Bag Bowl

BagBowl was a simple kitchen gadget that turned an ordinary zip-top storage bag into a stable, free-standing bowl. A collapsible plastic ring snapped around the bag and held it open, so you could pour, mix, marinate, or store food without the bag flopping over. The idea came from Kansas City brothers Brian and Kevin Fleming, who pitched it as a tidy fix for a small but familiar kitchen annoyance.

The Flemings asked for 40,000 dollars in exchange for a third of the business. Their pitch leaned on humor and an easy live demonstration of the ring holding a filled bag upright. Lori Greiner, who has a long history with kitchen and home gadgets, saw retail potential in a low-cost impulse buy and offered the exact terms they wanted. The brothers accepted on the spot.

What made BagBowl memorable was its sheer simplicity. It solved a tiny everyday problem with a cheap, intuitive product, the kind of as-seen-on-TV item Lori Greiner built her reputation on. The brothers' lighthearted chemistry also helped the segment stand out in a season full of bigger, more complicated businesses.

Following the episode, BagBowl gained distribution and showed up on Amazon, Zulily, QVC, and in some brick-and-mortar stores, and the brothers even expanded toward Canada in 2015. The exposure helped, but the product faced the classic problem of single-purpose kitchen tools competing against plain storage bags and containers that shoppers already owned.

BagBowl is no longer in business. The brothers wound the venture down around 2018 and moved on to other careers. Brian Fleming returned to real estate in Kansas City, and Kevin Fleming went back into marketing and technology work. The product is not sold through any official channel today.