When you’re in the partyware business, you’re never too far from a cause for celebration. But forget the streamers and the disposable plates for a moment, because this year Products of Change member Talking Tables wants to mark its 25th year in business by generating £25 million in revenue.
It’s a bold ambition, by anyone’s standards but given the strong economic headwinds businesses across the board have faced in the first six months of the year alone, it’s a noble pursuit for a company whose success along the way will mean a whole lot more than its own financial gain.
From its humble beginnings as a “kitchen table start-up” founded by Clare Harris back in 1999, Talking Tables stands today as an award-winning advocate for purpose-driven business and social impact which went down in the history books in 2022 for becoming the party industry’s first ever fully accredited B Corp company.
With positive social and environmental impact built into the very structure of the business – in its ethos and its core operational pillars – there’s a very real and tangible reason why we should all be backing Clare and the team’s ambition for second half success this year – for the irrefutable proof that purpose and profit are perfect partners.
“The most important, core principle for Talking Tables is that we’ve always been about bringing people together, and that remains a key value for us,” Daniel Fagan, Talking Tables’ director of supply chain, tells Products of Change.
“So as a company, we constantly look at how we can bring people together and along on the journey with us. We make sure that growth for us as a business always means growth for those we work with and the organisations we partner with to deliver real-world, positive impact.”
Talking Tables has a good deal of people and projects to share success with. To start, there’s its partnership with Re-Engage, a national charity established to help tackle the rising numbers of elderly people living in deprivation, loneliness, and social isolation. A long-standing charity partner for the team, what started as a product donation programme has since transformed into the provision of a social value service and today, members of the Talking Tables team will routinely be found at various Re-Engage events and embracing the opportunities it lends to drive impact on a more local level.
“It was this partnership that led us to work with Lifeline, through which we now host events in our London office,” explains Daniel who in early summer was, himself, part of the eight-person volunteer team to host a Lifeline Summer Party for 30 elderly locals, there in the Talking Tables London offices.
“It’s unique for a company like us, that we can provide that level of benefit to the local community,” says Daniel. “And it’s a side to the company – our social impact ambition – that will continue to grow as we do.”
Beyond Re-Engage and Lifeline, Talking Tables also currently partners with Go Beyond, donating party ware and product to be used by the organisation when hosting weekend trips away for young carers faced with mounting pressures of looking after family members; and the Trussell Trust through which is works with, donates to, and hosts birthday celebrations within local food banks. By offering each organisation dedicated levels of continual support, product, and volunteered people hours, Talking Tables prides itself on its ability to drive real-world social impact upon the lives of those in need.
But social value aside, £25 million in revenue for a partyware business will require a lot of product to be sold, and product sold in that quantity is going to leave a rather sizeable environmental footprint. Which is a point that hasn’t escaped the team’s attention.
“The environmental impact of our growth plans… is a challenge,” admits Daniel. “But meeting it is very important to us. For us, it’s about engagement with our supply base and supply chains.
“When we knew we were going to focus on sustainability and the environment, we knew we had to take our suppliers on the journey with us. We have our own Net Zero ambition as a company and we know that to get there, we’re going to be impacted by the progress made by our suppliers and value chain actors. We’re all in it together.”
In October last year, Talking Tables hosted the latest of its bi-annual (once every two years) supplier summits, in which suppliers from across the globe (the majority being in China) were brought together in Shanghai to discuss the company’s environmental goals. In doing so, Talking Tables created a space for transparent discussion across its value chain as well as the opportunity to showcase the trajectory for the company’s mission to place environmental and social impact at the forefront of its activity.
Already, the 2023 summit has driven “massive impact” across that supply chain. Not only was it used as the launch pad for Talking Tables’ own, bespoke environmental supplier audit (developed in partnership with an independent sustainability consultancy) but has spurred such action as investment into renewable energy across four of the company’s biggest suppliers, and expedited an increased supply chain transparency – a now critical criteria given the incoming tsunami of regulatory pressures for businesses across areas like the EU Deforestation Regulation, Nature Restoration Regulation, and Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation.
Speaking of nature, Talking Tables has planted some 42,000 trees to date, and supported carbon and solar panel projects around the world, all thanks to its ongoing partnership with Ecology. Working so closely to the pulp and paper industry, it’s been an area firmly on the radar since the business’ earliest days. From 2012 onwards, Talking Tables has been 100% FSC certified across its entire paper portfolio and, despite its size, has worked continuously to ‘give back’.
In doing so, Talking Tables is no stranger to challenging the status quo of the partyware sector and is eyeing the opportunities – and the business models (including rental) – to move out of single-use product entirely through the exploration of substrates and materials that will enable an accessible ‘reuse’ market within the party industry.
“We were one of the first B Corps in the gift industry, so we’re quite used to challenging the norm,” says Daniel. “And that’s a legacy we want to continue. Every year is about setting new challenges for ourselves.
“If we’re going to be a force for good – which is what the business has set out to be – then it’s all going to be about how we challenge ourselves along that journey, showing that customer that we are still making fun products, but that we are doing the work to make it all more sustainable.”