Hong Kong start-up dishes up a smart alternative to disposable tableware for events and banquets
- Lee Wing-shan’s rental company We-Use has grown since starting in 2016 as Hong Kong companies become more environmentally conscious
The long night begins for Lee Wing-shan just when the grand banquet comes to an end.
For more than six months, the 28-year-old has been spending most weekend nights alone, washing dozens of dishes in a small office pantry borrowed from a friend.
“I had my doubts; I wondered how I could carry on with this business,” says Lee, who founded We-Use in 2016. The dishware rental company provides reusable cutlery and tableware for events such as banquets, fairs and marathons, delivering the items and also cleaning.
Having started off buying about 100 sets of ceramic cutlery at the cost of nearly HK$10,000 (US$1,274), Lee’s business has burgeoned as Hong Kong companies become more environmentally conscious.
Now We-Use is capable of hosting events with more than 8,000 people and receives 20 to 50 orders a month. Its tableware sets, mostly ceramic and glass, were rented out 270,000 times last year, an almost fivefold increase on 2017.
As the business grew, the company developed a partnership with truck drivers and a dishwashing company. It also hired housewives from underprivileged families to clean at the warehouse.
