Maria Sanchez-Masi, Kristie VanGorkum and Beth McDougall of kittd have made a serious business out of play. PHOTOS KATHARINE CARLON
By Katharine Carlon
katharine@corridorbusiness.com
Before officially opening their business in May 2015, kittd founders Kristie VanGorkum and Maria Sanchez-Masi spent week after week at coffee shops, poring over their ambitious plans to launch a line of “crafts in a box” for adults.
The two friends, both mothers of small children and fellow Junior League volunteers, believed they had hit on a winning idea: a way of leveraging their shared love of crafting, innate creativity and previous work histories as a graphic designer and clinical social worker, respectively.
Then one day, a prominent area businesswoman overheard one of their regular caffeine-fueled meet-ups and made a comment that nearly made them spit out their drinks.
“She said, ‘That’s just what you think you’re going to do,’” Ms. VanGorkum recalled, laughing. “And I was like, ‘Whatever. We actually know. Listen, you – you established business owner.’ But you know what? She was so right.”
“She said, ‘Keep your minds open to other things and listen to where your business is taking you,’” Ms. VanGorkum continued. “And she was 100 percent right.”
Though the two partners went full-speed ahead with their initial plan to market adult-oriented craft kits, it wasn’t long before the advice they’d received months before took on new resonance.
A short time into their new venture, a one-off item they created after coming across a uniquely hinged tin box – Van Gogh on the Go, a miniature art set for kids – was outselling the adult products they’d built their business plan around.
“That’s when we thought, ‘Oh I guess that’s what we do now,’” Ms. VanGorkum said. “Changing the focus from what we thought we were going to be doing … and moving to toys was probably our biggest challenge. I went from ‘I don’t want to sell toys,’ to thinking ‘Why don’t I want to sell toys?’”
Kittd – pronounced “kitted” – has since shifted its vision entirely. The company now sells eight compact toy and craft sets in a tin, each aimed at getting kids off digital devices and engaging their creativity and imaginations instead. Van Gogh in a Box, filled with tiny crayons, a sketchbook and paints, was swiftly followed by Michelangelo in a Box, a sculpting set complete with clay and wooden carving tools, and Hello, a tin filled with miniature notecards, envelopes, markers, play stamps and mail stickers. Other kits, all retailing for about $10 each, feature dinosaur, fairy and picnic play sets and magnetic tic-tac-toe robots.
“We want to be the antidote to tech,” Ms. Sanchez-Masi said, adding that their products are intended for kids stuck in dreary waiting situations, like planes and hospitals. “We made what we needed but couldn’t find. I have purchased every travel toy and couldn’t find anything that worked. This works.”
The business partners began selling their kits for kids at area markets and online through Amazon and etsy. But as demand grew, they turned to another friend, fellow mom and Junior League colleague Beth McDougall, to come onboard as director of sales and marketing.
Ms. McDougall, a former promotions manager for both Minute Maid and Miller Brewing, has helped turbocharge sales since joining the company in 2016. Within a week, she’d talked the Eastern Iowa Airport into placing a large order. The airport has placed two refill orders since then, she said, “and they keep selling out.” Kittd products are also available at eight other Corridor retailers, including NewBo City Market, the Iowa City Children’s Museum and Raygun, which recently placed the kits in all of its Midwestern stores from Des Moines to Kansas City.
Ms. McDougall said she is currently in discussions with UnityPoint, Von Maur, children’s and art museums across the country, and, most excitingly, Hudson News, the ubiquitous airport chain with newsstands in 24 of the top 25 busiest hubs in North America.
“We knew we’d made it when we sold enough at one market to pay rent for two months and were like, ‘Whoa, what a relief,’” Ms. Sanchez-Masi recalled. “And ever since then, we’ve been at a steady 20 percent growth every year. Looking at this next year, though, we will explode that.”
The three women, who have five children (and unpaid product testers) ranging from 7 to 14 years old, hope to expand rapidly in the years to come. But they have a larger mission as well: Helping other women like themselves succeed.
“For us, it’s less about hitting x number of sales, although we definitely want that,” Ms. Sanchez-Masi said. “We’ve always kind of envisioned this business as being a way to help other women who are either looking for part-time work or have taken time off to be with young kids to return to the workforce in a different way.”
Ms. VanGorkum agreed, adding that within a few years she hoped kittd would be a place for women to get back into the workplace “in a way that meets their needs, that’s flexible, but offers meaningful work.”
Though their business is toy making, Ms. VanGorkum said kittd’s work – and its mission – is anything but child’s play.
“We’re not just moms who have a hobby, we’re people who have a business,” she said. “It’s a real thing. And you can do it, too.”
