It’s expensive being a restaurant owner, especially during these tough times. To fight rising food costs, an Ocean City restauranteur came up with a unique product that involves reducing food waste.
The owner of Sunrise Diner in Ocean City, Maryland, Sam Delauter, started Bumble Soap after inflation started hitting the business hard. To find a way to offset the cost, he started creating soap from bacon grease, which was something his great-grandmother did during the Great Depression.
“She’d collect all her bacon grease and make soap out of it. So she did this to get through the Great Depression and it kind of just popped in my mind. You know, we’re frying off so much bacon every day. I see all that grease and I just experimented. I called my grandfather and he walked me through the recipe,” Delauter said.
The process works by collecting the bacon grease and cleaning it until it’s pure, odorless lard by mixing it with water. The water helps separate the unwanted items from the lard so that all that’s left is the pure lard.
The brand sells different scents but one of its most popular is lavender as it can be very calming. Other flavors include rose geranium and clove, tangerine lavender and lemon and patchouli, rosemary, sage and lavender.
The bars sell for $6 and have been flying off the shelves, which has helped Delauter reduce his baking costs by 80 percent. The soap can be purchased from either Sunrise Diner or from bumblesoap.com, shipping nationwide.