Fun and Innovative Kitchen Accessories Designer Learns that if you can Dream it, Express can Fund it!

Some clients allow Express Trade to experience the “fun” of funding. Always thrilled to meet innovative entrepreneurs who are passionate about their products and intent on turning good visions into reality, Express was lucky enough to meet the client at a trade show where an Express associate was impressed by their high-class booth and cool designs and made an introduction. Skeptical at first, the client eventually warmed to the possibility of scaling with a partner who was not seeking an equity stake in their company. Express was excited at the prospect of working with such an imaginative, inspired client.

In this case, the client was innovating in an industry where most products have long ago become staples and commodities whose year-to-year evolutions amounted to little more than color changes. However, the client took a new approach. Rather than making slight aesthetic tweaks and style modifications, the client took a radical approach to rethinking and redesigning kitchen accessories entirely, thereby earning numerous awards for design and innovation at trade shows, magazines, and industry groups. The new products looked fun and funky, and many combined several kitchen accessories into surprising new tools for chefs and amateurs alike. Not surprisingly, they started receiving tremendous excitement and reception for their kitchen gadgets and accessories from retailers and consumers across North America.

As sales outpaced their working capital, they needed to stock higher inventory levels to support retailers’ immediate fulfillment requirements. Building on the clients’ excellent performance and pleased with their communication and ingenuity, Express cooked up an inventory facility that allowed the client to maintain the level of inventory needed to keep pace with their rapid accelerating growth.

Now with Express for over 5 years, the client still doubles and sometimes triples year-to-year sales while continuing to innovate. They are currently in over 500 stores and quickly expanding. The client’s originality combined with Express’ enterprising approach created the perfect environment for each side to bring their resourcefulness to bear on tackling growth in an industry with major entrenched players whose relationships with retailers run deep and who were not keen to give up market share.

Today, the client is doing well over $10MM in annual sales and continues to win notable design awards while expanding doors with existing customers and acquiring new ones each month. Express’s guidance and facilities ensured that, when it came to sales and growth, the client was cooking with gas!