During the pandemic, people got up to all sorts of things to keep themselves sane. John Larkin started making soap in his kitchen and three years later what started out as a lockdown diversion has become The Black Stuff, a rapidly growing start-up employing 10 people making natural soaps and deodorants for men.
“There aren’t many natural products focused on the male market, so it was a niche waiting to be filled,” says Larkin, who once made a living playing professional poker before using his qualifications in business and digital marketing to get involved in what was then the nascent ecommerce market.
Larkin spent three years as chief operating officer of the livestock monitoring company Moocall, and also set up and sold a software business, using about €180,000 of the proceeds to fund The Black Stuff – having first established that, despite its association with a certain well-known beverage, the business name was available.
“I thought soap was a good product to sell online but I never thought I’d end up making it,” he says. “Because of Covid, however, we couldn’t get samples from factories, so I taught myself to make soap while I was waiting. When the samples eventually arrived six months later, I had already made thousands and thousands of soaps and decided to try and scale up an authentic handmade business.
“The first soap that made me think it could become a real business was a soap made from Guinness, which I called Black Stout and we still sell it today,” Larkin adds. “There was a lot of luck involved in coming up with my recipes. I didn’t know the ‘rules’ of soapmaking so I just read a lot, experimented a lot and tried to create the best possible products for my own skin.
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The company uses only natural ingredients and no fragrances. The scent profiles are created by blending natural essential oils. “We also use Irish ingredients like wild Irish seaweed, Guinness, and Barry’s Tea to bring a unique Irish twist to the world of men’s grooming,” says Larkin, who soft-launched the products in the US in 2021 to test consumer reaction.
Larkin had assumed that given the “Irish twist” the US would be a key market. However, he quickly discovered a demand much closer to home, particularly among men who find bodywashes too harsh on their skin.
Today, the company’s products are sold in Ireland, the UK, mainland Europe and North America, with warehousing facilities in both the UK and the US. Sales are primarily online with some retail outlets and expanding the retail base is a priority, says Larkin whose business received early stage employment grant support from the Dún Laoghaire Rathdown Local Enterprise Office.
“For the first 18 months I made everything myself and was producing around 140 soaps a day. I turned over about €35,000 in my first year. In 2022, I took on help and moved into a workshop. We still make the products by hand with the same technique but now we’re making about 10,000 soaps a week. All going well, given the strong demand we’re experiencing, I’d expect sales of €4 million to €5 million this year.
“My thinking is to keep the product line-up small and premium priced, so I have the margin for retailers. Our soaps sell at €7.95 and the deodorant at €12.95,” Larkin adds. “Having owned and sold a business, I know the advantages of retaining control and I’m more interested in building something for the future than growing to sell. It will be foot on the gas for the next two years or so and then we will take a year to steady the ship. I’m about to take on my 11th employee, we’re doing a rebrand at the moment and also gearing up to remove any plastic from our packaging and replace it with cardboard.”
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