Canned drink losing its taste? They’ve got it covered
PHOTO/RICK SAIA
The Cappy, a plastic disk manufactured in Fitchburg, is used to both open and cover canned, carbonated beverages.
Who says innovation has to be complicated?
Many inventions are seen as solutions to problems. One day, Gary Richard saw how people who enjoy canned, carbonated beverages couldn't put down their drinks for long stretches without those drinks losing some of their fizz or taste.
That's when Richard, an inventor based on the North Shore, came up with the idea of “The Cappy,” a small, rubber disk about the size of a half-dollar coin that attaches to a soda or beer can tab. It serves a dual purpose: It prevents a person from ripping a fingernail when opening the can, and covers the hole in the can when the consumer is done sipping and wants to either put it down for a moment, or tuck it into the fridge for a day.
James G. “Jay” Gardiner of Grafton, formerly the director of the Molly Bish Center for the Protection of Children and the Elderly at Anna Maria College — who also served as Worcester's health and human services commissioner from 2005 to 2009 — got to know Richard through his role at the Bish center. He helped him bring the product to market, and sales are beginning to take off, he said. Gardiner said he and Richard recently reached a deal with Tedeschi Food Shops of Rockland, which operates nearly 200 convenience stores throughout New England. Supermarket chains such as Winn-Dixie and Ahold, the parent of Stop & Shop, have also expressed interest, he said.
The Cappy is produced at Mar-Lee Cos. in Fitchburg, a contract, plastic injection-molding manufacturer.
The Cappy was even introduced to the ABC-TV show “Shark Tank,” in which capital-seeking entrepreneurs demonstrate their inventions before five potential investors, which include Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association, and Daymond John, founder and CEO of the FUBU line of clothing.
While the segment never hit the screen, The Cappy did draw interest from Cuban and John, according to Gardiner, and he and Richard have been getting advice through the Daymond John Academy, which helps entrepreneurs grow their ventures through workshops. One of John's partners, Michael Huska, said he's helping Gardiner and Richard with product licensing opportunities.
A marketing assist
Several months ago, Richard met a marketing executive at a trade show in Chicago and introduced The Cappy to him.
“At first I thought, 'Hmmm, kind of interesting',” said Scott Nussinow, executive vice president at Points of Light, a Fairfield, N.J., firm that helps market and distribute products. He was impressed by the product's flat surface and imprint area, which could carry a company's logo or that of a beverage manufacturer, as a promotional tool. “The novelty of the product … (is) substantial.”
Yet the one part of the product that really caught his eye was a little hole at the top of the disk, large enough to place it on a key chain. That way, Nussinow reasoned, it wouldn't get lost in someone's pocket or purse.
“That was huge,” he said. “That's what really put it over the top for me.” In addition, The Cappy can avoid spills by sealing the hole in a beverage can.
Acceptance of the product has been “surprisingly robust,” Nussinow added, and Points of Light is talking with a major soft-drink manufacturer about a potential promotional deal.
Points of Light publishes a catalog of products it promotes and distributes and when the next catalog is published this month, The Cappy will cover a full page. It's “very, very rare that we dedicate a full page to any one item,” Nussinow said.
“Were very excited about what (lies) ahead for us,” Nussinow said. “It's genius. It's simplicity in design.”
And he thought about how The Cappy could have benefited him many years ago.
“Had that been around in 1975,” he said, “I may not have sucked down that cigarette butt (that was) in that can of Budweiser.”
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