RECYCLED FORTUNE

Ink cartridge refill biz churns out $120 million and wants you to join the profit action.

Rapid Refill Ink At-A-Glance
132 E. Broadway, Suite 900
Eugene, OR 97401
541-431-4665
www.rapidrefillink.com

Market Position: Rapid Refill Ink is the only U.S.-based retailer in the industry with storefront operations that utilize state-of-the-art technology and equipment to remanufacture cartridges. Overall savings on remanufactured cartridges range between 40 and 70 percent. A typical Rapid Refill Ink store carries 1,100 different inkjet cartridges and 200 models of laser toner cartridges, including compatible and OEM products. According to industry estimates, by 2005 there will be 360 million inkjet printers installed worldwide with a predicted annual growth rate of nine percent. Business services include no-fee initial cleaning of printers, free delivery of cartridges and printer repair services.

Historical Data: Rapid Refill Ink opened its first store in November 2002. Founder Dan. P White, a biologist by education, had already found success in business in the marketing and technology fields, disciplines in which he was admittedly “self-taught.” White entered the remanufactured cartridge industry because he saw it as a viable business—by 2006, 308 million remanufactured cartridges are expected to be sold, according to The Wall Street Journal—and an opportunity to positively impact the environment. Franchising began in January 2004.

Growth Projections: Rapid Refill Ink expects to have 75 locations open by the end of 2004, generating $38 million to $40 million in revenue. Projections for 2005 include 200 stores in operation with revenue of approximately $120 million. 20 stores will be open primarily in the Pacific Northwest and the East Coast, including eight locations in Oregon.

Franchise Facts: Estimated total investment for an “A” store (includes production equipment) is $110,692 to $190,775, including a franchise fee of $30,000. Investment for a “B” store is $63,617 to $113,050, including a franchise fee of $17,500.

Training Support: An intensive 10-day training program is given at Rapid Refill Ink’s corporate headquarters in Eugene, Ore., or Denver, Colo. Pre-opening support includes site selection assistance, store design and build-out guidance and equipment ordering. Ongoing assistance includes intranet support and quarterly field visits.

It was once a point of pride for Dan P. White that he was able to recognize more than 25,000 different species of fish, birds, reptiles and marine mammals. “I’d been studying them since I was 5 years old,” said the president and CEO of Rapid Refill Ink. “That was my passion in life.”

A graduate of the University of Nevada with a degree in biology and marine biology, White opened a chain of five pet stores when he first got out of school, fulfilling a childhood dream. “I was one of those very lucky guys who dreamed of what I was going to do and went out and did it,” White said.

Switching gears completely, White later got into the fields of marketing and technology, disciplines in which he admits he was “self taught.” His Impact Marketing Group took several consumer software products to market. He later helped launch a company called Austin James, whose Hanes T-Shirt Maker was the No. 7-selling software package in the country in its first year. White also worked with Intel in the introduction of its Centrino technology.

But it was opening the first Rapid Refill Ink on Willamette Street in Eugene, Ore., on the day after Thanks-giving in 2002 that gave White the same feeling he had while running his pet shops. “The happiest I’ve ever been in my life was when I did my own thing,” he said.

Because he had once operated a group of East Coast video stores called “The Movie Man,” White had the understanding of how to build a chain of stores. White saw the remanufacturing of inkjet and laser toner cartridges as a viable business. And while he saw growth potential for Rapid Refill Ink, it was only as a regional concept within the state of Oregon.
However, in two months sales reached the break-even level and within 11 months, Rapid Refill Ink hit three-year sales projections. Rapid Refill Ink had three locations when White contacted longtime friend Lee Plave, a franchising expert and partner with Piper Rudnick, a law firm recognized as a world leader in franchise law.

Plave tried to dissuade his friend, but later changed course. “It’s clear you should be in franchising,” Plave told White. “Because the franchising industry needs more men of integrity.”

White’s commitment to the environment and ethics isn’t simply some contrived marketing pitch designed to draw attention to Rapid Refill Ink. He backs up his words and actions. “We not only talk the talk, we walk the talk,” he says.

The lush carpeting in Rapid Refill Ink stores is 52 percent post-consumer content and made in part from recycled milk containers. The walls are made of 100 percent wheat stock and the countertops from compressed sunflower seeds. The flooring in the store’s production areas comes from reclaimed tile and its brochures are printed on recycled paper.

But Rapid Refill Ink’s biggest impact is in what could ultimately be the millions of inkjet and laser toner cartridges it keeps from landing in the world’s landfills. In the United States alone, nearly eight cartridges are thrown away every second, according to Recharger Magazine. What’s more, each plastic toner requires 3-1/2 quarts of oil to produce; 2-1/2 ounces of oil are used to produce each new inkjet cartridge.

Recycling programs are also open to controversy. According to “Exporting Harm,” a 54-page report by the Basel Action Network (BAN), about 80 percent of the e-waste collected by recyclers ends up in containers bound for Asia. According to BAN, Guiyu, China has become the world’s leading dumping ground for such waste. The area’s drinking water is not potable and the Lianjiang River has 200 times the acceptable levels of acid and 2,400 times the acceptable level of lead.

“Some cartridges can be remanufactured 20 to 30 times,” White said. “If you look at how many cartridges are sold each day and how many could be remanufactured, you’d see how prudent it would be in the long run.”

White went to three different artists before settling on one to draw the mural depicting endangered species that wraps around the counter or kiosk of each Rapid Refill Ink outlet. As a biologist, White spent 3,000 hours underwater studying the destruction of coral polyps while living in Hawaii for five years and also worked at the Steinhart Aquarium in San Francisco, part of the California Academy of Sciences.

“The mural is my way of saying to the world, ‘Give us a hand here,’” White said. “Having animals such as the manatee in the world is a good thing.”

White is a father of six and Rapid Refill Ink is the embodiment of his “people first” philosophy. The mission of the company’s board of directors, headed by Dr. Steve Bares, executive director of the Memphis Biotech Foundation, is, according to White, “to make sure our company never puts money before people. Should I ever become an Enron-type CEO, there is an actual plan in place to fire me immediately.” •