ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Karrie Laughton, president of Roc Paper Straws, walked News10NBC’s Berkeley Brean to her paper straw factory in a building along the Genesee River. When Brean was there they were packing straws specially made for the State Fair.
Laughton is a bar owner and wanted to get rid of plastic straws but she struggled to find ones that worked and when she did, they took forever to arrive.
Karrie Laughton, President, Roc Paper Straws: “So I figured well, I’ll just make my own paper straws, how hard can it be to do that?”
Berkeley Brean, News10NBC: “And it’s pretty hard.”
Karrie Laughton: “Uh, a lot harder than you think, yes.”
Laughton’s machines arrived a week before the COVID shutdown. Then in February of this year, President Donald Trump ordered a strategy to end the use of paper straws and that put Laughton in the spotlight.
Berkeley Brean: “The New York Post called you a ‘Woke Paper Straw proponent‘ and that you ‘were losing your mind.’”
Karrie Laughton: (laughs)
Berkeley Brean: “How did that affect you?”
Karrie Laughton: “Well at first it was kind of like a stab in the heart when he made those comments because I was like ‘oh my gosh, this is just what we need.’ But I think in a sense it’s worked to our benefit because a lot of people saw through the silliness of it all so it actually brought a little attention on to our company which is great.”
Brean wanted to get a sense as to how many small businesses start in Monroe County every year so he asked the county clerk’s office to compile a list of the “Doing Business As” certificates. When he got the list, there were more than 4,200 entries just since Jan. 1 of this year.
Some of the entries are duplicates.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics says 20% of small businesses fail in the first year, 50% fail in five years and 65% don’t make it to 10 years. Laughton’s paper straw company is about six years old and still in business.
Berkeley Brean: “So it’s Labor Day. And it sounds like this has been a lot of labor.”
Karrie Laughton: “A lot of labor. A lot of love.”
Berkeley Brean: “So a labor of love.”
Karrie Laughton: “Literally a labor of love, yes.”
The company is called Roc Paper Straws. They can make up to 100,000 straws a day and Karrie says they’ve tested their straws by leaving them in water for three days and she says they still work.
AI assisted with the formatting of this story. Click here to see how WHEC News 10 uses AI
The post On Labor Day, local bar owner turns ‘labor of love’ into paper straw business appeared first on WHEC.com.
