FAQ'S - WHOLESALE
Quality
HCSC aims to provide the highest quality product and experience with wheat straws on the market. Not only do we strive to have the most drinkable straws but we were also built to scale to the exact needs of our customers.
Yes. It actually does makes a big difference as its 25% larger. Unlike other suppliers on the market, we ONLY select farms that can hand pick the widest straws available. While other companies routinely supply straws that are labeled (3 - 5mm) with the majority approximately ~3mm making it a better stirrer than a straw. We require straws that are at least 4mm wide, meaning that all of our straws are DRINKABLE. We routinely test and analyze potential suppliers that fit our quality and size requirement. Please visit the Why Us section to visually see our straws vs. competition.
Holy City Straw Company stands by its quality, its products and our overall customer experience. If for any reason, your experience did not live up to your expectations feel free to reach out to us at support@holycitystrawcompany.com. We will make sure we address any concerns that you may have and work toward a quick resolution.
Distribution
Yes, we offer pallets with 3000 count cases (tall or cocktail) or pallets with single boxes of 100 or 500 (tall or cocktail). Our main warehouse will have supply of pallets ready to ship directly to your warehouse depending on supply or we can ship directly from our manufacturing facility. Please keep in mind that there is a larger turnaround time (up to 45 days) for sizable custom orders that ship from our manufacturing facility.
Yes, we are active in the process of identifying and procuring various partners across the distribution channel. We are happy to explore the opportunity to supply our straws through your distributor so you have an opportunity to purchase our straws directly through them.
Ordering
Yes, we will work with you to optimize the pricing of our straws and are happy to discuss group purchasing discounts.
Yes, we offer a subscribe and save option where we will send your straws each month without the monthly ordering hassle. Even better, we are offering you a 5% discount to register. It's a win/win.
Straw Alternatives
When making a decision between paper or wheat, there are 3 key components that will help guide your decision. Customer Experience, Price, and Eco-Friendliness.
Customer Experience
First and foremost, paper straws are known to get soggy and without a doubt it dilutes the overall drinking experience. Its hard to quantify the tangible financial cost associated with using paper straws yet there is a cost to customer dissatisfaction. In addition, it can jeopardize the image and reputation of your brand, minimize those ordering drinks or reduce those frequenting your restaurant all together.
Price
At HCSC, we completely understand businesses are running as lean as possible to
maximize profitability, but we have run some pilot studies that show that the cost
of our wheat straws are actually in line with or less than paper straws even
though the upfront price per straw may be more expensive.
In our pilot study, the average customer spends about 1.5 hours at your business and in many cases will use multiple paper straws due to
their eventual sogginess. When factoring in this equation, businesses that use paper
straws will go through more monthly volume than a similar business using wheat straws .
Eco-Friendliness
Paper straws accelerate the rate of deforestation, often times cannot be recycled, and contain epoxies, adhesives and waxes that are all required during the manufacturing process. While one tree can produce approximately 1000 paper straws, it typically takes 20 years to grow back. Wheat straws, on the other hand, are using an agricultural waste product in its purest form. In fact 10 sq ft of wheat plant can produce 3000-5000 wheat straws that grows back annually. Paper straws accAlso keep in mind, that most recycling centers will not accept paper straws since they are food contaminated.
Restaurants, businesses and end consumers believe they are making a environmentally sound choice by using plant based straws over traditional plastic straws. Yet, the truths about PLA straws should make you reconsider your choice.
Composting Challenges
First, PLA requires industrial composting facilities to fully decompose. Unfortunately, most businesses and consumers are either not properly composting or do not have access to a facility. There are less 200 industrial composting facilities in the country and only a handful of these can actually handle PLA. PLA straws cannot be composted in backyard or home composting systems, making it even less of a true eco-friendly alternative. So ask yourself this. If you are not composting properly, you are not making an environmentally sound choice.
Won't Biodegrade Naturally
Secondly, PLA is not marine degradable and in many cases, just like plastic straws, will not biodegrade or decompose in a landfill and if they do can take 100 of years to decompose. At this point, disposing any type of PLA plastic straw is no different disposing a regular plastic straw
Recycling Challenges
Unless the PLA straws are sorted separately on location there is no way for a sorting facility to tell which straws are compostable and which ones are recyclable. Recycling facilities have problems with PLA because it cannot be mixed with other types of plastics in the process due to its lower melting point. PLA that is recycled alongside traditional plastic can contaminate the recyclability of the entire plastic batch.
Even worse, people don't know where to dispose of it and question whether it should go into the trash or a general recycling bin. Unfortunately, none of the above is true. It must be sorted and put into its own industrial composting bin.
HCSC aims to provide the highest quality product and experience with wheat straws on the market. Not only do we strive to have the most drinkable straws, but we are also built to scale to meet the exact needs of our customers. What does drink-ability mean? All of our straws are hand selected to have minimum diameter requirements to ensure a proper drinking experience. Because these straws are 100% natural with various diameters, we specifically added this step to ensure that Holy City will offer the highest quality premium straws on the market. (Link to visual). As always, our products are always backed by our Holy City Satisfaction Guarantee.