Young Lollipop Inventors’ Journey Starts
With a Family Car Trip
“Are we there yet?” Those words haunt any parent traveling with children. But Al Cecere helped turn a summer car trip into an inventive time that could become a thriving enterprise for three of his children.
In July 1999, the Cecere family left their Gatlinburg,
Tenn., home for a family wedding in Buffalo, N.Y. Along the way, sisters
Laura, then 14; Julia, 9, and Gretchen, 6, asked their father to purchase
lottery tickets each time he and his wife Gretchen stopped for gas. The
family enjoyed some wishful thinking about what they would do if they won
the big jackpot.
“I told the girls there are ways other than the
lottery to make a fortune if they could just come up with the right new
idea,” Cecere said. He reminded them of an article he had read
about former U.S. Postal Service mailroom workers who invented the Spin
Pop, a mechanical twirling lollipop that enjoyed huge sales success
internationally.
Their father challenged them to invent a unique novelty
lollipop concept. For the remainder of the trip, they used each stop
to conduct market research and carefully studied candy products on
convenience store shelves.
At the wedding reception, Julia was sitting at a table
with a bottle of soda pop and a lollipop. She poured some soda into a
bottle cap and began dipping her lollipop in it. Her dad asked if it tasted
good, and Julia emphatically responded with a smile.
The Ceceres began brainstorming ways to invent a candy
lollipop affixed to a standard soda bottle cap. They envisioned six flavors
of a lollipop that could be screwed onto most name-brand plastic soda or
water bottles. The Ceceres thought the endless flavor combinations of candy
and soda that kids could create with such a product would be very
appealing. They named their idea Soda Pop Top, and Laura designed the brand
logo.
Soda Pop Top works like this: a standard screw-on
beverage bottle cap has a short plastic hollow stem molded to the top of
the cap. The hole goes through it like a straw into the inside center of
the bottle cap. A flavor of hard candy is molded around the outer part of
the stem-straw. This Soda Pop Top bottle cap with the lollipop attached to
it can be screwed onto a plastic soda bottle or water bottle. The consumer
then puts the lollipop into their mouth, tipping the end of the bottle
upward like drinking a soda. Sucking on the lollipop to drink the soda pop
at the same time mixes the two flavors in the mouth. A clear plastic
cover protects the candy before and after use.
Six years later, the family is on the verge of seeing
their dream become a successful reality.
Laura, Julia and Gretchen are now 20, 15 and 12. So
far, the product has caught the interest of 7-Eleven convenience stores,
Dollar General Stores and distributor H.T. Hackney. Candy brokers in 14
states have already been contracted. Manufacturing
is set to begin soon, and the first shipment of completed product is
expected this July or August.
The suggested retail price for a single lollipop unit
is 99 cents. The Soda Pop Tops will come packaged in a 24-pop counter/rack
display box and a 12-pop clip strip.
The family formed Eagle River USA, LLC to produce and
market the invention. Part of the profits will go to charity.
For more information, contact: Al Cecere, Eagle River
USA, LLC at (865) 436-4483, (865) 256-0372 or EagleRiverUSALLC@aol.com.