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Kitchenware News & Housewares Review Show Daily 3 5 Saturday, March 14, 2020 ESPRO Stands Out in Crowded Coffee Maker Space Bruce Constantine, Founder and President of ESPRO, discusses what he's learned over a decade of creating beloved coffee products. KNSD: ESPRO was acquired by Regal Ware in 2018. How has that impacted your business? BC: Chris McLean, ESPRO's co- Founder, and I self-funded and launched ESPRO from my garage. That's where everything happened for nearly five years. After releasing several successful products and building a more complex business, I realized my ability to continue to grow the company was reaching its natural limit. Partnering with Regal Ware was a no-brainer. Since becoming a division of Regal Ware, we've been able to increase our output of products to fulfill orders quick- ly, accelerate our domestic and interna- tional growth strategies and funnel more expertise into designing incredible prod- ucts that solve real problems. KNSD: How do you create products that stand out in the crowded coffee maker space? BC: There are tinkerers throughout the coffee industry who are taking classic equipment and tweaking it to make it marginally better. When I first started ESPRO, I didn't want to make tiny improvements here and there – I wanted to tinker my way out of specific prob- lems. For example, everyone loves the classic French press, but nobody enjoys the grit at the bottom of the cup that slides through the standard metal filter. That's why I designed a new kind of dual-filter that brews the cleanest cup of French press coffee out there – and by solving that daily problem, we instantly made a name for ourselves in the coffee world. Another exam- ple would be the Ultralight press: minimalist travel- ers can't take most coffee makers on their journeys because they're bulky and still require packing a mug, so we designed the world's lightest travel French press and thermos to solve that problem. By solving real problems our customers face every day, we've established ourselves as an innovator in our industry. KNSD: You've had four successful prod- uct launches on Kickstarter, with another campaign going live this Spring. What's your secret? BC: The coffee industry has a difficult time engaging customers on a deep emo- tional level. Most crowdfunding cam- paigns – and marketing strategies, for that matter – focus prima- rily on product features and shallow benefits. Naturally, customers end up jumping from one prod- uct to the next because they have no reason to be brand-loyal. That's why the story is more important than the product. We believe our products inte- grate into the narrative our customers are already living out. There's a tendency to say 'you need to add this to your story' when talking to customers, but we've found that by focusing on how we encourage them to enhance their own story, we've been able to create a community that sees us as their biggest fans, rather than the other way around. That creates a unique kind of bond – then they're customers for life. For more information, go to www.espro.com, call 844.377.7622, email info@espro.com or stop by booth #N8316. Viatek Thriving with TV Shopping Platform An interview with Jessica Hunt Holloway, Vice President of USA and International TV Shopping Divisions, Viatek Consumer Products Group. KNSD: In a world of click to buy where customers can get their purchases deliv- ered in as little as a span of hours, how has your TV shopping business survived? JH: Not to sound cliché, but we aren't just surviving – we are thriving. Online shopping relies on product stills and writ- ten descriptions. The TV shopping plat- form gives us face time with our cus- tomers to explore all of the features and benefits of an item, demonstrate its capa- bilities, even answer questions and hear testimonials. Our customers feel informed and excited when they make a purchase because they know exactly what they are getting. They also rest assured knowing that we guarantee satis- faction and their items are backed by warranty. It doesn't stop there. In a world of fly-by-night companies peddling unvetted goods out there in .com land, TV shopping customers opt for quality they can trust, backed by service and sup- port. KNSD: How about the retail giants, the big box stores? How do you com- pete there? JH: I've seen it firsthand, so many won- derful products get lost on the shelves. Brilliant ideas are brought to market only to fall by the wayside and into clearance bins for lack of sales. The cause is simple – when people don't understand a prod- uct, they won't buy it. That's where Viatek has found its niche, on the live platform of TV shopping, where we are able to show the consumer things that even the best retail packaging can't. Our on-air guests are product experts and inspiring storytellers who are able to introduce the new and the innovative in such a way that it evokes excitement and understanding from viewers. Those 10 minutes with an audi- ence of tens of mil- lions can take a product from obscurity to preeminence at lightning speed. We've launched sales at midnight and seen 15 thousand spin mops sell out before din- nertime, a hundred thousand Pull Lights gone before midnight. It's truly astonish- ing that an entire year's worth of invento- ry at retail can move through the TV shopping pipeline in a single day – and how we do love those days! For more information, go to www .viatekproducts.com, call 423.402.9010, email cs@viatek.com or stop by booth #L11147. A Board for Every Occasion Made in Canada from premium Canadian recuperated maple, Labell products are produced with the highest industry stan- dards. With the new abilities in wood manufacturing, the possibility of taking raw material, otherwise disposed of, and turning it into wonderful culinary works of art is nothing new for Labell. With over 10 years of experience in the retail and white label marketplace, Labell now has a catalogue of more than 150 SKUs. Simply put, Labell has a board for every use or occasion. If Labell does not have exactly what you are looking for, its team of experts will work side by side with you until the very end to create exactly what it is you are looking for. Labell has always stayed true to maple-based products in order to pro- mote food-safe quality products with world class aesthetics. Striving to be the best in product design and innovation, its team analyzes current trends and market demand, and shifts its designs to create a superior product that answers those exact demands every time. It has been said that you cannot reinvent the cutting board, but Labell surely knows how to repurpose them. Once again, Labell maintains its reputation for innova- tion in the marketplace with a new attention- grabbing and heart- warming product lineup. This year, with the same profes- sional-grade food-safe boards that Labell is known for, comes the new Quote Collection. It is a collection of 15 heartwarming and meaningful quotes turning everyday maple cutting boards and service platters into desirable kitchen ornaments. Whether it be for serving charcu- teries, wall décor, using as a traditional cutting board or gift- ing to a friend, the new Quote Collection is something that will bring an unavoidable smile to anyone's face. For more information, call 450.515.7623, visit www.labellinc.com or email info@labell.ca. Klean Kanteen: Built with Love By Jeff Cresswell, Klean Kanteen, co- Owner We've always been more comfortable sit- ting around a campfire than a boardroom table, more at home on the trail than the corporate treadmill. So how did we end up launching a global company and start- ing a revolution? It's hard to imagine that back in the early 2000s you couldn't buy a reusable, stainless steel water bottle in the United States. Plastic was pretty much your only option. When Klean sold the first BPA-free stainless steel bottles in 2004, we figured a few folks might be into them. Today, reusable water bottles, coffee mugs and food containers are every- where. Klean Kanteen has become an international brand and has inspired dozens of other companies to make reusable stainless steel products. We don't mind. When it comes to kicking plastic, we're all in this together. Along the way, we've remained a family and employee owned company. Turning down investor dollars isn't always easy, but the freedom to stay true to our principles is worth it. If we want to share our profits with organizations we believe in, we can (and do). If we want to spend a few years developing a ground- breaking nontoxic, chip-resistant powder coat finish, we can (and did). From the very begin- ning, Klean Kanteens have been built with love – the love of adventure, the love of conserving wild places and the love of replacing single-use plastic. For more information, go to www.klean kanteen.com, call 800.767.3173, email original@kleankanteen.com or stop by booth #N8216A.