The News & Observer (Raleigh, NC), 12/22/2005 - VIEW IMAGES
Out of Frustration, a Mother Creates the Chestnutter
Every fall, Sharon Siegel faced the tedious task of preparing round, slippery chestnuts for roasting. She found that using a sharp paring knife to score X’s in the chestnuts’ hard shells – necessary to allow steam to escape during cooking – was time-consuming and a bit risky.
Yet her family, which now includes six children and 21 grandchildren, clamored for the seasonal treat.
“When I find something cumbersome or difficult, the wheels start spinning,” she said.
Out of Sharon’s frustration was born the Chestnutter, a kitchen tool that resembles a hefty garlic press and makes perfect X’s in chestnuts.
And thus Sharon, 61, and her husband, Jake, embarked on a common American dream – the hope of striking it rich with an invention.
Their quest is increasingly popular. In its 2005 fiscal year, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office received a record 406,302 patent applications and granted 151,079 patents for inventions.
Only about 7 percent of inventions ever reach the marketplace, and most of them never make any money, according to a 2003 analysis of North American inventions conducted by the University of Waterloo and the University of London.
The story of the Chestnutter shows how hard it can be to turn a good idea into a successful product.
In the mid-1990s, Sharon drew her first rough design of a tool to pierce chestnuts.
Next, she consulted a patent attorney and learned that the patent on an idea somewhat like hers had lapsed long before. Encouraged, Sharon, found a prototype maker in the phone book. He made her a plastic model, but it didn’t work very well.
She tossed the model in a kitchen drawer where it lay for years. “I lost interest in the project,” she said.
In 2000, she started to mull over her invention again. She sketched a new idea and found a tool-and-die maker in Rockland County, N.Y. who was willing to make her revised design out of metal. Then the Siegels filed for a patent.
Now the Siegels faced the next step. They didn’t know how or where to have the Chestnutter manufactured.
A lengthy Internet search led them to a representative for a Chinese manufacturing company located in New Jersey.
He insisted that the Siegels test the Chestnutter on a focus group.
“We walked out on cloud nine when we heard the focus group results,” Sharon said. “We were flying.” The rep told us, “You’re going to need help carrying money home from the bank.” Sharon thought with great relief that their work was over and that now she would just sit back and collect checks.
The Siegels signed the rep’s manufacturing contract.
The next day, the rep was fired, and the distraught Siegels learned that he hadn’t submitted their contract. They had thought that their Chestnutter would be on the market in 2003, but all they had was one workable prototype and mounting expenses.
Getting Serious
But then someone in the family remembered a cousin who did business in China, and the Siegels began a relationship with Good Luck Manufacturing on the other side of the world.
The Siegels sold their home in Rockland County and moved to an apartment in Englewood, N.J. They used the money from the sale of their home to finance the Chestnutter’s heavy startup costs.
Sharon began to rise at 4 a.m. to call China, ironing out Chestnutter-production problems.
“O.K., Ma, we got to start selling this now,” one of her daughters said in early 2004, Sharon recalled. “Let’s just try and see what happens.”
The Siegels decided to attend the national housewares spring trade show in Chicago. They ordered a cardboard fireplace and moose head for their Chestnutter display. The bought matching T-shirts from Old Navy, imprinted them with the Chestnutter logo and packed a CD player along with a recording of “The Christmas Song,” which begins with the line, “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire.”
The family arrived in Chicago on Friday to set up their booth next to high-gloss stainless steel displays from professional suppliers. But when the trade show opened that Saturday, their display featured only a homemade sign saying they would be back on Sunday --the Siegels observe the Jewish Sabbath.
When they returned on Sunday, they found that the moose head had fallen. The Siegels took the setback, like many others, in stride.
“We were makeshift, schlumpy, homespun,” Sharon said about their display. “But we attracted a lot of attention.” They made connections with buyers that would pay off in the months to come.
The product at last
Out of frustration, a mother creates the Chestnutter. Finally, after many manufacturing delays in China, in mid-October 2004, the Siegels received their first shipment of 2,300 Chestnutters, which they stored in a daughter’s garage. Their company, Jasco, Inc. (named after Jake and Sharon) began to sell the patented Chestnutter for $19.95 plus $5.00 shipping through their Web site, www.chestnutter.com , and to gourmet kitchen and housewares shops across the country.
Last fall, both The New York Times and Good Housekeeping mentioned the Chestnutter as a handy kitchen tool. The Internet Gadget of the Month club chose the Chestnutter for its December selection. This fall, Williams-Sonoma began to sell the Chestnutter through its catalog.
Now, 10 years after the start of their saga of stick-to-itiveness, the Siegels have sold 14,000 Chestnutters, and they have a full-time business to run.
“Personally, I never followed anything through,” Sharon said. Her brown shoulder-length hair frames her cheerful face. “I fizzle quickly. This is the first time I’ve followed through. Its’ very satisfying to me.”
She relies on her husband, a retired New York Stock Exchange specialist, to handle financial matters.
Thus far, the Chestnutter has proved to be more successful than most new inventions, but it is not yet profitable.
Jake hopes sales will continue to grow and, even better, that Sharon will come up
with another invention.
