Another Review of Summertime Inventions

In this prior post in May 2023, I reviewed some interesting inventions and innovations evoking summertime fun, including a look at U.S. Design Patent No. D584,478 for a unique bun design that could accommodate inventor Mark Murray’s unique “hamdog,” comprising a hamburger split in half to allow a hot dog to be placed in between. Since we are officially moving into Summer 2025, I thought it might be time to take a closer look at some other “cool” inventions for cookouts and picnics.

The most essential item for a successful cookout is the grill.  In the early 1950s, George A. Stephen, anemployee of Weber Brothers Metal Works invented what is universally known today as the Weber Grill. At the time, Weber Brothers made metal buoys for the U.S. Coast Guard. Stephen invented his “George’s Barbecue Kettle” by cutting a metal buoy to form a bowl with a lid.  He added some vents, and the iconic dome-shaped grill design was created. The shape of Stephen’s design improved heat distribution while reducing flare-ups and protecting the food on the grill from windy weather and debris in the air.  Stephen received numerous patents for his grill deigns over the years, including U.S. Patent No. 3,330,266 in 1967 for “Barbecue Vessel.”

From Commodity Trading to Contract Law: What Entrepreneurs Can Learn About Risk

Before I became a transactional attorney, I was a grain trader. If you’re ever in an airport, you can spot a grain trader rather easily. They will be the person in a polo, grain company brand over their heart, pacing back and forth, trying to get just a little more phone time in before they take off to someplace else. On any given day, I might have fielded a hundred phone calls and reviewed well over a hundred pages of contracts before heading home. The pace was relentless, but what mattered most was precision. If you didn’t know the rules, the actual, technical rules, and understand the “industry rules,” you could expose the company to hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses from a single mistake. The margin for error was zero.

Ode to Eggs

Since I love eggs for breakfast and they’ve been in the news quite a lot lately, I decided to write my first post for entreVIEW about them! They’re simple, quick and high in protein. While I wasn’t always so fond of eggs, somewhere in my adult life I began eating eggs for breakfast almost every day—preferably scrambled or over-medium with a dash of hot sauce.

I’m sure you’ve noticed the lack of eggs in grocery and convenience stores over the past couple of months. As we near the month of April, which is one of the highest demand months of the year for eggs (given the Easter Bunny’s mutual appreciation for the item), I’m expecting to see fewer eggs in stock and higher prices for a dozen eggs. One expert predicts that egg prices may soar as high as $10/dozen! Might that be enough to change my morning breakfast ritual? Probably not. Assuming I can find them, I’d prefer to reduce my spending in other ways than change my breakfast routine.

Everything’s Up to Date in Kansas City

With the temperature in Kansas City lately being from 90° to 100°, it is no surprise that families are trying to find ways to keep their little ones busy during the summer months that does not involve being outside. This past weekend, my husband and I decided to take a stroll through our very own backyard and head to Crown Center.

Growing an Entrepreneur Farmer

Today I’d like to share an unusual and inspiring story of entrepreneurial spirit, originality, creativity, and, perhaps most important, perseverance.

Scottie Thelman grew up in Lawrence, Kansas, the son of a doctor and a minister. Although Lawrence is a smallish town (and home of the 2022 NCAA Champion Jayhawks – just sayin’), it’s not a completely rural community. Lots of wheat and other fields around, however, and Scottie was originally inspired to focus on the business side of agriculture.

A Review of Summertime Inventions

Memorial Day weekend marks the unofficial start of Summer. As we start preparing for picnics and barbeques, outdoor concerts, trips to the beach or days at the pool, I thought it would be fun to review some interesting inventions and innovations that often evoke childhood memories of summers past. In this prior post from December 2021, I took a nostalgic look at some of the toys and games we grew up with and examined the patents behind those innovations, including U.S. Patent No. 3,359,678, issued on December 26, 1967, for Wham-O Manufacturing Co.’s “Flying Saucer,” modelled after pie tins manufactured by the Frisbie Pie Company of Bridgeport, Connecticut. Wham-O’s flying discs, of course, are known as Frisbees, which are perfect for a nice summer day at the park.

