News

Nov 24, 2023

Grand Rapids company stays on message with checkout belt business

Tom Henderson writes about businesses statewide for the monthly Crain's Michigan

Tom Henderson writes about businesses statewide for the monthly Crain's Michigan Business feature.

Handstand Innovations LLC of Grand Rapids is trying to get the message out: It is raising a financing round of $1 million to ramp up production and marketing of its ad-bearing products, which brighten up, and clean up, the traditional black belt you set your groceries on in supermarket checkout lanes.

You know those belts, the ones that are sticky with blood that leaked out of the baby back ribs package from two customers ago, and show spots of white from milk or yogurt, not to mention the invisible germs from the sick baby whose mom set her on the belt for a second?

Handstand Innovations' product is called MessageWrap, a custom-made belt that fits around the traditional black belt at the checkout counter. It has an antibacterial coating, which kills those baby germs, as well as anything trying to fester in the blood or milk stains.

The belt also carries advertising messages. Target recently used MessageWrap's full-color, high-definition belts to alert customers in 210 stores around the country to the latest installment of "Star Wars," and not so incidentally to remind them of all the "Star Wars" merchandise on sale.

"Target had heard about our belts and called us," said Handstand COO Trent Hartwig. "We gave them a quote, and two hours later, we got a call back saying we'd been approved. It was quite a feat for us to execute that big an order in three weeks. We didn't get much sleep."

Belts needed to be installed on 1,050 conveyor belts.

The belts can carry 20 square feet of advertising. Hartwig said a typical cost for a retailer to rent the conveyor belt wrap and ad of its choice is $200 per belt for eight to 12 weeks.

Other customers have included Sam's Club, Albertsons, Costco and Roundy's Supermarkets Inc .

Hartwig said he has agreed to terms to install a large number of belts for a major national retailer he can't name, because the contract hasn't been signed yet.

Joe Wood is vice president of marketing for Milwaukee-based Roundy's, which operates 150 supermarkets under several brands in Wisconsin and Illinois. He said he used MessageWrap in a single store in Madison, Wis., a year ago, and was surprised at how successful it was.

"We wanted to promote the pharmacy in the store, so we had a message on the belt that said, 'Look over your left shoulder,' and when customers looked over their shoulder, there was the pharmacy," he said.

He said a follow-up survey showed 85 percent customer awareness, "and that's really high," he said.

Wood said he has been using MessageWrap in 60 stores in Milwaukee and is about to roll it out to his Pick 'n Save brand stores throughout the state.

Wood said he was surprised by how much positive customer feedback he got from a small message along the side of his ads that said the belts were antimicrobial.

"That resonated with customers," said Wood, who praised Handstand Innovations' service.

"They're very responsive and focused on keeping the client satisfied. They get their installations done quickly, and they're quick to follow up to make sure everything is all right," he said.

Hartwig said MessageWrap is being used in pilot programs for retailers in Australia, Puerto Rico, Canada, Israel and the Dominican Republic. He recently made a pitch for capital at a meeting of the Great Lakes Angels at the UHY Advisors headquarters in Farmington Hills.

The company was founded in 2012 by Hartwig; Susan Vanderploeg, who was a member of senior management at Meijer Inc. from 1996-2007 and is chairman of the board; and her son, Nathan Vanderploeg, a University of Michigan economics major, who is CEO.

The company employs seven. Making it easier to raise equity capital is a U.S. patent that was granted in March 2015. Other patents are pending in Europe, Brazil and Canada, according to Hartwig.

Handstand Innovations raised its first investment of $600,000 from Compass Marketing Inc., a marketing firm in Annapolis, Md. Compass helps Handstand with business development and marketing strategies for MessageWrap.

Mol Belting Systems Inc. of Grand Rapids, which makes conveyor belts for a range of industries, including supplying 70 percent of the checkout conveyor belts at retailers nationwide, makes the MessageWrap belts that fit over the traditional black belts. The advertising on MessageWrap belts is printed by Source One Digital of Muskegon, a full-service digital printing company.

Hartwig said $400,000 has been raised so far for the Series B round of $1 million. He said the company had revenue of $500,000 in 2015 and projects revenue of $2.5 million this year.

"After we raise this round, we should be able to fund growth out of cash flow," said Hartwig, who said the company is hiring account managers and a graphic designer.

Tom Henderson writes about businesses statewide for the monthly Crain's Michigan Business feature.

Metro Detroit's 10 highest-paid executives took home a total of $168 million last year, down 10% from the year prior.