I Designed A Better Way To Boil Seafood And Make $285K/Year

Robert Lapeyre

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Published: June 4th, 2024

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Robert Lapeyre

Founder, Boil Boss

$23.8K

revenue/mo

Founders

Employees

Boil Boss

theboilboss.com

from New Orleans, LA, USA

started January 2017

$23,750

revenue/mo

Founders

Employees

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Hello! Who are you and what business did you start?

Hello! I’m Robert Lapeyre, the founder of Boil Boss. Launched in the summer of 2017 as I was graduating from the University of Mississippi, Boil Boss was founded on a single product, The Boil Boss.

The Boil Boss is a boiling accessory designed to help prevent boilers from overcooking their seafood. It has a unique 360-degree cooling system for crawfish and outdoor seafood pots. Its simple design uses a standard garden hose to rapidly cool backyard seafood boils in as little as 3 minutes, all without diluting the user's recipe with ice (a relatively common way for addressing the issue of overcooking).

Quickly stopping the cooking process is the most critical step in a boil. The boil boss does this while also promoting flavor absorption, reducing batch times, and providing an easy-to-follow process.

In 2023, our e-commerce platform generated revenue of $285,000. As we look to the future in 2024, our primary objective is expansion. Our strategic focus is directed towards broadening our customer base by prioritizing the development and optimization of our own website.

What's your backstory and how did you come up with the idea?

My passion lies in the art of innovation—specifically, in designing and manufacturing products that not only improve productivity and quality but also significantly enhance the user's experience. With this mission, Boil Boss aims to transform outdoor cooking, beginning with the backyard boiler. Our flagship product, The Boil Boss, marked the start of my journey into learning the art of invention, design, and manufacturing.

Born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, my upbringing was immersed in a culture rich with hunting, fishing, and food. Seafood boils were a big part of this lifestyle. I vividly remember receiving my first crawfish boiling setup for Christmas during my freshman year of high school. Although the early attempts didn't taste as good as today's, the process of starting from scratch and learning something new was incredibly rewarding. It was one of my earliest experiences of actually learning how to learn.

While seafood boils were always a part of life, I never initially planned to start Boil Boss in the way that it unfolded. I explored various ideas, even attempting to start a business based on my mother's famous cheesecake recipe. These formative experiences eventually drew me back, inspiring me to pursue Boil Boss.

An idea that was originally conceived by my father when he was in his 20s, The Boil Boss stood out as a practical solution that addressed a clear need, within a specific market niche. Having boiled crawfish enough on my own, I understood the issues of overcooking crawfish, shrimp, and crabs. And with a little bit of secondary market research via YouTube, my confidence in successfully filling this gap and executing on this product idea pushed me to start.

The Boil Boss is a niche accessory for backyard Boils, and since its launch, we have continued to innovate and expand our product line. We have continuously invested in the business and developed the Thermo-Paddle, an enhanced stirring tool that integrates temperature monitoring, and a novel Triple Jet propane burner that offers superior heat distribution and efficiency for large boils with a proprietary ignition system. We've also introduced a line of seasonings specially crafted to complement the flavors typical of a South Louisiana seafood boil.

I now place a strong emphasis on understanding the 'why' behind each product before diving into the 'how'. I fight the urge to just start building. It involves a structured deep dive into the challenges and pain points our customers face, truly understanding these issues before we even think about solutions.

Take us through the process of building the first version of your product.

My early approach to product design at Boil Boss was largely intuitive, driven by spontaneity and a somewhat unstructured process. This method worked for simpler products like the original Boil Boss, which required fewer components and less technical complexity. But, as we expanded our product line to include more sophisticated items, like the Thermo-Paddle and the Triple Jet with its advanced ignition system, the limitations of this approach started to show.

One memory from the development of our Thermo-Paddle stands out as an inflection point. Initially, I insisted on integrating a digital thermometer with a backlit LCD display, a decision that led to the ordering of a thousand custom circuit boards. It was only after some painful failures in testing that happened far too late that I recognized the need to pivot toward a simpler, analog solution—a change that was crucial for the product's success.

This experience has stuck with me, underscoring the importance of setting smart requirements, remaining flexible, and always being willing to revise or delete requirements based on deeper insights into what would truly benefit our users and design. It was a very important lesson in not falling in love with any one idea or way of doing something—something that I still have to consciously remind myself of.

Today, my approach has matured significantly. I now place a strong emphasis on understanding the 'why' behind each product before diving into the 'how'. I fight the urge to just start building. It involves a structured deep dive into the challenges and pain points our customers face, truly understanding these issues before we even think about solutions. This methodical approach ensures that we are not just creating products but are also addressing real needs, enhancing usability, delivering value, and setting the correct scope.

Manufacturing plays a crucial role in our design equation, and depending on the product, integrating thoughtful design with manufacturing has been a challenging unlock. Because of our niche market, which involves relatively low volumes, finding contract manufacturers who can meet our quality, volume, and cost requirements has proven difficult. This challenge led us to take manufacturing into our own hands and learn how to design for manufacturing effectively.

My time as a student at the Center for Manufacturing Excellence (CME) at Ole Miss provided some of the foundational knowledge and perspectives necessary to appreciate the importance of closely integrating design and manufacturing processes. By managing manufacturing internally, we avoid the common pitfalls of simply "tossing designs over the fence" to a contractor. It allows me to directly feel the impact of my designs and iterate as needed to make them better.