Marcia Chatelain, Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America (Liveright Publishing, 2020)

Over the Martin Luther King Day holiday a couple of weeks ago, I was reminded that Dr. King’s advocacy had a significant economic component that is almost always overshadowed by his achievements in the civil rights realm. “What good is having the right to sit at a lunch counter,” he is famously quoted as saying, “if you can’t afford to buy a hamburger?”

From Marcia Chatelain’s viewpoint, his reference to hamburgers is especially apt. In Franchise, which won the Pulitzer Prize for History in 2021, she examines “the hidden history of the intertwined relationship between the struggle for civil rights and the expansion of the fast-food industry.” In this story, hamburger behemoth McDonald’s plays a prominent role.

A Latte Insight on Pumpkin Spice

 Each year, as summer fades into fall, there are certain autumn classics people anticipate, even during a pandemic: hay rides, football, raking leaves, etc. A relative newcomer to that list is pumpkin spice. Leading the pumpkin spice charge is the Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte that hit the market in 2003. Analysis of Google Trends data for the term “pumpkin spice” indicates that it was not until several years after the release of Starbucks’ iconic fall beverage that the pumpkin-spice bandwagon really got rolling. Google Trends data goes back to 2004. This data analyzes the popularity of search queries from Google searches.

The Google Trends chart shown below covers Google search queries for the term “pumpkin spice” for the time period from 2004 to the present. The horizontal axis represents time, while the vertical axis represents interest in a given Google search term, here, “pumpkin spice.” Regarding the vertical axis — from Google Trends: “Numbers represent search interest relative to the highest point on the chart for the given region and time. A value of 100 is the peak popularity for the term. A value of 50 means that the term is half as popular. A score of 0 means there was not enough data for this term.”

(Chart from Google Trends)

Increasing Popularity

To simplify, the higher the graph, the more popularity for the search term. So, in the mid- to late-2000s, pumpkin spice had moderate growth, and then began to take off around the turn of the decade. As seen above, pumpkin spice reached peak popularity in September 2017.

Seasonality

Also apparent is the seasonality of pumpkin spice, which can be seen in the spikes that occur each fall. Of note to pumpkin spice geeks is the day on which those spikes reach a peak. In 2004, the peak occurred on Nov. 25, Thanksgiving Day. Analysis of the annual peak for each of the years for which Google Trends has data indicates that, each fall, there is a peak around Thanksgiving. That peak has remained around Thanksgiving, but over time, a spike began to develop earlier (in September). It’s telling that as pumpkin spice has become more popular, companies saw the marketing value of providing pumpkin spice products, which caused consumers to anticipate a new wave of products as summer winds down.

Change in Seasonal Peak

Thanksgiving represented peak popularity of pumpkin spice season until 2016 when, as shown in the chart below, pumpkin spice peaked higher on Sept. 1 than Thanksgiving (Nov. 24) over two months later. Not only has this early-season peak surpassed the Thanksgiving peak every year since 2016, but the early-season peak has continued to start sooner, such that, for 2020, the peak was Aug. 25. Marketers have continued pushing pumpkin spice further into August as this year, Dunkin’ rolled out its Pumpkin Spice Latte on Aug. 19. Can July Pumpkin Spice be far off?

(Chart from Google Trends)

What started primarily with adding pumpkin spice to a drink, has, like every great entrepreneurial activity, spun into adding pumpkin spice to just about every conceivable product. A couple highlights, and the year they debuted, are noted below. Hurry up and get your pumpkin spice fill, because Starbucks releases its suite of festive beverages, including Peppermint Mocha, in less than a week, Nov. 7.

Timeline of Pumpkin Spice Products

2007 – Dunkin’s Pumpkin Flavor Swirl

Not to be left in the dust by Starbucks, the Pumpkin Flavor Swirl can be added to coffees, lattes, and other drinks.

2012 – Pringles Pumpkin Pie Spice

“Once you pop, you can’t stop” did not apply to this Pringles variety as it was discontinued.

