Kitchen King is a 100% family owned and operated business and has been under the direction of the Bertelsen family since 2006. It is better known for its Hideaway Bins brand and is run with joint directorship under a close father and daughter team, Allen and Jamie Bertelsen. Supplier Magazine recently sat down with, Jesse Staines, General Manager, to discuss all things business.
- The team at Hideaway Bin continue to produce creative solutions for both residential and commercial storage, waste and recycling requirements. Walk us through the Hideaway Bin product range.
It starts with our Hideaway Compact range, which was built on the philosophy of providing the biggest bin for the smallest space. The Compact range caters for all types of applications around the home, from small single 15L bins for bathroom vanities right up to twin 40L bins for large family kitchens, and every size in between, including Floor Mount bins for under kitchen sinks.
We then step up to the award winning Concelo range, which has been designed for both residential and commercial environments. Concelo has been designed to compliment premium kitchen drawers with its smooth soft close runners and sleek aluminium drawer sides, but it is also easy to keep looking and smelling clean. We like to think it redefines what you should expect from your waste bin.
The Concelo range also includes Laundry Hampers, which is built on the same platform as the bin range which means it is easy to clean and will never rust, which is just what you need when dealing with dirty and damp laundry.
- With the push towards reducing waste and increasing recycling, Hideaway Bins have put a number of different practices into place to ensure that their environmental impact is reduced and that their products are sustainable. Discuss some of these practices.
We start with designing our products to be sustainable, which in part means they are built to last. We focus on designing quality products that are durable, so they do not need to be replaced prematurely and are a more sustainable use of resources.
When it comes to manufacturing, we use local suppliers for everything possible. We also redesigned all our product packaging to eliminate polystyrene and soft plastics. This has been replaced by cardboard and kraft paper, which is much easier for our customers to recycle.
We design our bins so that they can either be repaired easily to extend their life cycle. And because we are NZ made, we can provide spare parts readily along with personal after sales service.
- With a focus on innovation, Hideaway Bins have been market leaders in waste solutions for many years. What drives the design philosophy at Hideaway Bin?
Your kitchen bin is one of the most used appliances in the kitchen, but its importance is often overlooked. For some companies, waste bins are just a small part of their portfolio of products – for us it is everything.
We put the end user, the homeowner at the centre of our design philosophy. They will use their bin 20 to 30 times every day for many years, so their needs are of prime importance – is it easy for them to clean, does it manage odours, will it be durable enough? We then think about the needs of kitchen designers, manufacturers and installers after we have resolved the issues of the end user.
We also do not like to compromise on the functionality of our waste bins. Rather than be constrained by trying to fit buckets into existing drawer systems, we will look at all options to get the best result for the end user.
Lastly, we always love feedback on how to improve our products. Our products constantly evolve based in large part due to customer feedback.
- Discuss some of Hideaway Bin’s milestone moments.
The company can trace its roots back to the late 1960’s when it was part of a plumbing business. Not long after the Bertelsen family took over, it introduced the Hideaway Bins brand in 2008. The existing product ranges evolved while the team worked on a completely new product range. After seven years of development, the Concelo range was launched in 2018 at AWISA in Sydney, where it won the Gold Star award. In 2019, Concelo was awarded the Red Dot design award in Germany, which was a huge milestone for a small family owned company from New Zealand. In 2023 we achieved Global Green Tag certification for our Compact and Concelo product ranges, which is an important milestone in our ambition to be socially and environmentally sustainable.
- Looking ahead, what plans have you got for the future of Hideaway Bin?
Like many businesses we are continuing to invest in developing new products and improving our manufacturing operation to enable growth. Above all, we are passionate advocates for enabling better waste behaviours at work and at home. Our business is quite unique in that we can have a huge impact on our environment that is many times larger than the footprint of just our business. Through the smart design of our products and continuing education of our industry, we can help thousands of our customers reduce the amount of waste that goes to landfill and increase the amount that is diverted to recycling or composting for many years to come.
