For our first two years, IBC Reconditioned ran one wash line that handled everything. Industrial, food, intermediate — same hot caustic, same RO rinse, same operators. The bottles came out clean. We thought we were doing it right.
In summer 2016, a five-member honey co-op out of Door County asked us a question that, in retrospect, reshaped the business: would we be willing to dedicate a separate line to food-grade only? They were tired of being told by suppliers that “reconditioned” meant “clean enough, do not ask too many questions.” They wanted segregation they could see, and they were willing to pay a small premium for it.
What we built
We took our smallest of three wash bays and dedicated it. New plumbing — physically separate from the industrial circuit. New gaskets, NSF-certified, in a separate parts bin. New operators, two people who did not work on the industrial side. A documented chain-of-custody procedure that involved real paperwork, not a verbal “sure, food-grade.”
The honey co-op took 32 totes a year for three years. The premium they paid covered the line modification in 14 months.
What it did to the rest of the business
The honey co-op was not the largest customer of the food line in year three. They were among the first. By 2019 our food-grade volume was about a quarter of total. By 2023 it was a third. Every food-grade customer we have onboarded since has been able to see the line, walk the chain-of-custody procedure, and audit the segregation if they wanted to.
The honey co-op is still a customer. A different group of beekeepers, mostly. We still send them a thank-you card every December.
They asked us a question that was implicitly a critique. The right thing to do with that critique was to take it seriously.— Mara Quinn