Okay so I contacted the company because I seriously fell in love with this product and wanted to know more. Of course I thought about all of my readers and asked if there would be a chance of a giveaway. Okay well more on the giveaway in a minute. I want to tell you all the neat things I found about about in an interview I had with the creator Denise; who happens to be a mommy creator!
1) The idea for the Mac & Cool came to me when my oldest child was very young. He was an impatient toddler and as soon as he could smell dinner cooking, he was ready to eat. Waiting for his food to cool was a long, whiney process! I assumed there had to be a product that cooled food quickly on the market. I searched to purchase one but when I found there was nothing like it out there, I decided maybe it was something I needed to develop. My son is now 14 years old, and still a bit impatient , by the way!
2) The Mac & Cool has been featured in some awesome places! HGTV’s “I Want That” did a segment that explains the bowl really well. The show is often re-run on Fine Living Channel (episode 117 – I Want That). We were also featured on the cover of Costco Connection Magazine May 2007 , Good Morning America, The View, Inside Edition, CNN Headline News, Dr. Phil, among others. In 2005, the Mac & Cool was featured in an article in TIME magazine, too.
3) We cool EVERYTHING with the Mac & Cool. My kids figured out if they put pizza in the frozen dish cheese-side down, the pizza no longer burned the roof of the mouths! I sometimes us the Mac & Cool when I’m cooking…if I have to cool the custard before adding it to a dessert, I do it in the Mac & Cool. Or, if I try to soften butter in the microwave oven and go a bit too far, just pour the butter into a frozen Mac & Cool and it solidifies just right! The Mac & Cool is great for some cold foods, too. If you ever make home-made ice cream and it is still pretty soft when you serve it, just serve it right out of the frozen Mac & Cool and it is just the right consistency. We live in a warm place (Arizona) and I’ll often use our Mac & Cool to serve cheese by the pool or for serving fresh fruit. It keeps it just cool enough to really enjoy it! I had neighbors phone once who don’t have children and they had used their Mac & Cool to cool their gourmet Chicken Cordon Bleu!
4) I had some background in plastic manufacturing from my pre-Mom career days so getting through the manufacturing process wasn’t too difficult. Probably the hardest part about that process was finding a manufacturer that was willing to take on the project knowing that I would only be making small quantities at first. I had to go to several plastic parts manufacturers until I finally found one that was small enough to want to take it on. The most difficult thing for me was selling the product in to the marketplace. I’m not strong as a salesman so I had some learning to do. Tradeshows specializing in children’s products was a great way to meet my customers face-to-face.
5) The best tip I can give is to be prepared if you want to start your own business. There are many hidden costs that will come up throughout the process. Be as prepared as you can with a strong budget. You don’t want to get part way through and then run out of money before you get the product to market. Do your research and find out how good your idea really is. Don’t be afraid to ask friends and others what they truly think of your idea. It’s better to get your feelings hurt in the beginning rather than spending $20,000 and then finding out your idea isn’t all that great. Also, stay focused and don’t get discouraged.
WIN IT: Three, yes you read right... THREE reader's will win a Mac and Cool bowl and a pack of potty mitts. (ERV $10.98)
MANDATORY ENTRY:You must first tell me what you would use to cool with the Mac and cool, a story about a child and dinner that this would have helped, or something related to this giveaway. Comments like pick me, great giveaway, etc will be deleted and not counted.
EXTRA ENTRIES: (24 possible entries)
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- Blog about this giveaway, leaving a link to this giveaway (5 entries)
- Grab my NEW button and post a link! (2 entries)
- Tweet about this giveaway, up to 1x daily WIN a Mac and Cool Dinner time's best friend! Hosted by It's all about the Savings http://bit.ly/9ThURI @all_about_savin
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