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Retired machinist digs deep for non-spill bowl
BY FRANCINE KNOWLES SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST
Willie Jacobs, a 69-year-old retired machinist, was doodling on a napkin while rehabbing from a heart attack when he came up with the concept for a tilted soup bowl.
Seven years later, with a patent and mold in his possession and a manufacturer under contract, Jacobs and his wife, Linda, now find their product listed in one of the largest professional rehabilitation catalogs in the country and on the shelves at local Walgreens stores.
The bowl is designed for the disabled and seniors with unsteady hands who have difficulty spooning food from regular bowls. It's also marketed for young children, whose parents want to avoid spills.
The bowl is angled in the bottom, allowing the user to easily spoon from it
without tilting it forward. To the naked eye, the colorful dishwasher-safe product looks like an ordinary bowl.
"It's a useful product," for seniors and the disabled, said Willie Jacobs, who adds that his grandchildren love them.
The bowls are manufactured by Warren Specialty Molding in Chicago, and are marketed and distributed by Glori Beee's Kidz Corp., the couple's upstart company. Glori Beee's is on track to generate $250,000 in revenues from the bowls this year, said Linda Jacobs, adding that she hopes to hit $1 million next year.
In December, the tilted soup bowls landed space in Sammons Preston Rolyan catalog. The catalog, marketed to physical and occupational therapists, has a circulation of several hundred thousand. The couple is also targeting hospitals and nursing homes.
Going from concept to patent to manufacturing and placement in stores has been a challenge, the couple said.
"We took an idea that God gave to us," Willie Jacobs said. "He is the one that led us, and has taken us to the point where we are now, but it's been hard. ...We've funded this all the way up until now."
The couple has invested roughly $150,000 in the entrepreneurial effort, said Linda Jacobs, who wears many hats at the company.
"I'm owner, vendor, supplier and marketer," said Linda, who's also helped out on the manufacturing line. Added Willie Jacobs: "I wanted to establish a product that was durable, that people would love and that would be made right in the U.S."
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Chicago
Sun-Times: Willie Jacobs, a 69-year-old retired machinist, was
doodling on a napkin while rehabbing from a heart attack when he came up with
the concept for a tilted soup bowl.
