As the climate crisis becomes more dire, shoppers are making changes in what they buy in favor of sustainability.
Eco-friendly packaging is key to the move toward a more sustainable future, being that it is so omnipresent in our lives.
Eva Yeh started Yayyy.co with her family in 2018, manufacturing and designing food packaging targeted at small merchants. Just like Sendle, her focus has been twofold—to help small businesses thrive and to create a sustainable alternative to business as usual.
In 2019, they launched their compostable packaging, which is entirely home compostable. For the coffee bags, that even means the vent!
I talked with Eva about how she got started, the story behind the name, and what it’s like working with family.
Eva Yeh
Eva Yeh, Founder | San Francisco, California
Yayyy provides small merchants and businesses high quality, affordable packaging, and packaging design support. We believe success is a function of quality packaging mirroring the quality product within.
Sustainable packaging + printing
Yayyy.co started in 2018 and is part of a broader family manufacturing business.
We want to serve small businesses in need of quality packaging design & printing services. We want to be their packaging partner when they need one.
After moving to San Francisco, I frequented small local craft fairs where I met other small business entrepreneurs and fed off those positive vibes and entrepreneurial spirit to start Yayyy.
It’s actually a homonym, it is the same pronunciation as my family name—Yeh.
Also, we are a very happy family. :)
There’s not that much fun when working with family.
Asian parents have very high-standards, but that just means they are proud of me and want me to succeed. However, It is very fun when I can get special treatment for my clients’ needs.
I have a design and art direction background in digital media and marketing. Married with a great resource through my family factories, it was a no-brainer to get into custom packaging.
80% of our business comes from the coffee sector, but we do much more than just coffee.
Our main focus is custom packaging and our specialty is compostable bags. We launched our sustainable product line in early 2019.
It has been approved by BPI® (Biodegradable Products Institute) and it’s even backyard friendly (i.e. home compostable).
We also sell some generic stock packaging for clients who are not yet ready for making the jump to custom orders.
It’s pretty magical! 🙂
It is the culmination of years of development, and receiving BPI® approval took a great deal of work and time. But it has been totally worth it as our product is now truly eco-friendly.
Take from nature, give back to nature.
Our compostable bags are backyard friendly and can also be composted in a commercial composting facility, where higher composting temperatures can be reached and compost between 90-180 days.
Worked in both Tech as a creative, and Advertising doing lots of ad campaigns & commercials.
The packaging market is very competitive, but very many products in the market require packaging.
I think what sets us apart from others is our ability to do specialty printing that other companies can’t do.
3-19 coffee, they are one of my favorite clients and have supported me from the beginning. Their brand story, company mission, and 2 co-founders—Mike and Mike—are very nice to work with.
Chill, uplifting, and calm music mostly on Spotify.
For me, it’s about respecting our planet.
How can we be better than our previous generations, and help reduce the waste? We have products that are recyclable but it’s not enough.
100% compostable bags for food packaging is our solution to cutting down waste.
This is what I learned from art school: “Just f*cking do it!”
Don’t overthink too much, when you have an idea that you are passionate about just go for it. Even just baby steps are fine.
You will never know if it works unless you take the risk.
Through the Shopify app.
Sendle is my go-to partner when I need to ship my samples to my clients.
Photos courtesy: Yayyy.co