It's the Sweet Smell of Success

Sarasota, FL, July 8--Orders are streaming in to a local manufacturer for its Urine-Off, a product with the power to remove stains and odors, according to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. The city of Westminster in the heart of London, home to Big Ben and Westminister Cathedral, just ordered its first shipment and might end up buying as much as 1 million pounds a year. The Butler Co., one of the United States' largest distributors of veterinary products, signed on to distribute Urine-Off to 700 veterinarian clinics across the country. Perhaps the biggest coup for Bio-Pro Research will be an appearance next week promoting the product on The Home Shopping Network. "The growth we've had since January has been incredible," said Kelly Kirschner, product manager for Bio-Pro Research, a subsidiary of Manatee County-based Environmental Biotech. "All this has been without mass marketing." It's people like John Toliver who also are driving demand for the product, launched in April 2003. Toliver's Carpet One franchise in Arizona just spent $9,000 for a palette load. He's planning to offer a service to homeowners to remove stains and odors before new carpets or flooring materials are installed. "We just had the opportunity to try the product in a private residence that had about eight cats," Toliver said. "The baseboards were saturated, swollen and popping off the walls. We found cat urine three feet up in every room of the house and even higher where cats had managed to climb on top of armoires and chests of drawers." Toliver's flooring crew applied Urine-Off before laying down carpet, and the odor and stains disappeared. "I've never used anything that works as well or as quickly," Toliver said. Bill Hadley, founder and chief executive of Environmental Biotech, originally predicted sales of Urine-Off would reach $2 million in 2004, but he now believes they could shoot well past that amount. "We have the capability to handle demand into the near future," he said. "But we are taking steps to increase our production capacity to meet our long-term needs." The big challenge could come if orders start pouring in after The Home Shopping Network introduction. The St. Petersburg-based channel will feature "Urine-Off" in segments at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. on July 13, and at 3 p.m. on July 29. Hadley is proud of the attention. "They saw the great potential for this product and they came to us," he said. Microbiologists at at Environmental Biotech stumbled across the recipe for Urine-Off when researching ways to reduce odors on chicken farms. The product, which contains urine-dissolving enzymes and bacteria, proved too expensive for poultry farmers. But it is being snapped up by veterinarians, pet supply stores, nursing homes and municipal sanitation departments. Nearly 600,000 bottles have been sold so far. The majority of sales have been in the United States, but they are picking up rapidly in England, and it won't be long before the product will be sold in New Zealand, Australia and Germany, and other European countries. "Two major pet distributors in both Australia and New Zealand are looking at it," said Kirschner, Bio-Pro's product manager. Several English cities are testing the product; Leeds wants to set up a system to spray it from the back of street sweepers, Kirschner said. Much of the enthusiasm in British municipalities can be traced back to Jonathan Riley, Westminster's senior street environmental manager. "Historically, we've had a lot of problems with urination in courtyards and back alleys," Riley said in a promotional video for the product. "We've flushed areas with water and used deodorant, but the deodorants wear off. By contrast, our success with Urine-Off has been nothing short of miraculous