Describe the process of launching the business.

Launching Boil Boss was straightforward on paper. The execution was far more challenging than anticipated—naiveté and blind confidence was on my side.

Initially, my plan involved launching a Shopify site, actively creating and sharing engaging content, running targeted ads, participating in as many in-person shows as possible, and building an early network of retailers. We even added local TV and radio ads to our strategy. The multi-faceted approach was designed to cast a wide net and capture the attention of a diverse customer base from the start. Managing all these tasks as a 1-2 person team, while also handling design and manufacturing efforts, was tough.

Backyard boils, especially crawfish boils, are becoming more popular across the country, moving beyond their Louisiana origins. This growing trend is merging with traditional backyard BBQ culture, leading to increased demand for reliable and high-quality equipment.

I spent nearly two years diligently promoting the Boil Boss, attending industry shows, and directly engaging with potential customers and retailers to gain traction. Much of this time was spent on the road visiting select hardware stores, eventually earning the business of over 60 independent stores. This helped with sales but was more important in building brand credibility.

The "backyard boiler" market, entrenched with traditionalists who can be resistant to change, posed significant challenges. Many in our target demographics were skeptical about adopting a new approach to something as established as seafood boils. Many were set in their ways. We also had to contend with the perceived value of our product. Its elegant and simple design was almost too simple! It put pressure on our pricing.

Despite these initial hurdles, our persistent efforts gradually began to pay off as we built a group of early adopters who not only believed in the product but also became vocal advocates for its innovative approach. Word of mouth eventually became our most powerful tool for growth.

This part of the journey was tough but immensely educational and humbling. It taught me the importance of resilience, the substantial effort required to build a brand, and helped to shape my product development philosophy. Each step, no matter how challenging, gave me something to carry on to the next challenge.

Since launch, what has worked to attract and retain customers?

While word of mouth has historically driven our sales, we've recognized the need to better leverage digital marketing and are now enhancing our efforts with targeted SEO and PPC strategies. By optimizing our website for search engines and launching targeted ad campaigns, the hope is to complement our organic sales and create more opportunities for those invaluable word-of-mouth moments.

One thing that has been a big challenge for digital marketing has been customer acquisition cost and their relationship with average order value. We have historically been limited on paid efforts because of high CAC and low order value, ($49.99 Boil Boss).

This has in part helped to inform our product roadmap, where we are focusing on developing products that can provide us with higher-order values. With higher-order values and healthy margins, there is more room for ad spend. Our Triple Jet Burner is a great example of this.

How are you doing today and what does the future look like?

Backyard boils, especially crawfish boils, are becoming more popular across the country, moving beyond their Louisiana origins. This growing trend is merging with traditional backyard BBQ culture, leading to increased demand for reliable and high-quality equipment. In this market, Boil Boss stands out for its commitment to quality and innovation.

Though the boiling market is growing and I believe will continue to grow, Boil Boss and its current offerings are highly seasonal with two primary sales seasons. We have “crawfish season”, which is largely connected to the crawfish crop/industry. This typically runs from jan/feb-april/may. Our second season is Christmas/gift buying.

During peak months when the season is running well, we have seen between 30K-65K monthly revenue. This revenue is driven by weather and the crawfish crop. Currently our revenue is directly inversely related to the price of crawfish. When crawfish prices are low, our sales rise. When they are high, we see our sales lower. This can be a challenge because so much is out of our control.

Looking ahead, We will be focused on addressing the seasonality of our business. Our Triple Jet Burner is our latest product that will begin to help to offset the seasonality of crawfish season. We are not stopping with our Triple Jet and will remain focused on pushing boundaries in the outdoor cooking space.

We plan to go beyond just seafood boiling, identifying gaps in the market, and introducing products that solve real problems. Our goal is to keep delivering products that exceed our customers' expectations, ensuring Boil Boss becomes a leader in outdoor cooking.

Through starting the business, have you learned anything particularly helpful or advantageous?

For those who choose this path, I believe entrepreneurship and business might be the best way to learn about yourself. You are going to inevitably question why you willingly subject yourself to so much pain. It's in these moments you can gain some real insight and clarity.

In order to survive the roller coaster of emotions, you are forced to understand your motivations. New opportunities and challenges are constantly presenting themselves. It has been through understanding my “why”, that I have been able to understand and put my time in the right places.

What platform/tools do you use for your business?

Originally, we managed our online presence through Shopify, handling it internally. However, as we embark on our expansion journey, we've engaged a digital agency to bolster our internet footprint. Their expertise in enhancing our SEO rankings aligns with our goal of attracting new customers and driving increased sales.

We use Klaviyo for email marketing, Google Analytics for analyzing website metrics, Google Search Console for monitoring site health, and Google Merchant Center for listing our products in a shopping feed.

What have been the most influential books, podcasts, or other resources?

Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making by Tony Faddell and Nail It Then Scale It: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Creating and Managing Breakthrough Innovation by Nathan Furr and Paul Ahlstrom have both really informed how I look at product development and my upcoming ventures.

These books have allowed me to connect so many of the dots. In particular, they helped to drive clarity around the importance of finding customer/user pain and the “whys” before diving into solutions and features.