Business Opportunities Weblog

September 26, 2007 by Rich Whittle | 2 Comments

Americus Times-Recorder:

Ashley Hatcher never dreamed that her frustration of dishes sliding on dinner trays would lead her to be an inventor!

While suffering from a migraine, her daughter brought some food to her on one of the staple “bamboo trays”. When she brought the tray to Hatcher, everything had spilled. The tray was falling apart and dirty!

To add to her frustration, Hatcher had to sit up to hold the tray perfectly parallel to the bed to prevent the dishes from sliding more. She decided that day that there had to be a better tray!

After searching on the internet, she could not find a tray to fix all the current problems with conventional dinner trays. Hatcher wanted a tray that would have 4 needed features: keep dishes in place, allow for safe dishwashing, store for convenience, and handles that would work.

She worked for almost a year to design a tray with these benefits and the Lappers were born!

More than 20,000 units have been sold since it first rolled off the production line in April 2006. The Lapper employs silicone pads to keep foods and beverages from sliding, making for mess-free entertaining.

The product has been featured on Home & Garden TV, ABC’s “Good Morning America,” “Every Day with Rachael Ray,” and in publications such as Forbes, Life and Georgia Trend.

Photo by Archer Innovations.

In Inventions | 2 Comments
Tags: Niche, Women