EQ: WHAT IMPACT DOES DESIGN THINKING HAVE ON PROBLEM SOLVING?
Learning Target I will understand how problems lead to opportunity? SUCCESS I WILL IDENTIFY SOLUTIONS TO EXISTING PROBLEMS BY USING Vertical Divider
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DESIGN
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Do Now:
CORNELL NOTES
Vertical Divider
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NOTES:
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ACTIVITY 1: REVIEW THE FOLLOWING IDEAS AND PICK ONE YOU WILL AIM TO SOLVE...
Abbey Fleck: The Makin Bacon Dish1
by Linda Thieman
What happens when an eight-year-old girl gets a bright idea? In
Abbey Fleck's case, that bright idea became the million-dollar
Makin Bacon microwave bacon tray. Abbey, of White Bear Lake,
MN, tells her amazing story.
A Big, “Fat” Problem
"My dad was cooking bacon one Saturday morning," Abbey said.
"When he took it out of the microwave, we were out of paper
towels to soak up the grease. So, he was just holding it up and the
fat was dripping off of it." At that point, Abbey's dad, Jon, said
sarcastically, "It's too bad we can't just hang this up somewhere
and let it drip dry."
He was joking, of course. But it was at that moment, Abbey said, that her million-dollar idea was born. "I
said, 'Well, why don't you just cook it hanging up?'"
That same Saturday morning, Abbey drew a sketch of her idea and showed it to her dad. "We went
down in our basement and tried making some prototypes (models). We used wooden dowels and
pieces of plastic coat hangers," Abbey said. Then they inserted their wood and plastic racks into a glass
dish, loaded the contraption with bacon, and put the whole crazy experiment in the microwave. "It
worked! The fat dripped off the bacon," Abbey said, laughing, "but the materials weren't the best."
Bringing Home the Bacon
The Flecks knew the Makin Bacon dish was a great product. But how do you sell it? They offered it to big
retailers like Wal-Mart and K-Mart, but the chain stores (at first) turned down the funky-looking dish. So
the Flecks took the Makin Bacon dish to the Armor company, makers of Armor brand bacon.
Armor liked the Flecks’ bacon-cooking idea, and placed an ad for the Makin Bacon dish on the back of
each package of Armor bacon. Customers sent in $6.99 and a UPC bar code symbol from the bacon,
and got the Makin Bacon dish in the mail. This deal, said Jon, "was brilliant because we received the
money before we shipped the product."
Hog Heaven
As word of Abbey’s invention spread, she became a spokesperson to the media. Over the years, Abbey
has talked to reporters from newspapers, magazines, radio, and TV and appeared on many television
shows like Oprah, Dateline NBC, 20/20, and David Letterman.
All the TV coverage for the Makin Bacon dish got the attention of Wal-Mart and the Flecks got their
original wish — a distribution agreement with a national chain store. However, this created another
problem. The Flecks needed a lot of cash so they could make 100,000 dishes and send them to Wal-
Mart right away. Abbey's grandfather, George Fleck, took out a loan on his farm so Abbey and her dad
could have the money they needed.
The company that Abbey now co-owns with her dad, called A de F, Inc., sells over 600,000 Makin Bacon
dishes a year. These huge sales bring the Flecks royalties of over $1 million a year. To learn more about
Abbey’s product, check out the Makin Bacon website at www.makinbacon.com.
by Linda Thieman
What happens when an eight-year-old girl gets a bright idea? In
Abbey Fleck's case, that bright idea became the million-dollar
Makin Bacon microwave bacon tray. Abbey, of White Bear Lake,
MN, tells her amazing story.
A Big, “Fat” Problem
"My dad was cooking bacon one Saturday morning," Abbey said.
"When he took it out of the microwave, we were out of paper
towels to soak up the grease. So, he was just holding it up and the
fat was dripping off of it." At that point, Abbey's dad, Jon, said
sarcastically, "It's too bad we can't just hang this up somewhere
and let it drip dry."
He was joking, of course. But it was at that moment, Abbey said, that her million-dollar idea was born. "I
said, 'Well, why don't you just cook it hanging up?'"
That same Saturday morning, Abbey drew a sketch of her idea and showed it to her dad. "We went
down in our basement and tried making some prototypes (models). We used wooden dowels and
pieces of plastic coat hangers," Abbey said. Then they inserted their wood and plastic racks into a glass
dish, loaded the contraption with bacon, and put the whole crazy experiment in the microwave. "It
worked! The fat dripped off the bacon," Abbey said, laughing, "but the materials weren't the best."
Bringing Home the Bacon
The Flecks knew the Makin Bacon dish was a great product. But how do you sell it? They offered it to big
retailers like Wal-Mart and K-Mart, but the chain stores (at first) turned down the funky-looking dish. So
the Flecks took the Makin Bacon dish to the Armor company, makers of Armor brand bacon.
Armor liked the Flecks’ bacon-cooking idea, and placed an ad for the Makin Bacon dish on the back of
each package of Armor bacon. Customers sent in $6.99 and a UPC bar code symbol from the bacon,
and got the Makin Bacon dish in the mail. This deal, said Jon, "was brilliant because we received the
money before we shipped the product."
Hog Heaven
As word of Abbey’s invention spread, she became a spokesperson to the media. Over the years, Abbey
has talked to reporters from newspapers, magazines, radio, and TV and appeared on many television
shows like Oprah, Dateline NBC, 20/20, and David Letterman.
All the TV coverage for the Makin Bacon dish got the attention of Wal-Mart and the Flecks got their
original wish — a distribution agreement with a national chain store. However, this created another
problem. The Flecks needed a lot of cash so they could make 100,000 dishes and send them to Wal-
Mart right away. Abbey's grandfather, George Fleck, took out a loan on his farm so Abbey and her dad
could have the money they needed.
The company that Abbey now co-owns with her dad, called A de F, Inc., sells over 600,000 Makin Bacon
dishes a year. These huge sales bring the Flecks royalties of over $1 million a year. To learn more about
Abbey’s product, check out the Makin Bacon website at www.makinbacon.com.