2015 – Hostess Pumpkin Spice Twinkies

Eighty-five years after the snack cake was invented, it got a fall makeover.

2015 – Clear American Pumpkin Spice Sparkling Water

Evidence that anything can be turned into a pumpkin-spice product.

2017 – Greenies Pumpkin Spice Flavor Dental Treats

Fido is no longer left out of the pumpkin spice craze.

2017 – Native Pumpkin Spice Latte Deodorant

Keep that pumpkin spice scent with you long after you’ve finished your morning pumpkin spice latte.

2019 – Hormel Foods Pumpkin Spice Spam

In 2017, Spam shared a picture on its Facebook page of Pumpkin Spice Spam, a product that was not real and meant solely as a joke. The picture went viral, the product became a reality in 2019, and it sold out in hours. No doubt the café’s Viking patrons in the Monty Python “Spam” sketch would be big fans.

Farmers Are the Ultimate Entrepreneurs

Fall is here (although it looks like winter outside at the moment!). This time of year always makes me think of farmers across the upper Midwest harvesting their crops. I consider farmers to be the ultimate entrepreneurs and, generally, some of the smartest and most determined people I have ever met.

Like many entrepreneurs, 2020 has presented a lot of challenges for farmers who, even before this year, were already battling declining profit margins, low commodity pricing and increasingly unpredictable and extreme weather patterns. Farmers are constantly innovating, growing businesses by themselves and taking full responsibility for the success of their products, from seed to harvest. I think entrepreneurs can learn a lot from America’s farmers.

Here are three things entrepreneurs can learn from farmers: 

• Use your mission as motivation. For an entrepreneur to be successful, the entrepreneur better have a mission that matters and motivates them. A farmer’s mission is to produce the world’s food and other essential agricultural products. Farming is essential and fundamental to society. An entrepreneur’s mission should be equally as critical.
• Employ data analytics. Farmers rely on sophisticated data analytics to aid their decision-making, such as what crops to plant and when to plant them, whether to contract in commodity futures and when to sell products. Data allows farmers to evolve and to avoid relying solely on historical practices to dictate future actions. Entrepreneurs should use data to help them innovate with knowledge and confidence, particularly when you’re operating in a high technology environment where things can change rapidly.
• You are only as good as you word. Farming communities are typically small and a farmer’s word means everything.
  Trustworthiness matters and can be a key driver in establishing a positive business reputation, business longevity and key business relationships. Of course, written agreements are relevant and can be important (how could a lawyer like me say anything different). Like farmers, entrepreneurs should value their verbal commitments at least as much as written legal agreements. 

There exists a misconception that farmers and farming are behind the times. Those of us who work with or have been exposed to farmers feel the opposite way. Just like high tech startup entrepreneurs, farmers frequently embrace innovation, work tirelessly and are among the first to take on risk and innovate if there is a potential return. 

Entrepreneurship in the Classroom

Earlier this month, a fellow entreVIEW author told us the tale of how his entrepreneurial-minded daughter recently launched a baking business. While I won’t fail to at least briefly acknowledge how much I love hearing about female-led startups (probably even more than I love baked goods!), this post is about why entrepreneurship should be taught in schools at an early age.

I don’t believe entrepreneurship is genetic or inborn. Instead, I believe an entrepreneurial nature can be fostered through imagination, creation and innovation. I, like Dan's daughter, am lucky to have grown up encircled in entrepreneurial sprit. I grew up on a farm and had no better friend and mentor than my Grandpa, a farmer. I followed him everywhere and learned a lot about what it takes to be an entrepreneur, including work ethic, risk management, the impact on reputation and business longevity of keeping a handshake promise and more. In a lot of ways, I view farmers to be the ultimate entrepreneurs. Not everyone is as lucky to be inherently surrounded by entrepreneurship from a young age, which brings me back to my original premise: entrepreneurship should be taught in schools at an early age.

