The entrepreneurial world is nothing new to my partner, Stephan. So when he told me that he had an idea for a brand new pet product, I was excited to hear what it was. Having multiple cats, Stephan had expressed his displeasure with how much food he was having to throw away in canned cat food everyday. The food was stuck on the inner walls, on the bottom, and under the lid lip where fingers could not and should not venture.
He is an avid animal lover, so throwing away food that he had bought for his furry friends was frustrating. Combining the environmental impact (he did not want to “wishcycle”) meant he had to choose whether to waste water to clean the can for recycling or just throw it away.
Now of course, he tried a fork, a spoon, a rubber spatula, but all were either ineffective or took too long. Now of course the few seconds and drops of water it takes to get all of the food out is minute in one-off occurrences. However, once you combine all the time, frustration, and water usage time, you begin to understand the enormous personal and environmental impact these cans have.
“There must be a better way", Stephan thought, using the old trope that many great inventors start with. Annoyed, and with some extra time on his hands, Stephan went down to Ace Hardware and got some sheet metal. With a pair of pliers and 20 minutes, he made the first CanTastic.
After realizing how well his prototype had worked, Stephan realized that many pet owners are probably struggling with the same issue. With contacts at his fingertips, he began designing a utensil that could be mass produced.
Our start was simple, but the path to launch was much more complicated. Until next time …
Logan Martinez
COO of CanTastic and Trysk Solutions.
