Cooking up a career in the soap business - Omaha World-Herald

Tim Maides of the Benson Soap Mill planned to be an art teacher.

A job in the restaurant industry got in the way before he could finish his degree.

While working as a chef, he noticed a lot of waste, including rendered animal fat. That’s when the 30-year-old’s life took another detour.

He and Ryan Cook decided to try making soap the old-fashioned way with that fat.

“From cooking, I got involved with lots of different things and working with my hands,” Maides said. “This soap mill just started growing.’’

They experimented with several oils before discovering a farmer in Ord, Nebraska, who sells sunflower oil that is 41 percent vitamin E oil.

That’s now the basis of the soap sold by the soap mill, which prides itself on using local ingredients. The business has evolved from making four-ounce square bars to producing a popular foaming soap used in establishments around Omaha.

“We’re looking to be the people’s soap of Omaha and/or Nebraska,’’ Maides said.

Maides still works full time as a sous chef at the Omaha Country Club. But before he reports to duty, he spends four or five hours working in his soap lab in Benson, filling orders or making a new batch of soap. Cook is still a partner but is working in China.

“I don’t have a lot of free time,’’ Maides said.

marjie.ducey@owh.com, 402-444-1034, twitter.com/mduceyowh

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