Unless my memory fails me, I did not have a single class on entrepreneurship from elementary through high school. For those without an inherently entrepreneurial home life, school may be the only exposure a young student has to entrepreneurship, especially in rural areas. As with all other fundamental subjects taught in school — math, science, music, etc. — entrepreneurship as a school subject would encourage students to engage with the world around them and imagine what could be different, brainstorm creative problem-solving ideas and scale-up innovations.

A Global Pandemic — Why Not Launch a Business?

You can probably think of lots of reasons why not to launch a business during a global pandemic. If you’re my 13-year-old daughter, you see nothing but opportunity.

Why? Maybe because she’s the daughter of a lawyer who spends his days working with risk-taking entrepreneurs? Maybe because she’s easily bored? Maybe because she just has a lot of entrepreneurial drive (and a bunch of time on her hands)?

The real answer is that it’s because her New Year’s resolution was to turn her love of baking into a “neighborhood” business. Unlike many of us (remember those resolutions to stop snacking or to go to the gym more?), she actually took action: she put together a detailed list of everything needed to launch the business and started checking things off. Items included everything from branding and recipes to registering our kitchen under the Minnesota Cottage Foods Laws.

Of course, then things like life and COVID-19 got in the way! With time on her hands (8th grade distance learning only took her about 1.5 hours a day), she renewed her enthusiasm for the idea after we returned from our one-day trip to Ecuador (which was supposed to be a 10-day spring break trip to the Galapagos Islands…). 

But, like any good entrepreneur, she needed to be able to adapt to a rapidly evolving situation. Instead of trying to go door to door in the neighborhood, she contacted the New Brighton Farmer's Market and secured a bi-weekly space for the summer. About three weeks ago, she officially launched Zizzy Baked GoodZ and sales have been booming! She sold out her inventory her first week at the market (half way through the day) and almost sold out twice as many items the second week — including her “Rainbow Pride Cupcake” (complete with Fresh Pineapple Buttercream), pictured above. She’s even already filled several custom catering orders!

COVID-19 Crisis: a Catalyst for Entrepreneurship

If any of you have read your emails lately, you are probably aware that “We're All In This Together” during these “difficult” and “uncertain times.”

All joking aside, the global coronavirus pandemic and corresponding policy restrictions have caused the rethinking of countless business practices. For many, video meetings have become a primary form of communication and home workspaces have become workers’ exclusive offices; we are experiencing major shifts in how businesses operate.

Some businesses – especially restaurants, retailers and manufacturers of consumer goods – have experienced a sharp drop in demand or even a complete derailment. At the same time, many people are experiencing shortages, whether it is of products like personal protective equipment (PPE) or hand sanitizer or services like fitness classes. Businesses are responding to America’s challenges by engaging in new entrepreneurial activities. 

As a fellow entreVIEW author has recently pointed out, there are real opportunities presented by this crisis for entrepreneurial-minded businesses. Here are a few businesses in my backyard (Minnesota) that have been reinventing themselves in order to survive the global coronavirus pandemic, including some businesses that are showing citizenship and resourcefulness in developing creative responses to emerging challenges with scarce resources (in combination, citizenship and resourcefulness are drivers of socially aware entrepreneurship, which is something I love promoting and talking about): 

Entrepreneurial Opportunities in A Pandemic?

One of the reasons that I enjoy working with entrepreneurs so much is because so many of them have a positive outlook. Think about it, would anybody really even think seriously about starting a business if they weren’t looking beyond all the challenges they will face to see the potential opportunities?

As we all know all too well from our current view through pandemic-tinted glasses (sitting in sweatpants, socially distant from others, wondering what day it is, trying to avoid cable news networks, and hoping that our Zoom calls don’t get disrupted), businesses of all sizes are being dramatically impacted by the COVID-19 virus and related stay at home and social distancing measures put into place by governmental officials. Unfortunately, some (possibly many) businesses will not survive the crisis. 

I believe that many of the ones that survive and maybe even end up being stronger will be those run by entrepreneurs who see the glass as half full. Rather than huddle in fear, they will instead look for the opportunities available to them during and as a result of the current coronavirus crisis. While it can be easy to be sucked into all the negative news and real human toll the virus is taking, l — like my entrepreneur clients — prefer to focus on the opportunities.

