A few personal words from the founder
"How did you come across SmacoGlas?"
I'm asked that more and more often. The answer is very simple: The same way every other inventor came to their idea: I had a problem and needed a solution!
As a working mother of 3 children, weekly shopping presented me with a new challenge every week: How was I supposed to fit all the groceries in the fridge?! And ideally so that you can find something again. Many a time I found that my Tetris experiences paid off (contrary to my mother's opinion 😉). But it wasn't satisfactory.
I had 5 big problems:
1. Order and space
For a family of 5, there simply wasn't enough space in the fridge to neatly store a whole week's worth of fresh produce, cold cuts and cheese. Boxes available on the market were not a real solution (I had tried several over the years) because they were all far too high and too large in volume. So I had mainly one thing stowed away clearly on a regular basis: lots of air! And I urgently needed this space for groceries.
Shopping more often wasn't a regularly practical solution, because between work, school, kindergarten, sports clubs, cooking and whatever else happened, I simply didn't have the time and nerves.
2. Appetite and hygiene
I tried countless plastic cold cuts boxes because they were at least stackable. Almost all of them were way too high, which meant I wasted a lot of space. There wasn't a single system where I had different heights. The box was too flat for the piece of cheese and far too high for 100 grams of salami. Ultimately, they spent a large part of their lives in the closet.
But I don't find plastic to be particularly attractive or high-quality when new. As soon as the cold cuts boxes were cleaned a few times in the dishwasher, they were not only no longer attractive, but downright unappetizing because they became cracked and milky. And woe betide anyone who accidentally leaves a pot with leftover tomato sauce in the same wash cycle! He then has very individual orange to pink colored unique pieces.
What I found worst, however, was that after 5 days at the latest I had slimy, greasy cold cuts and cheese that was floating in condensation! 🤢 Buying the right amount of cold cuts without having to throw away a lot was a task every week. This week tractor sausage was a hit, next week no one ever liked it!
And after a few washes of the plastic containers, even the cold cuts tasted like plastic... Enjoy your meal! 🤔
3. Glass: Hygienic but impractical
So after I finally banned plastic boxes from my fridge, I bought glass boxes. Has anyone ever noticed how impractical even glass boxes that are advertised as being perfect for cold cuts are?
Glass boxes all have one thing in common: they are not really square, but rather round-square. And they are all conical, so they are wider at the top than at the bottom. This means you need a lid to put the cans on top of each other, which is not stackable for me.
Because glass bowls are all conical and far too high to store small amounts of cold cuts, I always had to put different types of cheese or cold cuts in a glass container, otherwise everything wouldn't have fit in the fridge. But I like my fresh liverwurst if it tastes like liverwurst and not like Serrano ham. 😒
And since such a hodgepodge of cold cuts in a glass container on the table isn't really appetizing, I stood in the kitchen every Saturday and Sunday early and arranged the cold cuts on the plate. My husband didn't find this appetizing, as the cold cuts warmed up more quickly and were touched again and again with every breakfast (even if only with a fork).
4. I wanted it to be easier
I really found the week tiring enough. No, I'm not complaining. But balancing work, children, household, animals, etc. is simply exhausting. I still love it to this day, but it was just exhausting.
That's why I love the weekends when we approach everything in a more relaxed manner, when everything isn't scheduled, when we can stay seated while having funny, interesting or even exciting conversations.
Only for me, who wants a visually appetizing breakfast, that meant: first work with arranging and then work putting things away. After a few years I no longer wanted to do that either.
5. More and more packaging
It felt like the pile of packaging waste was getting bigger with every weekly purchase, regardless of whether I bought cold cuts and cheese fresh from the butcher or pre-packaged from the refrigerated counter. This amount annoyed me not only because it was unnecessary, but also because it was a lot of work. But I simply had no other option than to buy packaged cold cuts:
Taking plastic containers to the butcher to save on plastic packaging made no sense to me, especially since the cold cuts then tasted like plastic even more quickly. Due to the low level of hygiene with plastic boxes, butchers didn't necessarily cheer for joy.
Glass boxes were more hygienic. But either I would have had to put all the goods in a box (delicious Serrano liver sausage) or I would have had to carry a whole bag full of glass jars just for a few hundred grams of cold cuts.
Admittedly, the problem didn't dominate my everyday life... but with every week that passed, the topic annoyed me more and more, sometimes less. So I jumped from one interim solution to another and kept checking all over the world in every language imaginable to see whether anyone already had a solution to my ever-growing problem.
Nothing. Absolutely nothing!
I just wanted a simple, square glass bowl that could be stacked on top of each other, like plastic boxes can. That couldn't be impossible!
I asked myself: Am I the only one who:
- Don't want to go to the butcher with a plastic tray to save plastic?
- Don't want to store food in plastic?
- is concerned about the release of microplastics every time you wash the dishes?
- Doesn’t find plastic bowls visually appealing?
- Finds previous glass bowls impractical?
- Would you like to prepare an attractive breakfast for your own family at the weekend without having to spend a long time preparing it?
- Would you like to present high-quality food in a high-quality way?
After almost 10 years of searching, I've made the decision: I'll have the boxes made to measure! It can't be that difficult!
Until then I was convinced that I was alone in the world with my problems. However, the more I talked about it, the more I realized that I was by no means alone in this. And so the idea grew from “I’ll have 10 bowls made for me” - SmacoGlas .
Every time I took a step further, new things came up that had to be considered and I asked myself many a sleepless night: Isn't the shoe a little too big for me? But no matter how afraid I was before taking the step, I always fell asleep thinking: SmacoGlas is simply too good not to dare!
And so, after more than a year of consideration, planning and work, I was faced with the decision: quit or start a business? So I founded!
Even though I still have a long way to go until SmacoGlas is complete with all sizes and I have still implemented many of my ideas, my deepest conviction is that with SmacoGlas I have found a high-quality and sustainable solution.
Just as for me only the best is the goal, I want to enable our customers to live a beautiful, sustainable and uncomplicated life with SmacoGlas products, our service and our services at the highest level.
Kind regards from the Flensburg Fjord,
Janine Krause
