Meet Tim Paradise | Founder of Beefy Brands

We had the good fortune of connecting with Tim Paradise and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Tim, every day, we about how much execution matters, but we think ideas matter as well. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
It was about 8pm. My flatmate, let’s call him Jack, had come home from a long day at work (I knew this based on his long sigh of despair when entering the house). Jack, like every other dude, seemed to have the same after-work routine down:

– Open the fridge. Look around. See nothing. Close the fridge.
– Order some dinner from an app.
– Change his clothes to something comfortable.
– Hang out in room for a little bit.
– Get the dinner delivery.
– Plop on couch.
– Pick out what to watch on streaming.
– Get up to get his drink…. wait.

Every single time, Jack would pick out his cup, fill it with ice, water, then head back to the couch. It was the cup that hit me. I had been living overseas in Asia and Europe the past 7 years and realized this unique North American thing. Overseas, cups are WAY smaller. They’re mostly like shot glasses. But in the US, guys have these collections of big-ass cups that seemingly made it to every move since they were in high school. But Jack loved his big cups.

A lot of times, they are old and shabby. But they are BIG. And they are perfect for lazy lounging cause you don’t have to get up for refills. These guys like Jack love their cups. Im sure you all know someone like this.

I started to observe more and came up with the same conclusion — not only our cups, but all of our houseware products seem to be monopolized under a certain ilk. I’ve coined it Dinkyware. A kinda ‘Joanna Gaines-ification’ of all things homeware.

There really isn’t any kind of alternative for our current home products. And for cups, it’s really hard to find good quality ones to buy retail. They’re kind of collected over time from the hundreds of theaters or stadiums you’ve visited throughout the years.

I thought the market could use something a little different, a little fresh, in the homeware space. And came up with Beefy Brands, or Beefyware. Basically Beefy-Inspired items — Beefy Cups, Beefy Plates, Beefy Spoons, Beefy Bowls, Beefy Sticks.

Most people think of their homeware as an afterthought. It’s a last minute purchase in the basement section of Ikea. You grab a stack of spatulas. A stack of those white plate / bowl combos for 34.99. A frying pan. Some Tupperware. And call it a day.

Products these days aren’t made to be go-to’s. They’re made to be checkmarks on your never-ending laundry list of things to buy.

Why do these products have to be so boring? So unoriginal? So dinky?

Thus Beefy was birthed. Our aim is to liven up the homeware space with beefy-er, pop-inspired, sustainable products. Focused on design and function that sparks conversation and ideally your chosen go-tos when behind closed doors.

There’s also some influence from my Asian heritage in our product designs, to bring some of that flare to American audiences. Our first Beefy Bowls, for example, will be a style that most non-Asian Americans were never exposed to a deep, large bowl PERFECT for soups and noodles. We’re trying to make that style more accessible to everyday Americans. And our twist is that we are making them with renewable bamboo and a using new modern design style, that I’d argue has never been seen before.

Beefy’s spiritual goal is to bring people back around the table. Laughs. Conversations. Stories. We’re hoping in the least that our products can help catalyze that.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I started my career in the hallways of Budweiser. I had the fortune of getting a marketing job in a time where they were killing it with their marketing campaigns “Real Men of Genius” or “Whasssssup”. That led me down a path in brand and creative.

I got to see first-hand, when done right (– that’s key, cause so much branding and advertising has been done so poorly and robotically, it’s really turned people off a once super fun place to be), good creative and brand can skyrocket a business. Especially if the products have an edge against the rest of the market. I saw it first hand take a seemingly unknown thing and place it front and center, selling out shelves in weeks, and winning over the hearts and minds of millions.

Working my way around the marketing and brand world I ended up working as a creative / copywriter on the creative agency side of Budweiser and Wrigley’s. Eventually made my way around the world to Europe and Asia-Pacific, working on brands like VW, McD’s, Amazon, & Levi’s.

But in those worlds, it’s become increasingly hard to push boundaries creatively, for whatever reasons. There’s now a kind of imaginary ceiling where good ideas can be taken, especially in the American market. People are more risk averse than ever. I think it has a lot to do with more corporate red tape and fear.

Because of that fear in brands, there’s a kind of ripple down effect from Big Brand to everything else. We used to look at big brands for creative inspiration around the world. Now, they all seem to be in a rinse and regurgitate holding pattern. That cycle is contributing to the ever-stagnation of our economy. We’re in a kind of modern “Creative Dark Ages”. From film to advertising to product. They seem to be running out of ideas.

A lot of my favorite creative people had branched out of the Ad world and moved on to make their own little worlds – in making their own products or films or projects. This seems now to be the only way to get out of the corporate death loop.

So that’s what kind of inspired me in my career shift. Why not branch off and try something new and apply the skills I’ve gained from before? I’m taking Beefy Brands, and using it as a canvas for creative innovation, and creating a brand that can use creativity to put back smiles on faces without red tape and stagnation.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I’m no longer much of a city slicker, but if I wanted to take someone somewhere different, I’d take them to an international rugby match in Glendale. It’s pretty cool to see such an international crowd, something unexpected around the front range.

I’d also take them to a day trip up to Fort Collins to see a town that’s not normally on the go-to circuits. A bit far, but walking around Old Town is a nice change of scenery.

And if I were limited to Denver, I’d go to La Loma for dinner and end up roaming around RiNo for beers.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
It’s really REALLY hard to go about a journey completely on your own. I think behind every success story, there is a team of people who took the energy to help make it a reality.

So for me, this shoutout goes out to the people that decided to stick it out through the uncertainty — Matt, Alyssa, and Nick. Hearing all the ideas and vision of where to take Beefy, most would nod their heads, then slowly back off after the jive of the first few months wore off. But my team has stood by and helped make Beefy become a reality. That’s pretty cool.

Website: www.beefybrands.com

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