Box-O-Ween 
Exam Time
Detox-O-Box
Pamper Yourself
Movie Night
Box-O-Birthday
Box-O-Love
Cool Camp Stuff
Bunk-O-Bowling
Box-O-Bunny
Healthy
Cool Dorm Stuff
Feel Better
Earthy
Lil DevilBOX-O-BOX’S POST-COLLEGE MASTERMINDS TAKING CAMPUSES BY STORM WITH “COOL” CARE PACKAGES
Changing the World One Box at a Time
Sometimes it pays to think inside the box. That’s just what Michael S. Hauke and Justin Zucker, the young entrepreneurial masterminds of Box-O-Box, found out. Their three-year-old company has cornered the market on entertaining, quirky, and ultra hip care packages for college students. What makes the boxes stand out is that each one is jammed not only with memorable munchies and cute goodies but with humor, TLC and a bit-o-attitude.
It’s like sending a party, although a very well-behaved one, in a box. The eye-catching packages from Box-O-Box are rapidly becoming the must-have items on students’—and their parents—back-to-school list. Fresh from college themselves with a successful business already under their belt, Zucker and Hauke have their finger on the pulse of what kids want since just a few short years ago they were on the receiving end of those disappointing care packages. And they stay in touch with college kids and parents all over the country. “We started the company to spare students from the same old junk,” says Hauke.
So, need a pick-me-up for cramming? The All-Nighter boasts buzz-inducing premium hyper-caffeinated Shock Coffee and energy-pumping FUEL Pops. Then there are all the holidays to celebrate -- who else has the audacity to include an actual pumpkin in a Halloween box? And the Box-O-Birthday, hey you gotta have a Box-O-Box branded piñata. Each of the more than 20 options also comes with a guaranteed-to-crack-you-up “How To” guide, and of course, a message from home.
What’s in it for parents? Only the words they’re dying to hear: “Mom, Dad, you’re the coolest.” In fact, it was parents who urged the company to come up with Detox-O-Box, a get ‘em back-on-their-feet and into-the-classroom cure for student over-indulgences.
Having breathed hot new life into the ho-hum care package, Hauke and Zucker continue to redefine and reinvent. From day one, they’ve listened carefully to parents and students, and at weekly roundtables it’s in with the good, out with the bad, an ongoing exchange of ideas that results in ever-changing packages that college kids covet. “The biggest mistake would be to let our ideas get stale,” says Zucker. “We live on the box cutting edge.”
Colleges and universities from Maine to Hawaii are jumping on the brash Box-O-Box bandwagon, making the company their official care package provider. News of Box-O-Box has spread with viral quickness and the company is fielding a slew of requests from schools across the country for brochures to distribute as part of orientation programs and housing information.
The go-to care-package company is proving all the rage on campus, with fraternities and sororities, student government associations, sports clubs and social groups partnering with Box-O-Box on fund-raising efforts. And, phone-a-thons that send a Box-O-Box to a student, in response to their parents’ college donation, are proving enormously effective in both generating profits for worthy causes as well as buzz. The company is also working with schools to develop specifically designed private label boxes.
As the hands-down authorities in college care packages, Hauke and Zucker have clearly done their homework in searching out unique products that aren’t simply plucked off the shelf. “Wherever possible,” says Zucker, “we choose all natural, organic food from socially and environmentally responsible companies. We’re always on the lookout for small companies that we can partner with and grow together.”
In addition to quality foods like Hippie Chips and Liz Lovely Cookies, the boxes, generally priced between $39.99 and $49.99, often include specially designed Box-O-Box products such as a reusable BPA-free water bottle or a mini dorm basketball hoop set.
“We’re seeing demand grow because Box-O-Box provides parents with a way to connect with their kids in a language they both understand,” Hauke notes. “We like to say that our boxes are made with the same tender loving care your momma used to give you -- though without the guilt trips.”
Box-O-Box is gaining a foothold beyond the campus too. People are catching on to sending a Box-O-Love to a sweetie on Valentine’s Day or a Movie Night Box for a Netflix extravaganza. Corporations are asking for customized packages for their special events.
This isn’t the first entrepreneurial endeavor for this talented pair. Hauke and Zucker, who have a background in resource economics, started Dirty Business Laundry Delivery Service as part of a class exercise and later sold the company. “This time we’re out to change the world, one box at a time,” Hauke concludes.
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