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GIZMO SERVES UP FRESH START FOR ENTREPRENEUR ; Scott Carey quit his successful job in direct marketing and sold his house to sell a patented product... [Bristol Evening Post (England)](Bristol Evening Post (England) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) GIZMO SERVES UP FRESH START FOR ENTREPRENEUR ; Scott Carey quit his successful job in direct marketing and sold his house to sell a patented product that keeps food in your fridge fresh for longer. Is he mad or Bristol's next entrepreneur? He spoke to Tom Morris. AT the beginning of this year Scott Carey found himself watching a fitness video on YouTube. Little did he know it would change the direction of his life. During the short clip American fitness instructor Drew Canole mentioned a device called BerryBreeze that kept his fruit and vegetables fresh for days longer, helping him save on bills while still eating healthily. Realising the amount of fresh produce he, partner Sue and the three children they look after threw out he excitedly went online to buy one for the advertised $50 only to find having it shipped would cost him an additional $80. "I contacted them and said was there anywhere in the UK I could get one and they said although they had sold 50,000 in America there wasn't," Scott, 41, of Stoke Bishop, said. "But then they said they would send us one each and we could act as their UK ambassadors and let them know if we thought Brits would like it. Very quickly we could see food was lasting much longer. Strawberries lasting a week instead of two days like before, lettuce fresh for two weeks." The device, about the size of one and a half jam pots, works by pumping pure oxygen at intervals into your fridge which kills the bacteria that decays your food. In doing so it also destroys any odours caused by the bacteria. With that in mind Scott has also sold them to people wanting eliminate odours from kit bags, toilets and cupboards. It is not new technology with trucks transporting fresh food to the UK employing the same system but as soon as the food hits the shelves the decaying process begins. Sadly we throw away 7 million tonnes of food and drink from our homes every year in the UK. "I immediately thought I could buy 12 of them and give them to family and friends," Scott said. "I contacted and they said they did bulk with minimum order being 12 which was perfect. But the more I spoke to them the more I found myself buying into their philosophy. "This wasn't a typical American company which just wanted to make millions. They wanted to help save the environment and make sure people could afford to eat fresh food. "In the end, instead of ordering just 12 I ended up ordering 112. They came in a week and in a month I had sold them all." As a result Scott sold his home and pooled his resources with Sue and bought a additional 700 with an agreement he would become the UK's sole distributor of BerryBreeze. "I was working full time and we were looking after three children between us," Scott said. "I couldn't be up doing business plans at 2am so I had a decision to make and I quit my job." Thankfully his company were very supportive, even allowing him to store his product in their warehouse, and he worked two months notice on fewer hours before stopping for good a fortnight ago. I had set out to buy one and ended up with more than 800 of them and it's my full time job," Scott says. "I'm hoping to help people save money by stopping having to throw out fresh food and in turn improve their carbon footprint by less food going to landfill. We have been working with Love Food Hate Waste, who have found that an average family throws out around Pounds 60 a month of food - much of it fresh. "For an outlay of Pounds 39.99 there is a lot of money that can be saved." ? For more information visit www.keepmefresh.co.uk. (c) 2014 ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved. |