When Dan Cheal fastened the tray on the high chair for his two-year-old daughter at her favourite fast food restaurant, it took him two seconds to realize he’d never let her eat off one of the trays again.
"Kids don’t choose to eat off those surfaces," said the Thunder Bay entrepreneur and president of Dream Big Innovations. "We put them in there and make them. So on the way home, I thought in my mind instead of complaining about the dirty high chairs at most restaurants and food courts, I wanted to solve the problem."
That’s where his idea for Tidy Trays came from.
A Tidy Tray is a sanitary high chair tray cover.
"When you get to the restaurant, you choose a high chair, unfold the Tidy Tray from the self-attached pouch and slip it over the tray," said Cheal. "It completely eliminates any direct contact between the dirty tray and your child and the self-attached pouch becomes a sippy cup holder."
Tidy Trays are machine-washable, which is important in this green age, said Cheal, adding the product is made entirely in Canada with the tray covers produced in Ottawa.
Cheal came up with the idea a year-and-a-half ago and he had a lot of help along the way, particularly from his family. While it was his daughter Maddy that initially inspired him, Cheal wanted to thank his son Devin for his input on the design and he wanted to especially thank his wife Michelle.
"It’s been a long process, but she was patient," he said.
Cheal said the feedback on Tidy Trays has been great, especially from restaurant management teams.
"They love the idea because the trays probably aren’t cleaned as well as they should be," he said. "And 1,000 times a day they see some child hit a sippy cup or drink off the tray."
Consumers who have purchased a Tidy Tray have said it gives them peace of mind when they put their child in a restaurant’s high chair, said Cheal.
"Most recently with the H1N1 virus, people are becoming more aware of the harmful germs and bacteria out there," he said.
Tidy Trays are available in several stores in Thunder Bay including Celebrations, Global Experience, Quality Market, Seasons Gift Shop, Toy Sense, Bambino Paradise, Silk and Cedar, Wal-mart and Zellers. They can also be purchased online.
