Illustration by Tabitha Walters
If Jackie Malcolm had told her construction-obsessed toddler to stop playing with his breakfast cereal on the living room floor with his toy bulldozer in 2005, children and parents might never have found mealtime peace through the forklift fork.
Jackie and her husband Carter, an engineer, had been frustrated by three-year-old Drake’s picky eating habits. Seeing him bulldoze his food, they were inspired to combine his interest in construction with theirs in encouraging healthy eating. Carter headed to their basement, where in addition to the forklift fork, he designed a front-loader spoon and a bulldozer pusher.
They began selling their inventions under the name Constructive Eating in 2007. “We kept the business in our house as long as we could,” he says. “When production activities outgrew our basement and started to inhabit our dining room and garage, we knew we had to graduate to some commercial space.” The company moved to Avis Dr. in 2014.
Jackie returned to her work as a speech pathologist in 2010. Carter says the business has four full-time employees and twenty to twenty-four part-timers, most high school and college students. “I hope to inspire them to become entrepreneurs,” he smiles.
In addition to construction, there are now dinosaur and garden-fairy sets, each with utensils, plates, and placements. There are training plates shaped like turtles and trucks, and, more recently, Tractor Utensils—ergonomic orange or green fork-and-spoon sets in barn-shaped packaging.
Everything is kid-, dishwasher-, and microwave-safe, and made in the USA—most parts and packaging come from Michigan and Illinois. After maxing out their current space, they’ll expand into a neighboring suite later this year.
Carter says they sell online through their own website and Amazon, as well as Target, Walmart, and “about 1,200 specialty kitchen, toy, gift, and hardware stores across the USA.” Local sellers include Kitchen Loft, Mudpuddles, My Urban Toddler, and The Little Seedling.
Drake, meanwhile, graduated from Albion College with a degree in computer science. Working for Ann Arbor–based SkySpecs, he now pilots drones to inspect wind turbines.
