Think Green finalist: Phoenix Ink

David Scanlon was living in Spain when a business idea began to form. According to Scanlon, America leads the entrepreneurial market, so he left Spain and moved to Chicago, where he met Ted Helgesen while Helgesen was working for Office Max. The two began talking, and Scanlon mentioned the business idea he had — in September 2007 the two had formed Phoenix Ink.

Phoenix Ink provides the technology to Office Max that allows them to provide customers with the ability to refill old ink cartridges.

In 2008 Scanlon, Phoenix Ink president, and Helgesen, Phoenix Ink CEO, were done with the cold of Chicago and transferred their business to Sarasota. Being in the business of “green,” the two do their best to live and work in a green environment. Their office is only 500 square feet, and the employees are encouraged to recycle.

“We try to be environmentally conscious,” says Helgesen. “We are always reusing and upcycling.”
All of Scanlon and Helgesen’s products are upcycled (converting products in higher-quality products), not remanufactured.

“Reusing is better than recycling,” says Scanlon. “If you recycle a product it usually has to come from 75% of new materials.”

By upcycling and having their machines in places such as Office Max, where people can easily walk in and have their empty printer cartridges re-filled, the carbon footprint is dramatically decreased than if someone were to buy a brand new cartridge or ship off their old cartridges to have them end up back in stores as off-brand cartridges. Reusing has truly become a state of mind.

In the last year the company has won the Green to Gold Award from the Economic Development Corporation, been selected as one of the 50 companies to watch by Grow FL, and they have competed the final roll out of their machines in Office Max. The 1,000 machines will be exclusive to Office Max for one year.

The company has also branched out by creating two other businesses that fall under their Phoenix Ink umbrella — Ink to Your Door and Print & Ink.

Ink to Your Door allows them to use their own machines to refill people’s ink cartridge needs and deliver the refilled cartridges to the customers’ doors. Print & Ink are stores in the works where people can not only have their cartridges refilled with ink but can also fill larger printing orders.

After landing the Office Max deal, Scanlon and Helgesen are talking to three of the biggest retailers in the United States about striking up other possible deals. They also hope to open more Print & Ink stores in Florida. At some point, Scanlon hopes that they will be take their idea back over to Europe.
“Being passionate about ink is quite difficult,” says Scanlon. “However, we still are passionate about it.”

AT A GLANCE

Address: 5284 Paylor Lane, Sarasota

Start date: September 2007; the company moved in 2008 to Sarasota

Number of employees when started: Two

Number of employees now: 40

Advice to other small business owners: “Choose your business and be passionate about it,” said David Scanlon, president of Phoenix Ink. “Being passionate about ink is quite difficult, however, we still are passionate about it.”

Biggest challenge: “We’ve had to overcome a perception of lower quality,” Ted Helgesen, CEO of Phoenix Ink.

Best place to go for a power lunch: “The Polo Grill for lunch and Michael’s On East for dinner,” Scanlon said.

First day on the job: “Tremendous opportunities with this company and this industry — just the wealth of opportunity,” Helgesen said.

“How are we going to get big retailers to believe that we can provide a quality product at the price point we offer it?” Scanlon said.

If you could have any job for the day, what would you do? “Being the CEO of Habitat for Humanity,” Helgesen said. “It’s a worthy place for people to put their attention.”

“Swapping places with George Clooney for a day wouldn’t be bad,” Scanlon said.

Who is your business hero? “Richard Branson, of Virgin,” Scanlon said. “He is a fully rounded entrepreneur.”

“Steve Jobs. He doesn’t just create products he changes buying habits and cultural revolutions,” Helgesen said.

What have you had to do differently in this business climate? “Having a quality after-market product at a much lower price point has actually helped us,” Scanlon said.

“When people are tightening their belts they look to lower price and quality ... Our product is 100% reusable without having to sacrifice quality,” Helgesen said.

What is one advantage of having your business in Sarasota? “Community has really embraced us here,” Helgesen said.

“Coming to America was great for business because it is so big and opportunities so vast. Coming to Sarasota initially had its challenges. However three years later we have recruited those people and community has embraced us,” Scanlon said.

Contact Rachel S. O'Hara at rohara@yourobserver.com.