From Linebacker to Food Entrepreneur: Blake’s Seed Based

Regular readers of entreVIEW may be familiar with my enthusiasm for Wisconsin sports. As an alumna of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, it is particularly exciting to see other alumni experiencing professional success — especially when it links sports, entrepreneurship, and my (required) dietary restrictions.

I, along with an estimated 3 million other U.S. adults, am allergic to tree nuts. This can make for awkward social situations (eating alone at weddings because it takes so long to get a nut-free meal) and challenging grocery store selections (if it says it was “processed at a facility that also processes tree nuts,” it’s probably fine, but on the off-chance it’s not, I’m stuck with an entire box of granola bars). So, when I heard the story of a former Wisconsin Badgers football player who had developed a line of allergy-free seed based snack and protein bars, I was intrigued.

Blake Sorensen, a Minnesota native and budding food entrepreneur, was recently featured in a forbes.com article. Between 2007 and 2010, Sorensen was a linebacker for the Wisconsin Badgers. Like me, he has a tree nut allergy. While getting his MBA at Indiana University, Sorensen took a social entrepreneurship class from which a business idea was born: Blake’s Seed Based, a line of snack bars featuring a combination of seeds and fruit free from the major allergens of nuts, dairy, and gluten.

The Great Minnesota Get-Together: A Brief History

If you’re like me, at this time of the year, you have one thing on your mind: the Great Minnesota Get-Together (also known as the Minnesota State Fair).

The fair, located on a massive 322 acres, is a highly popular event, attracting more than 2 million people annually. It employs over 80 full-time year-round individuals, adding 450 seasonal staff members in the summer. It also hires over 2,300 fair-time staff members. In 2018, the fair brought in $57.3 million in revenues. The fair is further estimated to have generated a whopping $268 million in economic impact for the Twin Cities as a whole.

Have you ever wondered how this great event came to be? Its roots trace all the way back to 1854, where it first began as a territorial fair. The fair as it’s known today was first held in 1859, a year after Minnesota was granted statehood. At that time, the fair’s location changed annually, moving between Minneapolis, St. Paul, Rochester, Red Wing, Winona, and Owatonna. It wasn’t until 1885, when the Ramsey County Board of Commissioners donated 210 acres to the State Agricultural Society, that the fair found a permanent home at its present location in St. Paul. Because the fair’s original purpose was to encourage farming in the state of Minnesota, the fair in its early days was comprised of mostly agricultural-related exhibits and competitions.

Over the years, the fair has expanded its activities. 1899 saw the introduction of grandstand shows and fireworks. Theodore Roosevelt spoke at the fair in 1901 and delivered his famous line, "speak softly and carry a big stick." In 1947, the Pronto Pups (and other tasty foods on a stick) were first introduced. The Princess Kay of the Milky Way competition started in 1954. The beloved Sweet Martha’s cookies hit the fair in 1979.

Despite the fair’s expansion in activities and in size, agriculture has consistently remained the primary focus and heart of the fair. There are still several exhibits and competitions dedicated to just that — agriculture. This year, consider stopping by these exhibits or take a moment to watch a competition to pay homage to the fair’s roots and to appreciate how far the fair has come since then.

Make Time for Lemonade

It was steamy hot this weekend in Minneapolis. The blow-up pool was out on the back lawn 24/7, Saturday required a morning and evening shower, and I thought maybe if I buzzed my head things would be better.

In the midst of this rainforest weather, my young daughters (3 and 5) ran a lemonade stand in the front yard. As I watched over their business operations, it occurred to me: a lemonade stand provides a perfect introduction to entrepreneurship.

Now our kids had it easy as my wife and I did not demand repayment for the costs of their inventory or require a lien on their toys, but they still sold product, served customers, and practiced counting their precious coins (and bills in some cases from generous customers). More importantly, they gained self-esteem and inspiration to plan more for next time.

