After hearing the 4 pitches which were Sparketh a learning platform to empower students in order to receive their creative potential through art. Granola Butter is an oat-based spread. Flasky flowers are an incredible way to enjoy a beverage of your choice while holding your bouquet. And Incredible Eats is a fun and edible innovation designed to reduce single use plastics. The one that most resonated with me was Incredible Eats because of its sustainability and their mission. Now more than ever we need to switch to things that are eco-friendly and that’s exactly what IncrEDIBLE Eats does or in other words targets.

Dinesh Tadepalli starts off by saying, “A staggering amount of people are eating their food with single-use plastic utensils. But why do we use something just for a few minutes, if it’s going to take hundreds of years to decompose?” After that he goes on to say, “That’s why we came up with IncrEDIBLE cutlery, the world’s first mass-manufacturable, totally edible utensils. Which means that now “ you may eat your spoon, eat your straw, eat your spork and even eat your chopsticks!” Then DInesh gets asked about the decomposition and he says that “each spoon stays firm for up to 20 minutes in hot food, and about an hour in ice cream.” He goes on to mention the flavor of the utensils because a ‘shark’ asked about the taste of the straw which is flavorless and he says that “they don’t want to change the food you eat it with.” Before he mentioned the flavors he said, “ Our concept is to keep them subtle, because our initial first year of our sales is completely focused on food service, because that’s where the heaviest usage of plastics is and they wanted it to be very subtle, not too overbearing.” He talks about the price difference, “A plastic spoon trends to around 1 to 2 cents per spoon” and IncrEDIBLE spoons started off by selling a spoon for 35 cents, then they brought it down to 20 cents and he says, “We’re going to bring it down to 15 cents.” Dinesh has sold 1.2 million spoons so far for 2 to 2 ½ years” which is about $170,000. 

What gap does this product fill?

The IncrEDIBLE eats utensils replaces or fills the single-use plastic utensils.

What process does this product make easier?

The process that IncrEDIBLE Eats makes easier is the decomposition process compared to plastic utensils because they take hundreds of years to decompose. And on the other hand Incredible eats utensils decompose at a rapid paste with spoons being firm in hot food for about 20 minutes and in cold foods for an hour. But no matter the temperature of the food, Incredible Eats utensils can be eaten without anything. 

Why should consumers not only want this product, but feel that they NEED it?

I think consumers should not only want this product, but feel that they NEED it because it will help and benefit the Earth immensely. Dinesh said that he feels proud that he reduced or replaced 1 million plastic utensils. And this is why consumers should want this product.

Explain how this product could be best positioned to appeal to consumers?

I think IncrEDIBLE could be best positioned in branding and packaging because those two will bring in more consumers or customers. Without good packaging and branding new consumers will have a struggle deciding whether or not to buy or want the product. But with good branding and packaging they will get closer to their target.