Cable show investors dish out $250K for plate with cup holder

Rick Kellow didn't mind that the home theater in the basement doubled as a kid cave with video games played on the big screen and surround sound blaring in the dark for full effect.

But the father of six did get tired of the open chip bags, crumbs on the floor and furniture, and cans of soda teetering on arm chairs and couch cushions. One day, four years ago, he had enough.

“There were spills and messes everywhere,” Kellow, a resident of Slinger, Wis., said in a telephone interview.

He went upstairs and told his wife, Beth Kuehl, they needed to buy some plates that hold cups, pronto. The couple went to Wal-Mart and some other stores but returned empty handed. Then, they looked online.

“It didn't exist, and you know how necessity is the mother of invention,” Kellow, 53, said.

Inspiration struck and it was game-on to fill the void.

With help from nearby West Bend Plastics Inc., Kellow is producing The Great Plate — a 10-inch, polypropylene plate with a center beverage holder for cans of soda, glasses of milk and bottles of beer. Snacks or an entrée surround the beverage, making it easy to balance food and drink with one hand. The plates come in a variety of colors and fit in standard kitchen cabinets for storage.

Kellow made his first big sale in August when Menard's placed an order for its 300 stores. CVS Pharmacy, which has 7,600 outlets, followed. About 250,000 of The Great Plates, which go for $15 for a stackable set of four, have sold since January. Customers are using them for picnics, tailgates, camping, in the pool — they float — and at the beach.

On March 16, Kellow's creation really catapulted into the public's eye when he and Kuehl appeared on an episode of “Food Fortune” — a new Food Network show that's similar to “Shark Tank” with contestants pitching business ideas to investors. The couple left with $250,000 from three of the four panelists in exchange for 20 percent of their company.

Now it's time to ramp up production to stock displays and shelves for Amazon and Canadian Tire Corp., which also sells housewares, in addition to their early accounts.

“On May 1 we will have our own end cap at Menard's. That's huge,” Kellow said. “They've been great to us. They're all about innovation. We also just met with Canadian Tire and they're putting it in their stores. Their claim to fame is that 80 percent of Canada is within 15 minutes of one of their 483 locations.”

Gearing up

Kellow will invest his “Food Fortune” funds into more tools to make more products.

“Our current capacity is 500,000 pieces per month,” he said. “We want to double that at least by summer.”

Jim Spalding, the plant manager at West Bend, Wis.-based West Bend Plastics, is ready. He saw demand for The Great Plate take production from small runs with a 1-cavity mold to a 4-cavity tool that arrived on Dec. 24.

“When I was a kid we could open up one present on Christmas Eve and that was ours,” he said of everyone involved with the project.

West Bend engineers had already designed and built in-house an end-of-arm tool to automate it immediately.

“It was the only way we were going to stay competitive, put out the numbers they want, and run it 24/7 without worrying about the personnel for it,” Spalding said.

The JSW press is running with a Wittmann robot. The plan is to order another mold and more packaging machines when Kellow gives the word.

“We have the capacity in house right now but with the number they're expecting, getting a new machine is almost a no brainer,” Spalding said as machine makers from around the world gather at NPE 2015 in Orlando, Fla.

He isn't surprised retailers and consumers are eating up The Great Plate. He remembers his initial reaction: “It's fantastic. Can I make a bunch of them right now and take them home because I have young kids?”

Taking stock

Formerly a sales and marketing representative, Kellow quit his day job in January. He and his wife chalk up their success to a lot of hard work and luck, such as connecting with West Bend, which was already buying virgin PP resin by the rail car to make caps and canisters that are Food and Drug Administration compliant.

“It was so price perfect,” Kellow said. “With the end-of-arm robotics they can make it cheaper in the U.S. than we could overseas and we're able to ride on their buying power for the plastic.”

He is proud his product is made in the USA of plastic that can be recycled curbside and that he has been able to do business with so many other businesses. During a meeting with his accountant, Kellow said they determined 33 U.S. companies are now involved in making, promoting and packaging The Great Plate.

“It's amazing what goes into this from the website to photography to videos to tools, plastic, color, packaging and labels,” he said. ‘If this would have been an import, there'd be none of that. It feels fabulous to be supporting so many other jobs.”

His son, Johnathan Kuehl, a 31-year-old graphics designer, is on the company payroll, too. He's the one who insisted Kellow shop around the six prototype samples that cost $5,000 to make four years ago. 

Over at West Bend, three to four employees on one shift are keeping up with orders for The Great Plate.

“If we have to expand into a second or third shift we're all for it,” Spalding said. “They'll call us with an order and no matter how big it is we're going to push it out the door.”

Right now Kellow said he is looking at doing 3.5 million pieces this year for existing customers but he is bracing for more sales. After two months of selling four packs of The Great Plate, Amazon started offering 12 packs on March 13 for $36.

“It's been miraculous,” Kellow said. “We've been blessed. It was a lot of hard work but its all blue sky in front of us right now.”