Bite-Sized Reasons Lindsay McCormick Is the Queen of Zero-Waste Oral Hygiene
You’ve probably seen Bite Toothpaste Bits make a cameo on a zero-waste influencer's Instagram story. Whether you know them or not, Bite has taken over the oral hygiene routines of the eco-conscious. Big oral care retailers are hopping on the sustainable bandwagon and there’s no doubt that Bite is the bus driver.
Lindsay McCormick is Bite’s founder and CEO. You might recognize her from her travel vlog days on Youtube or when she notably turned down Mark Cuban on Shark Tank. She’s a former surf and snowboard instructor turned travel Youtuber turned TV Producer turned CEO. In the midst of the busy holiday season, Lindsay found some time to hop on a zoom-call with me to answer my burning question -- how the hell did she get to where she is?
When she looks back at the twist and turns of her life Lindsay recognizes each of her roles as an important stepping stone that led her to Bite. In her last year as a snowboard instructor she saw the effects of climate change firsthand, but it would be many years later, while on a work trip for her job on House Hunters, when the idea for Bite hit her like a ton of empty toothpaste bottles.
“I was always traveling carry-on only,” Lindsay said over a zoom chat. “I figured I could put my shampoo, conditioner, and face wash in those reusable squeeze bottles, but toothpaste had to be the new little toothpaste every single time.”
With each tube she tossed out, her eco-anxiety grew. She looked into the few alternatives available at the time, but was disappointed by the plastic packaging and with that the idea for Bite was born.
“I wanted to just figure out how to make something that was travel friendly, eco friendly, but that actually tastes good, that people wanted to use, and that’s kind of how it all started.”
Around the same time, zero-waste stores began to pop up around the United States. Lindsay’s initial plan was to turn her van into a tiny home and travel around the U.S. selling her tablets to them
“I was literally thinking, ‘I can bring my tableting press and I can put it in the back of the van and I’ll press out my tablets.’ This was how all of my hippie dreams were going to be coming true.”
But her flower child dreams were put on hold when a video of Bite went viral on the Facebook page of Women’s Health Magazine.
“I’m seeing these orders come in and I’m like, ‘Oh my God, this is amazing, and then they just kept coming in.’ I was doing the math in my head. ‘Okay, if I start making tablets now, I can have this many orders done,’ and then I realized no, I’m never going to catch up.
Her manufacturing facility was her living room and her distribution system was packaging the orders and dropping them off herself at USPS every morning before her full-time job. For Lindsay, this was where her reality of what Bite could become began to change.
Bite continues to grow, but the company itself remains a small force of five full-time employees. Lindsay credits her team, whose skillset she describes as “super powers,” as being the reason that Bite has been able to take risks in defense of the planet and stay true to their mission.
At the end of 2018, the company decided to reformulate their bits after a follower on Instagram pointed out the transparency issues surrounding the eco-certification of palm oil. Shortly after articles began exposing the certification schemes surrounding eco-certified palm oil. On Earth Day in 2019 Bite announced they were officially palm oil-free.
“Our customers were right. Never discount what customers are saying. Always have your ear to the ground.”
It's Bite’s transparency that keeps customers connected to their brand and it's no surprise if you meet Lindsay that you’ll find she’s an open book. She’ll confess that her work/life balance is non-existent, but in the same breath gush about how she no longer feels guilty about working around the clock.
“I spent my entire twenties as a surf and snowboard instructor and traveling the world, and if I spend my thirties working my ass off for a cause I believe in, I’m okay with that.”
Lindsay doesn’t get much time off, but when she does she chooses to do humanitarian work rather than relax. During the coronavirus pandemic, Bite donated repurposed bottles filled with hand sanitizer to causes like Upward Bound House and Beauty 2 The Streetz. Lindsay spent some of her spare time handing out hand sanitizer in Downtown LA.
Today Bite has an entire oral suite that includes compostable floss, bamboo toothbrushes, mouthwash bits, and their newest addition, champagne-flavored toothpaste bits. Although the initial goal was to sell in stores, it’s unlikely you’ll find them anywhere other than the website anytime soon. The company continues to reformulate and add flavors. Lindsay says that to sell in stores, you must have a fully finished product and Bite is still improving. Recently, Colgate released their brand Hello as a competitor to Bite, but Lindsay doesn’t see this competition as a damper to her business as much as she does a win for the planet.
“I kinda feel like we woke the sleeping giant. Once we do it, just like with toothpaste tablets, we’ll have a bunch of other people doing it as well, and it’s all good.”