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Quick Links
Our New Website
Ideas Well Done has a new website that explains what we're all about. An interview with company president Mike Colburn forms the core of the site, describing our philosophy and the "pillars" we focus our work on.
All our newsletters are archived, and we've added an index in case you want to refer back to earlier issues, but aren't sure what they covered.
Let us know what you think.
IWD website
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Upcoming Issues
MAY
National Restaurant
Association Show
Chicago
JUNE
Trends in Outsourcing
Design & Innovation
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Meet Our New Toy
Herbert, our 3D rapid prototyping system has a sister now, named Helena. The machine is a 3D scanner capable of scanning objects and converting the data into 3D models which can then be manipulated within CAD software to create similar parts. These models can be printed in rapid prototyping to prove or test function and dimensional accuracy, or actually taken to a manufactured part. A video from "Jay Leno's Garage" showing off a similar machine can be seen at video link. |
IWD Plug
Procter & Gamble has done quite well in the last few years and they have gotten a lot of press about product development in the consumer products field. What's changed? A few years ago they outsourced creative product development for about 20% of their ideas; now more than 50% come from "Ideas" type businesses.
Give me a call at 877-312-1706, ext.101. Or email me:
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What, Me Worry?
What did you talk about at lunch today? The recession? The flu epidemic? Did you stop to think about your chances of encountering a food-borne illness while you were eating? We often don't worry about food illness until we feel that first little sign in our tummy that something just isn't right. Or do we?
A brand new survey by the American Society for Quality reports some statistics on food quality concerns.
ASQ reports that a whopping 73% of adults say they are equally concerned about food safety as the war on terror, and 61% of US adults consider the US food recall process as fair or poor. Ninety three percent say food manufacturers, growers or suppliers should be held legally responsible when tainted food causes illness. Over eighty percent feel part of the blame is on weak standards for food safety.
Pass the dressing and gravy. |
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Food Cost Control Blog
Joe Dunbar, a consultant to the foodservice industry, has a useful blog - blog address and a newsletter full of sensible ideas. He also has a professional catering blog. Check it out. I don't know the guy - but I do like to see professionals share their expertise and I'm happy to give him a plug.
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Please forward this newsletter to
anyone who would be interested in
foodservice equipment design, development and invention.
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Spring!! We wait a long time for it here in Vermont, and it doesn't disappoint. Visiting Chicago this weekend for NRA usually gives us a preview of what we'll get here in a week or two.
We're hosting our New Product Showcase on Monday, May 18 - a preview of technology and concepts that will emerge onto the foodservice scene in the next year or two. We've invited a few chains to take a peek and give us feedback that will help guide our design direction.
Mike Colburn, Steve Bogner and I will be walking the NRA show, looking for what we think is worth telling you about in the next newsletter. We look forward to seeing our friends and making new ones and coming home with more plans for the products of the future.
Best Wishes,
Mary Esther Treat |
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International Housewares Show
First impressions:
Visiting the International Housewares Show in Chicago is like walking into the world's largest Bed Bath & Beyond, with Crate & Barrel and K-mart tossed in. It's colorful and full of small items - a contrast to the hefty commercial appliances we are used to at NAFEM and NRA.
It is a Very Large show - using both McCormick Place's North and South Halls plus the older Lakeside building. Over several days we found the aisles were not crowded. The most interesting things, to us, were found on the perimeter in small booths from small companies. While the scale and durability might not be suitable for commercial foodservice, the ideas were inspiring.
Invention and innovation are encouraged several ways, including a college student design competition with cash awards (completing its 16th year). The students had a special exhibit area where they could show and explain their projects.
Inpex of Pittsburgh organized an Inventors Corner with 5 ft. booths where their clients demonstrated their products; they also conducted an American Idol style judging of inventors' product pitches. Inpex's annual show has been postponed to 2010 and attracts manufacturers looking for new ideas.
One of the new inventions is Redi Reach - a shelf that is secured on top of an existing refrigerator shelf and swings out to gain access to food placed at the back. Redi Reach website has a video showing how it works. This could be practical wherever you have hard-to-reach deep shelves.
Another neat idea - a water-powered rotating kitchen scrub brush (patent pending) that attaches to the spray hose of a sink. Contact by email for more info (no website yet).
