Local entrepreneur Hunter Guerin wants to make buying quality, seasoned firewood online as easy as ordering a T-shirt or groceries. He's doing it through his on-demand delivery marketplace, LLAMAWOOD.
Richmond-based LLAMAWOOD launched its software platform in April, and Guerin said a backpacking trip with his wife to Patagonia in 2017 helped spark the idea.
“I just fell in love with that culture and its people, like (Argentinian chef) Francis Mallmann, and how they embrace fire,” Guerin said.
A frequent user of firewood for both cooking and warmth, Guerin wondered why there wasn’t a more convenient way to obtain a less expensive, high-quality supply delivered to his home. He noticed other people were seeking a solution to this same dilemma.
Combining his backgrounds in engineering and development Guerin created LLAMAWOOD to solve the problem himself.
The name LLAMAWOOD, he said, is a nod to the South American roots of the llama, which, also means “flame” in Spanish.
“It’s also a pretty easy name to remember,” he said. “It’s sticks with people.”
Though LLAMAWOOD opened for business this spring, as the pandemic caused a surge in lumber prices, Guerin said firewood was not impacted.
“There never was a firewood shortage, so we didn’t have the same issues as the lumber industry,” he said. “A lot of times firewood comes from trees that are already fallen that are removed from a forest or from a property.”
Guerin added, “I see LLAMAWOOD as the real opportunity to use this byproduct for something more useful than just letting it decay.”
Guerin noted that fire pit sales increased over the last 12 months due the pandemic, which also increased the demand for firewood, and LLAMAWOOD’s services as a result.
The startup’s firewood is locally sourced throughout Virginia using a network of local suppliers who have met a certain quality standard.
“We have ways to vet suppliers, and we have internal quality standards — quality checks among the order process, quality on-time delivery, customer satisfaction, response time — all of these metrics that will score our suppliers and keep them running on all cylinders,” he said.
Long-term, Guerin said he plans to add operations and sales roles to drive growth and expand LLAMAWOOD nation-wide. The startup was recently accepted into Startup Virginia’s inaugural Idea Factory accelerator.
“It’s very scalable because we have a network of suppliers that can fulfill orders anywhere,” he said.
LLAMAWOOD offers a variety of tree types for firewood including oak, hickory, cherry, pecan, apple, ash and poplar. Guerin said Virginia has an abundance of oak, which he said is one of the best types of firewood. Cherry and hickory are popular to cook with, he said.
“I want to leave the planet a better place, and I want LLAMAWOOD to make a real difference in our communities by providing equitable access to a quality firewood supply for a lower emission burn,” Guerin said. “(We can) also put this waste product to use in thinning our forests to help prevent forest fires and help people monetize this byproduct so they get a better use out of these working lands.”