What could be so difficult about incorporating a microwave oven into a dispensing machine to produce a piping hot bag of popcorn at the press of a button? As Durban popcorn wholesaler Mr Mark Beagle discovered, it's not as simple as it sounds. Determined to crack the international market, Beagle soon gave up on achieving this with popcorn exports, as the US has sewn up the international market. "So I came up with the idea of a popcorn dispenser. I discovered no-one else had done it the way I envisioned and thought it would be a piece of old takkie- ha!" He set about putting it into practice, along with his partner in the Springfield Park-based Liberty Popcorn Company, Mr Peter Ramsay. They tried approaching microwave manufacturers, but soon discovered the technology was a closely guarded secret. Undaunted, Beagle and Ramsay - who happens to be a qualified electrician - decided to invent their own device, with the help of a fitter and turner friend. "At one point our factory looked like a microwave graveyard. There were bits of the things all over the place!" Beagle laughs. Overcoming problems, such as an overheating magnatron, proved to be a huge challenge, but "two years and a lot of money" later, they cracked it - or so they thought. "The first time we tried it out the emissions were so strong it set off car alarms in the street." They corrected that, doing away with emissions completely, and the Pop King was born, destined to reign supreme in pubs, petrol stations, offices and hospitals the world over. The re-invented microwave oven takes in a flat packet of popcorn from the back, puffs it up before the customer's eyes and drops it, fat and fragrant, into a tray. In 90 seconds. The beauty of the machine is that it all happens with the press of button, and is almost maintenance-free," says Beagle. The SABS passed the design, making the Liberty lads the first South Africans to produce a safe, working microwave oven without a licence, something they are justafiably proud of. " An Italian Company is interested in it for a microwave pasta; a UK company wants to pack it with a microwavable burger and chips; and a guy in London wants to sell a breakfast product in the underground," says Beagle. And last week an Italian company placed a R50 Million order.

SA inventors are the new popcorn idols

Innovations

Buddy Naidu

Two KwaZulu-Natal businessmen are set to rake in millions after developing what is believed to be the world's first automatic microwave popcorn vending machine. Mark Beagle and technician Peter Ramsay took two years to develop the dispensing machine - known as the Pop King - which features a unique microwave oven. When the South African Bureau of Standards approved the prototype in June last year, it made the two men the first South Africans to develop a microwave without a licence.

"After hitting upon the idea of a popcorn dispensing machine, we found it difficult approaching microwave manufacturers as the technology was kept secret," explained former popcorn exporter Yet the lack of help did not deter the duo and, for the next two years, their headquarters in Springfield, near Durban, resembled a microwave factory. "We stripped and reassembled them in the hope of developing a system that would be unique to the dispensing machine," said Ramsay.

The two have patented their machine and are receiving orders worth $6-million (about R58-million) from several countries. This includes a $5-million (about R48-million) order from an Italian vending machine company. Ramsay said most overseas manufacturers installed home microwaves within vending machines, which were not safe, rather than developing their own systems. "A company in Spain are the leading manufacturers in the world. Yet even they have failed to come up with such a design. In fact, they flew over recently to see the Pop King for themselves," he said.

The pair, who recently developed a website, have already received bulk orders from Australia, Mexico, Hong Kong, China, Italy, Jamaica, Australia and Germany, as well as from a well-known chain of pubs in England and a Swiss-based chocolate manufacturer. Beagle said they planned to officially launch the Pop King at an exhibition at Gallagher Estate, Johannesburg, in July. The popcorn kings are now set to cash in on their success. Several international food companies have asked them to develop microwave vending machines for pasta, hamburgers, toasted sandwiches, hot chips and cinnamon rolls .