Relish Soapery

Basic Information

Business Name: Relish Soapery
Website: N/A
Established: 2020

Questions answered by: Janelle L.

Social Media

About Them

Can you please fully explain your business or product line?

Using simple ingredients, I make handmade soaps as well as solid dish soap bars, bath salts, and lip balms.

With the Winnipeg local maker community continuing to grow, what is the most important thing you’d like potential customers of your company to know?

I would like people to know how truly passionate I am about making a high-quality product, safe products with a low environmental impact. Every time you buy a bar of body or dish soap, that’s 2+ plastic bottles from regular body wash or liquid dish soap that aren’t going to waste. 

On top of that, it looks pretty on the counter and smells good, too! I have put countless hours into researching as well as testing products so that I’m able to provide something that I’m truly proud of.

What inspired you to start your business?

I’ve always had a thing for bar soap, which sounds weird, but at any market or local sale, I’d always buy a ton. I liked to have a bunch of different scent options on the go and was drawn to pretty ones with different patterns or designs. 

I’m also someone who likes to figure out how to do or make things myself and ended up watching soap-making videos on YouTube for hours. The process seemed daunting and a bit dangerous, but I finally took a soap-making course in Vancouver about six years ago and started making soap here and there, just for myself. 

Like most people during Covid, I was looking for something to fill my time, and Relish Soapery was born.

What was the biggest struggle you’ve had to overcome?

Time management can be a bit difficult when you make soap; it’s a six-week process from start to finish. It can also be difficult at this stage for me to judge demand as you never want to make too little of something, but some markets only plan a month & a half in advance, so I’ve often found myself needing to suddenly pump out a lot of soap bars in a short amount of time. I’m not sure that time management is something that I’ll ever truly master

What has been your biggest success as a maker?

The feedback from my friends & family; I love to hear how much people love my products. I’ve had a lot of support from the people I know and they probably market my product more than I do myself!

Do you have any advice that you would pass on to someone hoping to start up their own business or product line?

Be prepared to lose a lot of your free time and spend most of your time thinking about your business. I feel like I get soap inspiration all over the place, even something like shopping for groceries or household items can turn into inspiration for a soap design. It’s on my mind a lot. 

Please share any upcoming events as well as the best place(s) for people to purchase your product!

For now, the best place to contact me is on Instagram; I do local delivery and have a few local pick-up locations.

I also sell a variety of soap rounds at Planet Pantry at the Forks along with my solid dish soaps and refills of my bath salts.

I hope to have a website or online selling option up & running this year!