“At Grubbly, we make healthy, sustainable, grub-based food to nourish our pets while nurturing our planet.”
Being headquartered in Atlanta, Grubbly Farms identifies as a market leader in providing sustainable insect-based feed for backyard chickens. By introducing dried black soldier fly grubs into their feeds, Grubbly Farms has implemented more sustainable protein products to the markets. Empowering consumers to practice sustainable aspects and make positive impacts on the environment. In addition to providing sustainable goods, Grubbly Farms furnishes a solution to overfishing whilst addressing the problem of food waste produced in the United States.
Sean Warner
Co-Founder and CEO
During his college time at Georgia Tech, Sean Warner, a young creative, perceptive, and intuitive entrepreneur with a learning mindset, successfully launched Grubbly Farms with his cousin, Patrick Pittaluga, in 2015. Starting with an article about the insect industry and fascinated by using insects to recycle food waste, protect and preserve the environment, as well as marine resources, Warner saw the opportunity to take on the industry in a more sustainable way. There are no reasons for him not to leverage natural resources to create a sustainable supply chain and generate significant positive impacts on the economy.
The Challenges
When it comes up to sustainable development, the costs of integrating SDGs into business practice is one of the main obstacles that each business needs to consider. It is not easy and not cheap to implement all aspects of SDGs into the business. Even its products and business model have been established based on sustainability initiatives, the company still needs to be successful with stable profit before generating and maintaining long-term positive impacts in the industry. For Grubbly Farms, the cost also includes the time it takes to identify the customer's trends. Consumer behavior is another challenge that Grubbly Farms needs to come across to meet its mission. Since consumers have the power to dictate all the business processes even from product ingredients to packaging, the company has been working with consumers to find a solution and strategy to address consumers' demand but still align with its targets.
The Lessons
A new study shows that 66% of customers are willing to pay a premium price for a product that is made based on sustainable manners," Warner says. So, be transparent and open to customers are a crucial factor in achieving sustainable development. Besides, realistic goals with suitable strategies to implement sustainable practices is another key factor that helps Grubbly Farms' success. Warner suggests new and small businesses taking small steps with doable goals toward integrating SDGs rather than being involved in all the SDGs aspect and failing.