One of the world's leading makers of glass containers is based right here in Northwest Ohio. Owens-Illinois has been testing it's newest product at a local grocery store and it's been a huge success.
It's called the VersaFlow and it makes getting sauce out of a jar a lot easier. We were the very first to show it to you in May, now we are the first in the world to show you the next generation of the jar. It is basically the same in a much smaller version, and it will hold a different kind of product than it's bigger counterpart.
The Fortune 500 company is expecting big things from the little jar. The original version has only been on the shelves at Walt Churchill's for a matter of weeks. Thousands of jars have already been sold, and it is about to go global.
Some say it's hard to believe no one came up with the idea before now. The VersaFlow is a glass jar with a lip on the rim to make pouring easier. O-I is the first to come up with and market the concept, one they believe will revolutionize your kitchen.
Saga Shoffner is the Vice President of Global Marketing for Owens-Illinois, "It's a simple device. The pouring lip in the glass makes it an ah-ha moment every time somebody uses it."
Shoffner says the versa flow will eventually end up on store shelves around the world, filled with a number of products, "We've had interest from a number of large companies around the world. We are now in talks about who, what and where. Some will be direct to retail, others will be direct to some of our long time customers. We are taking a region to region look at it right now and deciding who will be first and what is the best way to bring it to market. "
The world wide leader in glass containers went to a store right in it's backyard to launch the concept. For its debut here at Walt Churchill's, the big version of the VersaFlow is filled with a custom made marinara sauce from a chef at the market. We asked Walt Churchill what people have been saying about the new product, "They say the sauce has a fabulous taste and the jars are extremely easy to use!"
Churchill says people aren't just talking about it,they're buying it. In fact, in the short time it's been on shelves here it is selling twelve times faster than any other pasta sauce, "As far as selling goes, it's been phenomenal! It is a great product, the jars are fabulous and it's a wonderful story to tell. The jar and the product must both be very good, because one will not save the other."
O-I has always planned to have several versions of the VersaFlow jar and because the first version sold so well, so quickly, O-I ramped up the launch of a second version of the jar, and this is the first time anyone outside the company's product development team has seen it.
The new, smaller version will hit shelves in a matter of weeks, but Shoffner says what will be in it is still a work in progress,"Right now we are experimenting with different sauces and ideas with the Walt Churchill's market team, so look to be surprised by the first week of October with something new hitting shelves with VersaFlow."
While the VersaFlow will soon be on shelves around the world, the jars filled with Churchill's marinara sauce are a limited edition, so when they run out, that's it.
In addition to the smaller VersaFlow jar, other versions are on the way. O-I hopes to have two more models on shelves by the holiday season.
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