Sharon's eyes twinkled when she hinted at her two new ideas - another housewares product and a pharmaceutical ais. "I'm really excited about this one," she said, referring to the health care product, "because it will really help people."
Yet her family, which now includes six children and 21 grandchildren, clamored for the seasonal treat.
“When I find something cumbersome or difficult, the wheels start spinning,” she said.
Out of Sharon’s frustration was born the Chestnutter, a kitchen tool that resembles a hefty garlic press and makes perfect X’s in chestnuts.
And thus Sharon, 61, and her husband, Jake, embarked on a common American dream – the hope of striking it rich with an invention.
Their quest is increasingly popular. In its 2005 fiscal year, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office received a record 406,302 patent applications and granted 151,079 patents for inventions.
Only about 7 percent of inventions ever reach the marketplace, and most of them never make any money, according to a 2003 analysis of North American inventions conducted by the University of Waterloo and the University of London.
The story of the Chestnutter shows how hard it can be to turn a good idea into a successful product.
In the mid-1990s, Sharon drew her first rough design of a tool to pierce chestnuts.
Next, she consulted a patent attorney and learned that the patent on an idea somewhat like hers had lapsed long before. Encouraged, Sharon, found a prototype maker in the phone book. He made her a plastic model, but it didn’t work very well.
She tossed the model in a kitchen drawer where it lay for years. “I lost interest in the project,” she said.
In 2000, she started to mull over her invention again. She sketched a new idea and found a tool-and-die maker in Rockland County, N.Y. who was willing to make her revised design out of metal. Then the Siegels filed for a patent.
Now the Siegels faced the next step. They didn’t know how or where to have the Chestnutter manufactured.
A lengthy Internet search led them to a representative for a Chinese manufacturing company located in New Jersey.
He insisted that the Siegels test the Chestnutter on a focus group.
“We walked out on cloud nine when we heard the focus group results,” Sharon said. “We were flying.” The rep told us, “You’re going to need help carrying money home from the bank.” Sharon thought with great relief that their work was over and that now she would just sit back and collect checks.
The Siegels signed the rep’s manufacturing contract.
The next day, the rep was fired, and the distraught Siegels learned that he hadn’t submitted their contract. They had thought that their Chestnutter would be on the market in 2003, but all they had was one workable prototype and mounting expenses.
Getting Serious
But then someone in the family remembered a cousin who did business in China, and the Siegels began a relationship with Good Luck Manufacturing on the other side of the world.
The Siegels sold their home in Rockland County and moved to an apartment in Englewood, N.J. They used the money from the sale of their home to finance the Chestnutter’s heavy startup costs.
Sharon began to rise at 4 a.m. to call China, ironing out Chestnutter-production problems.
“O.K., Ma, we got to start selling this now,” one of her daughters said in early 2004, Sharon recalled. “Let’s just try and see what happens.”
The Siegels decided to attend the national housewares spring trade show in Chicago. They ordered a cardboard fireplace and moose head for their Chestnutter display. The bought matching T-shirts from Old Navy, imprinted them with the Chestnutter logo and packed a CD player along with a recording of “The Christmas Song,” which begins with the line, “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire.”
The family arrived in Chicago on Friday to set up their booth next to high-gloss stainless steel displays from professional suppliers. But when the trade show opened that Saturday, their display featured only a homemade sign saying they would be back on Sunday --the Siegels observe the Jewish Sabbath.
When they returned on Sunday, they found that the moose head had fallen. The Siegels took the setback, like many others, in stride.
“We were makeshift, schlumpy, homespun,” Sharon said about their display. “But we attracted a lot of attention.” They made connections with buyers that would pay off in the months to come.
The product at last
Out of frustration, a mother creates the Chestnutter. Finally, after many manufacturing delays in China, in mid-October 2004, the Siegels received their first shipment of 2,300 Chestnutters, which they stored in a daughter’s garage. Their company, Jasco, Inc. (named after Jake and Sharon) began to sell the patented Chestnutter for $19.95 plus $5.00 shipping through their Web site, www.chestnutter.com , and to gourmet kitchen and housewares shops across the country.
Last fall, both The New York Times and Good Housekeeping mentioned the Chestnutter as a handy kitchen tool. The Internet Gadget of the Month club chose the Chestnutter for its December selection. This fall, Williams-Sonoma began to sell the Chestnutter through its catalog.
Now, 10 years after the start of their saga of stick-to-itiveness, the Siegels have sold 14,000 Chestnutters, and they have a full-time business to run.
“Personally, I never followed anything through,” Sharon said. Her brown shoulder-length hair frames her cheerful face. “I fizzle quickly. This is the first time I’ve followed through. Its’ very satisfying to me.”
She relies on her husband, a retired New York Stock Exchange specialist, to handle financial matters.
Thus far, the Chestnutter has proved to be more successful than most new inventions, but it is not yet profitable.
Jake hopes sales will continue to grow and, even better, that Sharon will come up
with another invention.
Sharon's eyes twinkled when she hinted at her two new ideas - another housewares product and a pharmaceutical ais. "I'm really excited about this one," she said, referring to the health care product, "because it will really help people."