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“I’m making a potato salad.”
That’s all you need to know about Zack Danger Brown’s Kickstarter.
“Potato salad” isn’t some strange euphemism or clever name for an app; it quite literally means potato salad. As in, the food. You can find some great ideas on Kickstarter, and some truly market-changing products have come out of the crowdfunding platform. But nothing as daring as a man from Ohio making potato salad. This just might be the best potato salad yet.
What started out as a clear joke has received over 1,400 backers as of today (July 7). The original goal was set for $10 measly dollars, or plenty to get the necessary ingredients to make a decent dish to go with your next barbecue. But pledges have surpassed $15,000, and there’s still 25 days to go.
If you make a pledge ($1 minimum), here’s what you’ll get:
- $1 will get you a “thank you” posted to your website, among with Brown’s promise that he’ll say “your name out loud” while making the potato salad.
- $2 will get you a photo of Brown making the potato salad, along with the perks of a $1 pledge.
- $3 will get you a bite of the potato salad, as well as what you’d get for a $2 and $2 pledge.
- Here’s where things really get wild.
- $5 will get you a Deluxe Package, which basically allows you to add your favorite ingredient to the potato salad, though it has to be “appropriate.” You also get the other pledge perks.
- $10 is the Platinum Level, where backers can hang out with Brown while he makes the potato salad, along with the perks of the other pledge levels.
- $20 is POTATO MADNESS. Not only do you get the other pledge goodness, but you’ll also receive a haiku based on the potato salad, a signed jar of mayonnaise and even the revolutionary potato salad recipe straight from Brown’s Master Chef mind.
- $25 will get you a “potato-salad themed hat,” while $35 will get you a limited edition t-shirt. $50, meanwhile, will get you a potato salad themed cook book, along with a bite and a thank you.
After seeing overwhelming support—the likes of which we’ve only seen with Reading Rainbow—Brown has set a number of stretch goals that he’s blown past. At $300 he promised he’d call a chef to get a better recipe, and at $350 he said he’d make “way more potato salad.” At $1,000, he said he’d do a live stream, and at $1,200 Brown said he’d pay someone to film a thank you video. Also: after reaching $75 Brown said he’d throw a pizza party, so there you go. Let’s be honest: not much else matters when pizza is involved.
There are many reasons to doubt services like Kickstarter, because products aren’t always delivered as promised. But I think we can all trust in a fellow on the Internet who shows such passion for potato salad. Right now Brown says he doesn’t know what type of potato salad he wants to make, but it sounds like he’s open to different recipes. That kind of flexibility and design can only benefit the consumer.
With things still in development, expect Brown’s potato salad to be delivered sometime in December of this year. Hopefully it’ll be money and time well spent.
Source: Kickstarter
