Smart Lids hope to expand to US market using crowdfunding
Australian packaging firm Smart Lid Systems is hoping to expanded their heat sensitive takeaway coffee lids to the US, making the lids available directly to US households through an Indiegogo Crowdfunding Project.
The Smart Lid is available in a variety of consumer and commercial quantities through the Indiegogo website from 13 January 2014. The crowdfunding project aims to raise the $20,000 working capital the Company said it will need to upgrade its product assembly. The funding will cover minimum orders for stock from its manufacturer, packaging and volume export shipping to the US for centralised distribution.
If the project is successfully funded, Smart Lid Systems said it estimates delivery and shipping to the US will be approximately 90 days from the close of the crowdfunding project.
Australian Food News reported in August 2013 that the Company had launched the lids in selected Sydney-based cafes.
The heat sensitive Smart Lid changes colour to bright red when placed on a hot drink and changes back to brown as the drink cools. The lid is direct food contact compliant and turns red above 48 degrees Celsius.
The specialty plastic was developed by a Colorado-based firm, with the design and production of the lid occurring in Sydney, Australia.
“The Smart Lid is being sold to cafes in Australia,” said Anthony Bayss, Director at Smart Lid Systems. “However the number one question we receive everyday comes from North America and from Europe — asking when the Smart Lid will be available in your home, in your office or for use around your elderly parents,” he said.
The possible expansion of Smart Lid Systems into the US market comes as a Los Angeles woman has filed a law suit in the US, claiming she was badly injured by a too-hot coffee she purchased from a McDonald’s restaurant.
Smart Lid Systems is not the first Australian company to use social media to expand its distribution. In July 2013, Australian Food News reported that Australian social enterprise Thankyou had launched a social media campaign as part of a push to get supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths to stock its products, including its range of body care and food products. The campaign was ultimately successful, with both Coles and Woolworths agreeing to stock the products.
