Columbus Ledger-Enquirer:
Her Lapper dinner trays have appeared on ABC’s “Good Morning America” and the home-shopping network QVC.
Now entrepreneur Ashley Hatcher is taking her invention before yet another national audience.
She and her non-slip dinner trays will appear on NBC’s “Today” show, during a segment hosted by nationally known marketing guru and TV host Donny Deutsch.
Hatcher has been peddling the dinner trays since April 2006. They come in designer and collegiate styles, with silicone-based pads helping to prevent plates and drinking glasses from slipping off of them.
By August, before her first appearance on QVC, Hatcher said she had sold about 70,000 of the plastic trays that sell between $22 and $25 at various retail outlets.
During three QVC stints this summer and fall, about 11,000 more have been sold. Anytime the enthusiastic Hatcher makes an appearance on a national TV program, sales also spike on her Web site.
The slumping economy has not cut into the business, Hatcher said.
Photo by Archer Innovations.