Dunedin schoolgirl Jeantine Dixon (12) wanted something to do during Covid-19 Alert Level 4.
With encouragement from her mother Suz, she started making soap using coffee grounds from her father Jay’s cafe, The Daily Coffee Co, in Princes St.
The grounds are dried over several days and mixed with other ingredients to make the soap.
‘‘There is no shortage of grounds to get a hold of,’’ she said.
After making a few batches and realising the project could make money, Jeantine started selling the soap online.
It proved popular and a rush of orders quickly started flooding in from throughout the country.
‘‘Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington, they just started coming in from everywhere,’’ Jeantine said.
During the week after Alert Level 4 ended, she was making, packing and shipping close to 70 bars a day.
The bars are made to look like coffee; they are coffee coloured and have a white layer on top to resemble milk.
Businesses were buying them as presents for staff and real estate agents had also bought them as gifts for home buyers, Jeantine said.
The soap was also stocked by North East Valley store Bloomin Gorgeous.
She never expected her fledgling business to grow so big — ‘‘no, I didn’t think we’d sell any’’ — and she already had plans for the future.
‘‘I’d love to do body washes and scrubs, not just soap, and see it in other shops as well.’’
Running her own business was ‘‘way better’’ than going to school.
‘‘I can’t wait to get home every day and start making soap.’’
