Posted on Fri, Jun. 11, 2004
Go-Getters
These local mothers of invention are seeing
household needs and building a better cake cutter, or
buffet tray, or beach towel...
By Diane Goldsmith
Inquirer Staff Writer
You're at a party and doing the usual juggle: plate
of food in one hand, drink in the other - standing,
sampling, sipping, and schmoozing at the same time.
If only you could grow another hand...
Consider the Buffet Genius, from Wilmington-area housewares
juggernaut Debbie Meyer. The Genius is a kidney-shaped
footed tray that will secure a plate and a drink; its
vertical column for silverware extends underneath to
form a handle.
Three thousand sets were snapped up in a matter of
minutes when it debuted on QVC last month.
Buffet Genius is the 11th new product from Meyer, better
known for her multimillion-selling Kake-Kut'rs, which
you can find everywhere from supermarkets and upper-end
department stores to Target and Wal-Mart. In their most
popular form, they're essentially two wide knives joined
to form a "V" for slicing neat servings of
cake without touching it.
Low-tech yet ingenious. Words that could also describe
a product created by New Jersey's Tina Marie Connors.
Towel Down is a beach towel designed to stay put in
the wind (thanks to corner pockets you can weight with
sand). It also conceals valuables and converts to a
tote bag or backpack.
The product, still in the early stages of its launch,
has done well online and reaped exposure at entertainment
events and trade shows, said Connors, at 39 a relative
newcomer to the entrepreneurial game.
Both women exhibited earlier this year at the International
Home & Housewares Show in Chicago, and demonstrate
how much opportunity there is for the inventively inclined,
said Debbie Teschke, spokeswoman for the sponsoring
trade association. "If you come up with an idea
that offers a solution, you can be very successful with
your product."
Yes, indeed. Meyer says her Housewares America corporation
could rack up as much as $60 million in sales this year,
between QVC, infomercials, catalogs, retail stores,
and online offerings. Products include the origami-like
Fancy-Foldz pre-folded napkins, Sheet Hearts to keep
restless sleepers' bedcovers in place, Shoe Bees shoe
coverings to protect floors and carpets, and Kake-Sav'rs
to vacuum-seal baked goods so they last longer.
Still more are due this year.
A small Everywoman-type photo of Meyer, 53, appears
on her packaging for stores. Like a latter-day Betty
Crocker?
"Betty Crocker wasn't real," says Meyer,
who worked as a merchandising executive for a large
cosmetics firm before meeting her husband, South African-born
entrepreneur Neville Meyer, in New York 25 years ago.
"He needed people to run his businesses,"
says Debbie, who did market research to determine how
best to target consumers for his travel accessories
and auto-seat covers. All of which proved invaluable
after she gave birth to their son, David, 13 years ago,
and as a stay-at-home wife and mother had time to develop
a long-percolating idea of her own.
"I never liked it when people would touch a cake
and lick their fingers and I'd be the next person to
get a piece," she recalls.
So seven years ago, Meyer began making drawings and
had a metal shop rough out her idea for a cake cutter.
After considerable Internet research, she and her husband
found a knife factory in China to fabricate samples.
Then, the tough part began.
Cake cutters went back and forth to the Far East a
few dozen times for the better part of a year to get
just the right weight, springiness, blade and handle
thickness.
An initial investment of a little over $100,000 also
included having molds made, a first run of about 1,000,
and a small ad in a Parade magazine direct-mail piece.
Its aim: to see how consumers would respond.
"It was overwhelming," says Meyer, noting
that she and her husband repeated the ad a few more
times to take in wider geographic areas.
When the product appeared at the 1999 International
Housewares Show, it caught QVC's attention. Several
months later, Meyer demonstrated it over the shopping
network and sold an amazing 10,000 sets in six minutes.
(A second cutter is squared off to cut sheet cakes.)
"They saw it go into the cake," Meyer recalls,
"and after the first slice came out, the numbers
started to fly."
The Meyers have since moved to this area from Connecticut
so Debbie can be closer to QVC. After all, she has showcased
her products in more than 100 on-air appearances.
Tina Marie Connors may have less
merchandising and marketing experience than the Meyers.
But she honed a sharp business sense during her years
on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
She's also very determined, a quality she needed to
make it as a petite woman in that "grown man's
locker room," as she dubs the exchange.
Eight years ago, she married a fellow trader and they
bought a home together in Point Pleasant, N.J., from
which she now trades S&P 500 futures.
But the idea for Towel Down predates her marriage.
It occurred as she was lying on the beach one day, trying
to relax. The wind blew her towel, and as she threw
sneakers onto the corners, she knew there had to be
a better way.
"I bought a sewing machine and washcloths, some
towels and Velcro, and made it myself," she says.
Then she visited an attorney, who helped her get a patent.
The head portion of the 40-by-70-inch cotton velour
towel is a double-chambered pocket you can stuff with
sand to use as a pillow, or to stow things.
Pull the towel through the head pocket and you've got
something for carrying beach/yoga/baby gear, you name
it. Velcro tabs enable you to attach towels to form
a blanket.
"You can use it for tailgating parties, camping,
hiking," says Connors, who two years ago spent
$10,000 to $15,000 to produce enough inventory to get
her foot in the door at a major licensing show. To date,
she has invested $30,000.
"I haven't been on the plus side yet, but I may
be after Trump pays me," she says, referring to
the Trump Plaza Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City,
which is using Towel Down as a promotional gift in July.
A year and a half ago, Merrill Lynch purchased 350
towels as corporate gifts. Towel Down also was included
in gift baskets for the Screen Actors Guild awards show
in February and the MTV Video Music Awards Latinoamerica
show in October.
It has been sold at www.beachstore.com since Christmas
2002 and is considered "one of the performing products,"
says CEO Eytan Benzeno. "It's definitely one of
the most popular towels we offer in that price range"
($39.95).
Which is not to say everything has gone smoothly.
A buyer for a big catalog said she wanted to order
a half-million towels. "When I called her,"
Connors says, "I learned she had left the company."
And there have been unfortunate lags in getting answers
to e-mails sent to the factory in China because of the
time difference.
But Connors, who is thinking of offering a low-end
and a high-end version of the towel, has reaped contacts
for new manufacturers and gotten closer to a licensing
deal.
"Another phone call, another contact," she
says. "That's what each day is."
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