Simplifying the Flapjack All The Way To The Bank

Pancakes on Sunday morning is a Wanek family tradition. Nothing fancy, just your standard-issue pancake mix, some butter and a splash of maple syrup.

Okay, okay, I admit it. Sometimes my wife, Lydia, throws in a small bag of chocolate chips for an added glucose kick. (Hey, it’s only one day a week.)

But one thing is clear: Whipping up a batch of pancakes is messy and time-consuming. And cleanup is definitely no fun: frying pans, spatulas, mixing bowls, plates and countertops slathered in a confluence of sticky batter, sugar and syrup. So, it’s understandable why our breakfast tradition is relegated to one day a week.

But this barrier might soon be eliminated with the emergence of the Batter Blaster: an organic pancake-and-waffle mix in a pressurized can with a point-and-shoot nozzle. With minimal prep-time and cleanup, cooking pancakes is quick and easy.

Want proof of the Batter Blaster’s speed and convenience?

The product was used to cook 76,382 pancakes in eight hours, setting a Guinness World Record. More convincingly, the Batter Blaster is available in 13,000 outlets nationwide, including Costco and Whole Foods Market, with 2009 revenue expected to reach $19.5 million.

Batter Blaster’s success is based on a simple, two-step formula:

1. Identify a common drawback or fear surrounding your product or service. This is the condition driving your customer’s felt need.
2. Develop a solution that eliminates or reduces this obstacle. In other words, satisfy your customer’s felt need.

Recall that Flip simplified the video camera by eliminating all the doodads and gizmos that prevents people from using a camcorder. The pocket-sized, point-and-shoot Flip now dominates the $2.4 billion-a-year camcorder industry.

Likewise, Batter Blaster is doing the same with pancakes.

So how might you simplify your product or service?