, we are launching our first transactional site. Our marketing tool? Friendly Facebook lives that allow us to quickly build a community. Those were the good years when Facebook was the ally of SMEs.
Our first online orders...
Sales are increasing at a constant rate. We are hiring our first employee through an association that promotes the integration of people with mental health disorders.
Production development & delivery
Year of hypergrowth, we rented commercial premises where we continued to produce in an artisanal manner, but with more adapted equipment. We are able to produce more volume at a time and have better control over the quality of our products. We now have 3 employees. We are also purchasing a delivery truck so that we can make some deliveries ourselves via a smart route. This is the year our Mother Nature distribution network was born!
Mother Nature everywhere in Quebec
COVID arrives in force and there are two of us, my mother and me. Several employees will not return. We are taking advantage of this ordeal to review our business model and put forward our network of Mothers Nature. We go from 25 to 80!
A corporate clientele is establishing itself
A year of stabilization and planning for our next years. We decide to take the plunge and move into light industrial. This requires a complete redefinition of our strategies, while remaining focused on our values and our vision. We launched our corporate offer and won our first large volume contracts.
Transition of our operations
This year involves our move and the transition of our operations to light industrial. These facilities allow us to generate volume and ensure our transition to corporate offers and private formulation. Optimization of our processes which allows us to maintain our prices despite the inflation which is blowing the market.
Our transition is consolidated
Acquisition of a laboratory which formulates body products. Monsceau and which allow us to offer complementary products to Planette products of exceptional quality and 100% aligned with our values. We won the industrial prize of the year from the Laval Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
We're coming to the big stores!
Selected for the IGA accelerator. Our products will be available in supermarkets within a few months. Planette enters 4.0 mode, with a reinvented website and personalized platforms for our fundraising campaign and shoreline projects. Redesign of our logo.