Like many new products, Fooshead arose out of simple necessity.
"We own a foosball table at our home and wanted to protect it from dust," said Ken Zakovich, who runs the business out of his Northland home. "At the same time, we didn't want to lose the aesthetic of our game room. There wasn't -- and still isn't -- much on the market for covers other than what I call the 'ugly tarp.'"
Zakovich, the creative director at Duluth marketing firm Westmore-landFlint, designed the Fooshead foosball table covers with his wife, an interior designer.
"Being a designer for an advertising agency, the idea of launching a company and designing a brand was very exciting," he said. "I could use my graphic design talents to advertise and my wife and I's eye for design and merge them into a living, breathing entity."
Fooshead, which was launched in 2003, first focused on a patented custom cover that fit five tables.
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Of those five tables, Zakovich noted, all but one were made by industry giant Tornado.
"I wanted to give the covers an outdoor, backpack-type look," he said, "so I looked to my hometown of Ely, Minn. -- you'll find more outdoor gear (there) than anywhere -- and found Rick Aylsworth, of Get There! Designs, who is still my talent today.
"It took me seven prototypes to finally land on the cover that had the aesthetics, functionality and a price that was fair."
Ironically, Zakovich only considers himself a casual foosball player -- "just one with a high aesthetic of how things should look," he noted -- though he grew up with a foosball table in his parents' basement.
"This was years before the Tornado brand," he joked, "and, at that time, my family always referred to the players as the Jimmy Carters versus the Ronald Reagans."
Two years ago, Zakovich expanded Fooshead's product line to include universal covers, which he said are more affordable. He would like to further expand by offering products for billiards, table tennis and air hockey enthusiasts.
"I have my first prototype for the billiards cover in my office," he said. "But that takes more time; that of which I don't have much of at the moment."
Speaking of that, how does Zakovich manage a full-time marketing gig, a family and a fully operational "bedroom business" -- all without going crazy?
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"(Fooshead) has been a fairly easy business to run," he said. "Everything happens online and the production is farmed out.
"The Internet is a beautiful thing."
Indeed, e-commerce has played a crucial role in Fooshead's development from the get-go.
"I have been marketing on Google since I've started," Zakovich said. "Buying keywords and owning numerous domains to drive traffic to my Web site."
Fooshead has also grown the old-fashioned way. Zakovich said he's formed a "great relationship" with a dealer in North Carolina who has sold many of his products for him.
He also mentioned promising contacts with Total Recreation and Dick's Sporting Goods, so there's no telling where Fooshead will be in another four years.
"Getting Down to Business" features new or unique businesses in the Twin Ports area. If you know a business with a good story, send your ideas to mperrine@duluthbudgeteer.com . To learn more about Fooshead, visit www.fooshead.com .