Many inventors are searching for manufacturers to take on their product. One of those is an add-on "Hold It and Fold It" drain board for utility sinks that  had been sold commercially by Ecolab as the Raburn Load & Fold dishmachine table. It attaches to the side of a utility sink, providing work space and convenient slots for tools. A separate backsplash with paper towel holder is also available. website link
Eco-Friendly products
"Mompreneurs" demonstrated problem-solving products like the Wrap-n-mat reusable food wrap and snack pouch (website link). The fabric on the mat can be custom printed - a perfect eco-friendly marketing give-away for anyone doing take-out sandwiches and snacks.
Blueware™ is biodegradable rigid packaging that is made into starch-based cookware and tableware including bread, muffin and pie pans, dessert trays, plates and bowls. Biosphere Industries claims you can cook, freeze, serve and reheat in the same pan and the pans will biodegrade naturally in 40 days or less in the presence of moisture and air (10 days in industrial compost). The product is FDA approved and will be available in Fall 09. website link
VerTerra Dinnerware is made from fallen palm leaves pressed into distinctive shapes and using no  chemicals, dyes or toxins. Its 100% compostable and biodegrades in two months. The plates have a leafy look about them and are meant for single use, though you could get more out of them. The website explains that the company founder was inspired by a woman in India pressing soaked leaves in something like a waffle iron to make a plate, then serving food on it - website link.
Biodegradability is variable - and in many cases it may be better to Reduce, Reuse, Recycle than to bury organic dinnerware in an anaerobic garbage pile. Still, for some these products will be suitable.
Bag Ups has a simple concept - put biodegradable bags into a recyclable box that you drop into the bottom of your trash can; each bag is attached to the next so that as you take out a full one, the next bag is pulled out of the box - and the last bag brings the box with it. No more looking for the bags or wondering why someone can't remember to replace the bag (does that ever happen at your place?). website link
Vacuum Sealing
We thought vacuum sealing was a big deal at the shows in Paris and Milan, and it's also hit the housewares market. Several products offer very simple, non-mechanical sealing methods. 
Keepeez has 6 different sized lids with a stretchy transparent plastic top attached to a solid plastic rim. Place the top onto a base that is free of scratches or cracks, then press down on the clear stretchy plastic, to create a vacuum. A tab on the lid rim releases the vacuum. website link
A "professional" version clear container with a one-way vacuum valve in the lid - and a lifetime warranty - is offered by FreshVac. website link
ComboEz (Taiwan) has a vacuum food storage system involving a clear rigid domed cover with a small battery-powered vacuum pump built in at the top. The dome fits on a proprietary base, but can also create a vacuum on a smooth surface. website link
Platetopper is another flat-topped domed lid (for ease of stacking) that fits on a plate and uses pressure to create a slight vacuum and air-tight seal. website link
Why Didn't We Think of That?
A lot of what we saw at the Housewares show were good, simple solutions. For example, the Fasta Pasta microwave cooker from McMahan Enterprises in Michigan. Looking like a plastic shoe box with two round holes in the lid, the cooker will hold pasta plus water for microwave cooking. The round holes serve as portion sizers. The lid, with cool-to-the-touch handles, is placed on the cooker after cooking to drain the water. The whole thing is dishwasher safe and I'm sure has applications in our industry (late-night college foodservice, c-stores?).
 The website shows a video of the cooker in action - website linkFire Wire® is a flexible wire skewer - you can thread food onto it, bend it into a marinade bag, and place the skewer to best advantage on your grill. It's 100% stainless steel and holds twice as much as a typical skewer. Website link has a short video.
A French company has devised the smallest espresso machine in the world - Handpresso Wild has an outdoor kit for "nomadic espresso" that includes a thermos for hot water, "domepods" of coffee and something that looks like a bicycle pump to create pressure for brewing. It's portable and clearly much less complicated than the 500-part machines we usually see. Again, a short video can be found at website link. It just got a good review in the NY Times.
Asian Exhibitors
It is a truly international show with many exhibitors and attendees from Japan, China and Korea. We saw a lot of knock-offs of American appliances as well as several original ideas and old ideas made more attractively.
Eastech of GuangDong, China, makes commercial conveyor vegetable washers and household fruit & veg washers, both using ozone sterilization. website link In fact, we saw a lot of sterilizers, both ozone and ultraviolet, throughout the show. |
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