Juha Starck no longer struggles with lighting the charcoal grill.
It started from testing pizza stones. Juha Starckin the task was to light the charcoal grill, the girlfriend made pizzas.
– I put more coal in order to get stronger heat. The girlfriend was already getting ready with the pizzas, and I hadn’t even got the grill lit yet.
For a moment, Starck scratched his head and then rushed to the garage to find a suitable iron pin with which to press air circulation holes into the carbon.
– At first, I thought it was an insight and a good idea to make air circulation holes in the coal pile with an iron bar. While I was making them, I really realized that there could always be an oxygen plug here to improve air circulation.
After baking the pizza, Starck went to the garage to get a suitable iron pipe, drilled holes in it and put iron wire on the ends so that the coals wouldn’t get in. The first prototype was born.
– I found out that the charcoal needs more oxygen all the way from the oxygen intake holes at the bottom of the grill to the top, so that they ignite more easily. The oxygen plug worked great.
Starck didn’t just leave his invention for his own pleasure. He already has one invention on the market, so commercialization was a natural continuation for Happibuuster as well.
In its simplicity, Happibuusteri boosts the grill’s air circulation, so it accelerates the ignition of the coals and increases the rate of heat development.
This summer Happibuusteri has spread to the Baltic countries. Juha Starck’s home album
– First I found out if there is anything similar anywhere in the world.
After that, Starck started to inquire about dealers’ interest and made a prototype version in a Finnish workshop. He sent it to a retailer dedicated to charcoal grilling for testing. When the shops gave the green light, the search for a manufacturer began.
Last summer, within a couple of months, the oxygen booster had a manufacturer, retailers and had won a silver medal and a Special award in the iCAN 2021 innovation competition in Canada.
– If the grill is full of meat, the embers can start to congeal because of that, says Starck.
The grill doesn’t freeze anymore.
– I have noticed that with Happibuuster I need less carbon. Still, the heat lasts throughout the grilling process.
At first, Starck looked for a domestic manufacturer, but the price rose so high that it wouldn’t have been worth it. Oxygen boosters are made in China and, depending on the size, the selling price is either 17.90 or 15.90 euros.