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SanFrancisco版 - East Bay entrepreneur reinvents the bowl
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发帖数: 2651
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Somehow, I like this story.
http://www.calibowl.com/about.html
Source: Oakland Tribune
05/23/2011 08:10:35 AM EDT -- Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, CA)
East Bay entrepreneur reinvents the bowl
May 23--Jeff Bollengier's rise from cash-strapped construction worker to
sought-after inventor started with a spill.
The lifelong surfer was sitting on a beach in Mexico dipping tortilla chips
in a tub of salsa when first a dollop and then another fell onto the sand. A
tinkerer by nature, he dreamed up a bowl with a wavelike shape whose curved
lip would prevent spills.
Bollengier, 39, said he carried the idea for the "CaliBowl" with him through
stints in pro baseball and modeling and into his adult life as a contractor
and father of four.
But when housing development slowed to a trickle in 2007, he decided to see
how far his vision could take him. He never imagined that he would be
fielding calls from major manufacturers and distributors in the housewares
industry in just a few years.
"The economic crisis was a good thing for CaliBowl," Bollengier said. "Being
part of a business that was starting to self-destruct made me say, 'I'm
going to go for it; I'm going to jump off a cliff.' "
Much has been made of the power of economic downturns to send underemployed
self-starters running to the patent office to launch that gadget they've
been mulling.
But while recessions may be the mother of invention, fewer than 3 percent of
patented ideas make back the money the investor spends on the paperwork,
according to Stephen Key, who runs a popular website for would-be Thomas
Edisons.
Bollengier, who calls himself the "Bill Gates of
bowls," had an early stroke of luck when his idea caught the eye of both a
product developer and a manufacturer, who worked with him to develop a
prototype.
The finished product, which Bollengier believes will ultimately supplant "
conventional" bowls entirely, is essentially a thick plastic container with
the simple innovation of a scooped-out lip.
In 2008, the CaliBowl team hit the houseware and gift expo circuit.
Bollengier's wife, Missy, helped out at the company's booth, demonstrating
how the patent-pending bowl prevents microwave oatmeal from boiling over and
directs guacamole back onto chips.
A stay-at-home mom accustomed to a middle-class lifestyle, Missy remembers
her husband's plunge into entrepreneurship as a fraught time.
"Financially, it was tough," she said, recalling that the family was on the
verge of losing its home. "Sometimes, there's a lot of no's, but when the
yes comes, it's huge."
CaliBowl's "yes" came pretty quickly. Before the company had even started
large-scale production in China, Oprah's O magazine wrote up the no-spill
bowl as a must-have.
Endorsements from television newscasters and talk show host Rachael Ray
followed, as well as recommendations from urban hipsters and other adult
cereal eaters, along with mommy bloggers concerned about carcinogens they
believe cheap plastics release into food.
In less than two years, Bollengier, who lives in Danville, went from hand-
delivering his product to local children's stores to signing nationwide
distribution deals with Safeway and CVS. He said that last year, the four-
person company had revenues of more than $2 million, selling bowls that
retail for about $10 each.
The company has sold more than 1 million bowls. They can be found as far
away as Australia and the Philippines, according to Bollengier, as well as
locally at Kids N Cribs in Brentwood, the David M Brian gift shop in Walnut
Creek and Rainbow Grocery co-op in downtown San Francisco, among other
places.
Now, hoping to respond to market forces more quickly, the company is
planning to complete its California image by moving production to a Bay Area
plastics company this summer.
Rod Hirsch of the Oakland branch of the U.S. Commerce Department has pledged
to work with Bollengier to export his bowls around the globe after he "
reshores."
He was already familiar with Bollengier's invention before they met because
his wife brought home a few CaliBowls.
Hirsch is delighted that the brainchild of a financially struggling
contractor may produce several new Bay Area manufacturing jobs.
"It's wonderful," he said. "It's the power of design."
Whether Bollengier's design will make him millions of dollars or merely
solve one of those pesky problems you didn't know you had until you saw them
in an infomercial remains to be seen.
A few East Bay shops have tried out the CaliBowl but stopped carrying it
because of disappointing sales.
But Bollengier is already onto the next wave. He recently invented a shoe
that he said promises to make uphill hiking a breeze.
"I have this credibility that has come with CaliBowl," he said. "We're
getting the big boys' attention," he said, "and it's all really based on
intellectual properties.
"People used to look at me, and I could tell they thought I was insane."
Now they're listening to hear what crazy idea he will come up with next.
Contact Hannah Dreier at 925-779-7174. Follow her at Twitter.com/
hannahdreier.
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话题: bollengier话题: he话题: bay话题: calibowl话题: east