The History of Straws

The idea of logo illustrated straws was invented in the late 90’s by a young and creative village pub manager.As in the case of all pubs, regulars formed the trend in the conception, when one of them weirdly requested the same thing again and again: “Rum with coke and STRAW, please!”

As at that time nobody used a straw for drinking, the guest’s demand for a straw remained unfulfilled all the time, about which he did not hesitate to complain to annoy pub servers.

The surprising change in the storyline occurred on the “straw” guest’s birthday, when the pub manager took a special pack of straws with him, which he was given by one of his American relatives years before. To surprise his guest, he served his drink the same way, but for this time, with a straw in it.

The guest was seemingly very happy and impressed by this surprise, and said: “I pay you a drink. And another one for me, but now with a “Peppino” straw!” This was the name of the pub.

The manager lamented on this phrasing and started to brainstorm about the new idea, Peppino straw… Peppino straw! Why not?

Presumably the guest would not have guessed what an epoch-making idea he had just given to the pub manager with his “straw” habit. Before this idea, the supplier companies presented many kinds of Peppino marked products; plenty of glasses, napkins, beermats decorated the pub, all of which having the “Peppino” logo or text on them, but not a single straw had the same “Peppino” trademark. And then the idea was born according to the straw guest’s phrasing about which the inventory pub manager later declared:

 “I just stood there with a dead promo square in my hands.”

The manager-inventor recognized the new possibility to make straws illustrated with unique texts or logos, and after many years of survey he concluded that the production of labelled straws had not been really successful so far in the market. There were problems with the sticking of straw stains, and producing companies had not had any suitable stain for this special purpose, regarding ingredients and food industrial regulations, that is to say, a stain type that could have been mixed with any kinds of beverages.

The several years of research, experimentation and development resulted in finding the right stain type that met the requirements of all health controls and performed a perfect tack. The inventor found a special stain material, used in medical examinations, which is not harmful for health, and it was illuminating in the dark under UV light. He mixed this special illuminating type of pigment into the basic stain material, and that was the final recipe for making the perfect UV illuminating, fluorescent text printed straws.

The idea was introduced and registered in the Hungarian Patent Office in December 1990. The following ten years was spent on experiments with the new project, and in 2010 the concept was supplemented with a European industrial design shielding conduct. After the procurement of required machines, production processes began along with a marketing needs analysis, which has been bringing new and interesting solutions up to this day.

Namely, everybody uses straws!