The days of ice cream melting down your cone, leaving your hand and arm a sticky mess, are about to be over. The Drip Drop may be the invention that every summer has been looking for. It’s an edible “ring” made out of waffle cone ingredients that slides onto your cone to protect ice cream drips from getting onto your hands and clothes. The Drip Drop comes in two flavors, chocolate and original, but can be customized to include any delicious topping of your choice, such as sprinkles, chocolate chips, or coconut shavings. One significant element of the invention is that it eliminates the need for paper napkins. According to the invention’s website; “Approximately one million trees could be saved each year if the current number of napkins used in ice cream shops was replaced by edible and delicious Drip Drops.”
Perhaps the even more incredible part of this story is that the inventors behind Drip Drops are 14-year-olds, Sam Nassif and Oliver Greenwald from Denver, Colorado. Brainstorming the idea at age 10, they took it to the Gates Invention competition, where they won 2nd place. In 2015, Nassif and Greenwald were granted a U.S. Design Patent, and Drip Drop becomes an LLC. The two young teenage designers and CEOs explain how it all started: “One day we were walking past an ice cream shop in our Denver neighborhood and we saw these two little kids with drippy hands and messy clothes from their ice cream cones. We then noticed how their mom used a handful of napkins to try to clean them up. This image stayed in our minds and a few minutes later suddenly we both turned to each other and had the same thought: something should be done about that problem!” For what seems like such a simple and obvious idea, Drip Drop might not exist today without the observation and determination of these two bright kids.
The two boys’ latest mission was to tackle the hit ABC show Shark Tank. They were selected from among 50,000 applicants, making them “the first and youngest entrepreneurs ever to pitch to the Sharks without an adult accompanying them.” On April 22, 2016, the boys presented their invention on air and successfully received an offer from Shark Tank’s Barbara Corcoran, although she requested they make alterations to their design.
Despite its recent success, the Drip Drop is back in the testing (and tasting) labs. It is not available for sale, but they are looking to license the design to ice cream cone manufacturers or ice cream shops. If you are in desperate need of saving the last ice cream drop, you can sign up for email alerts on Drip Drop’s website, so you’ll know when it becomes available.
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via [Toxel]
All images via The Drip Drop.