Meanwhile, the older (9) girl next door stepped it up a notch with a friend. They bought their own supplies (lemons, cups, napkins, sparkling water, watermelon, and cookies) and established a posh stand down on a busy street and, as they say, made bank. Lemonade was 75 cents, but you could make it sparkling for 25 cents more. Want a cookie or slice of watermelon to go with it? That’s another 50 or 75 cents, respectively.

FDA Food Labeling Requirements

What do a package of ground beef, a box of tortilla shells, a bag of Mexican style cheese, and a jar of salsa have in common? The best answer is that, together, they make a great meal. The second-best answer is — you guessed it — that they are all subject to the Food and Drug Administration’s guidance on food labeling. 

The FDA is responsible for ensuring that food products are properly labeled. The federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act are the federal laws governing food products under the FDA's jurisdiction. Like a lot of regulations, these laws are long, dense, and detailed, and certainly don’t make for easy reading (although they are great if you are having a bout of insomnia).

Fortunately, in January 2013, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued a 132-page Food Labeling Guide. The guide unpacks and summarizes those dense, detailed laws on food labeling in an easier-to-understand way. 

The Value of Convenience in Cooking

I’ve never been a fan of cooking, so I certainly never expected to write about it. But to my surprise, here I am, writing about cooking.

This is because I’ve recently become curious about these new meal-kit delivery services that purport to make cooking quick and easy. To my disbelief, they even purport to make cooking fun. 

There are several companies that offer meal-kit delivery services. Some of the more familiar are Blue Apron, Hello Fresh, Plated, Sun Basket, and Home Chef. Their concept is simple: Consumers select the meals they want for the week and they receive in the mail easy-to-follow directions and fresh, pre-portioned ingredients. They are then able to cook meals that are quick, easy, healthy, and tasty. 

While the concept is simple, it ultimately addresses something highly sought after by consumers all over the U.S. — convenience. At an average cost per plate of $10, these delivery services don’t run cheap. Yet the convenience factor is so powerful that it has caused consumers to eat the idea up (pun intended).

My Newest Invention: Wicked Bread

As I was looking back on my entreVIEW posts, I realized that in the over seven years since my first post on this blog, I have somehow never managed to write about my cooking. If I never really cooked or didn’t have much interest in cooking, this might be about as surprising as having never written about celebrity marriages, country music, or the British royal family (which I indicated at the outset were topics about which I was unlikely to write). 

However, I really enjoy cooking and, in fact, do almost all the cooking for my family (other than the occasional “chopped challenge” with my almost 12-year old daughter). I rarely follow a recipe, although I often look at a few recipes for inspiration as I conjure what to cook. 

In some ways, I think cooking is like being an inventor—trying to find ways to invent new and interesting dishes, experimenting with new ideas, and discovering new ingredients and types of cooking. Just ask my family how obsessed I’ve been with Mediterranean cooking since our trip to Israel three years ago (no I haven’t experimented with Cuy—that’s guinea pig for the uninitiated—which I ate during our trip to Peru this summer).  

I’ve had a lot of fun this summer with a local farm share program through The Good Acre that delivers a box of produce to me (and others) directly to Gray Plant Mooty every Wednesday. I’ve made a lot of new dishes with new ingredients, including a rich broth with chickpeas and swiss chard, topped with a poached egg, inspired by this recipe. When I received a jalapeno pepper in my box a couple of weeks ago, I ended up “inventing” something my family has dubbed “Wicked Bread.” It is a sort of spicy garlic bread that they claim is “wicked good, wicked spicy, and green (like a certain witch in the musical “Wicked”)!

THANKSGIVING BY THE NUMBERS

Who’s hungry? I know I‘m not . . . . After two family dinners, approximately six food comas (officially known as “postprandial sleep,” according to a study of fruit flies who overate), countless hours of  football, and a fridge full of leftovers that seems like it will keep me fed all the way to Christmas, another Thanksgiving holiday is in the books. After a long weekend traditionally filled with family, friends, revelry, giving thanks, eating, eating and more eating, we wouldn’t typically take the time to consider just how massive the Thanksgiving operation in the United States really is. So, as I waddled to work a couple of days ago, on a warmer than usual Monday morning, I decided to do just that.