Dayton innovation strikes again — this time in the kitchen

Consumer Convenience Technologies (CCT) a company that has provided packaging for beer, beverage and food service companies for many years, introduced the new technology — a push-button lid that is said to make opening vacuum-sealed jars 50% easier than the traditional style.

Brandon Bach, the current president of CCT, joined the company a few years ago to work with his dad, Jim Bach and Pete Stodd, the creator of the EEASY lid.

“My dad and Pete founded CCT,” Bach said. “Pete had a friend who couldn’t open traditional jars due to some health issues. This inspired him.”

Stodd, who has since passed away, was a lifelong inventor and when he discovered that nearly 50% of consumers said they were unable to open a traditional jar lid, he set to work researching and developing a new product.

“I joined the company during the research and development phase,” Bach said. “I have a video background that helped us look at different variables and measurements and make changes.”

Bach, who lives in Columbus and commutes to his job on Webster Street in Dayton, has a background in live corporate theater and events for large and small companies. When he was offered a position at CCT, he jumped at the opportunity.

“I was excited to be able to work with my dad and with Pete,” Bach said. “They asked me if I wanted to help people. Everyone pokes fun about how hard it is to open a jar, but it’s a real problem for a lot of folks who just want to make a meal for their families without struggling.”

Bach said he was excited to be on the forefront of a new product that would help people with arthritis, and dexterity issues or anyone who finds opening a jar lid difficult. When he joined the company, he immediately set to work solving problems during the research and development phase.

“Most jar lids on the market are made of tin, plate or steel,” Bach said. “We worked to incorporate the easy button features into the tin lid then we had 40 different trials to get it to work on steel.”

Corrosion was an issue because the lids needed to be scored to install the easy buttons. Though Bach and his team worked on many different combinations to avoid the corrosion problem, they couldn’t come up with a cost-effective way to solve it.

“We started making the lid out of aluminum because it doesn’t corrode,” Bach said. “We don’t add any material to it and repurpose what we have to form the button feature. It’s also lightweight so companies save on shipping costs.”

CCT officially launched the EEASY Lid in November of last year. Then in January, the company partnered Boyer’s Food Markets in Pennsylvania to develop a private label pasta sauce that became the first test for the EEASY Lid.

“They had the product in 18 stores,” Bach said. “During the 12-week trial, we thought we’d see about a 30% increase in sales.”

Sales of the pasta sauce during this period increased by 341%. The EEASY Lid features a button that consumers simply push until it clicks. The lid then easily twists off and can be resealed again with another button push. The company planned to continue marketing the lid to manufacturing companies when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and shut everything down in mid-March. Today, Bach and the company are focusing on meeting with companies who want to transform their products and increase their sales by incorporating the EEASY Lid.

“One of the main things this product does for both the industry and the consumer is it opens up an untapped market,” Bach said. “15% of our population is age 65 and older and 19% has some form of disability. Our studies showed that a full 50% struggle to open a standard jar, regardless of whether they had a disability or not.”

The makers of the EEASY Lid are counting on people who love the product to recommend it to their families and friends.

“Consumers just want a product they can open easily,” Bach said. “Our product offers people peace of mind when they go to do a simple task. We know there is some education to do but we also know that if people see this in action, they will love it.”

For more information, log on to eeasylid.com