Let’s Rewind: Reintroducing CCT
Let’s pause and rewind to look back at how CCT came to be and the people, milestones, and innovations that have shaped the success of the company to date.
How it all started
Consumer Convenience Technologies (CCT) came to be because of one simple question – why isn’t there a way to make opening jars easier? This question was posed by CCT’s co-founder’s friend Dawn Reall when she was recovering from breast cancer surgery. This started Jim Bach and the late Pete Stodd on an eight-year research and development journey focused on providing an easier, better jar opening experience for consumers. The result is the EEASY Lid. The first jar lid innovation in 80 years, the EEASY Lid makes jars up to 50% easier to open.
Solving the age-old problem of opening stubborn jar lids which has plagued consumers ever since the jar lid was invented, the EEASY Lid is inclusive packaging that makes jarred products more accessible to everyone.
With the patented EEASY Lid, consumers just press a button on the lid to release the vacuum seal which makes opening jars a breeze.
Leading the charge
Jim Bach, CCT managing partner and Brandon Bach, CCT president are at the helm of our company, leading the charge to make the EEASY Lid available on products across the globe.
From concept to commercial availability, Jim and Brandon have been working to ramp up production, increase awareness of the EEASY Lid and market this accessible, sustainable packaging innovation nationally and internationally to stores, brands, fillers, and manufacturers.
The journey to commercial availability
Developing an innovative product like the EEASY Lid required a lot of trial and error. Over an eight-year span, 40 different combinations and tools were used to try and make the design of the EEASY Lid work with steel. Then came the pivot to making the lid out of aluminum to avoid the corrosion issue associated with lids made out of steel. This was a massive pivot that resulted in the world’s first aluminum lug lid – a completely new product that changed the packaging industry, setting a new precedent for sustainability in this sector.
After the EURKEA! moment of creating the EEASY Lid, work began on testing the lid. Rigorous testing by the Cornell University Department of Food Science confirms that the EEASY Lid ensures the safety and stability of food products hot-filled into glass containers and provides a stable hermetic seal. In other words, our innovative EEASY Lid provides the high-performance packaging protection food manufacturers need to ensure the highest quality, safety, and integrity of their jarred products.
After successful rounds of food safety and consumer sentiment testing, the EEASY Lid was commercially introduced in November 2019.
Innovations and milestones along the way
Since the launch of the EEASY Lid in 2019, we continue to innovate and achieve milestones.
Here’s a quick look at a few of these exciting innovations and milestones:
– We introduced the world’s first aluminum lug lid in 2021.
– In 2021, we began producing the aluminum lug EEASY Lids at our 12,000 square foot, state-of-the-art technology center in Dayton, Ohio. This manufacturing facility has the ability to produce 300 million EEASY LIDs every year.
– In 2022, we expanded capabilities to include manufacturing line assessments designed to help companies accommodate the EEASY Lid in their production lines.
– The EEASY Lid was introduced to the European market in May 2023 with EDEKA Kempken becoming the first European grocer to adopt the EEASY Lid.
– In January 2023, Forbes featured the EEASY Lid in an article headlined Why CCT Is Working To ‘Say Goodbye To Hard-To-Open Lids.
– The EEASY Lid earned honorable mention in Fast Company’s 2023 Innovation by Design Awards in the Best Packaging Design of 2023 category. This category honored projects that use materials, graphics, and industrial design to solve packaging problems.
– This year, Sixth City Sauce became the fifth brand to adopt the EEASY Lid. Today, consumers can find the EEASY Lid on products in over 250 Wegmans, Stop & Shop, Price Chopper, and Tops Friendly Markets stores.
Keeping the momentum going
We are working hard to keep the momentum going, mission-driven to make jar lids easier to open for everyone.
Today, we are working to expand into other jar lid sizes beyond the currently available 63 mm EEASY Lid (the size of an average pasta sauce jar) to other sizes such as the 82 mm lid, often used on pickle jars.
We are also in talks with major grocers, brands, and manufacturers across the globe, looking to expand EEASY Lid availability into additional stores this year.
We see the EEASY Lid on products worldwide. Awareness of the EEASY Lid is growing, fueling increasing interest in our product. In the next two to three years our aim is to max out our first production line and move on to building our second and third lines.