Inventor says he has a batter idea

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Getting the pancake batter into the whipped-cream canister actually was the easy part. Batter Blaster creator Sean O'Connor says he managed to come up with something edible on the first try.The real challenge was when the longtime San Francisco resident started telling other people about his plan to revolutionize breakfast, one aerosol can at a time. Even the companies that let O'Connor and his spray-can pancake batter in the door sent him away almost as quickly."The biggest challenge of the whole thing was going to raise money," O'Connor says, splurting out a Mickey Mouse-shaped flapjack during a pancake-making demonstration in his office. "Try telling someone, 'I have this idea. We're going to put pancakes in a can,' and not have them laugh you out of the room."Shoppers in the San Francisco Bay Area have already seen O'Connor's pancakes in a can. And beginning this week, it's being carried by Costco. Backed by "friends and family" financing, O'Connor found a food packer who could mass-produce the batter, bought some equipment and is hoping his stab at making an easy process even easier becomes the next Lunchables.O'Connor recognizes the kitschy value of his product. Its closest food-industry relative is arguably Easy Cheese, the processed-fromage-in-a-can from Kraft Foods that has sold millions but also has become something of a punch line -- for proof, go to YouTube and search that product's name. The Batter Blaster Web site features a campy homemade commercial complete with a jingle that seems written specifically to become embedded in a consumer's skull for the rest of the month. ("Make a bet-ter breakfast faster ... Batter Blaster!")But O'Connor also is very serious about his pancakes and waffles. Batter Blaster is USDA-certified organic, and he insists the product isn't inferior to the other store-bought options on the shelf.O'Connor, 36, came up with the idea during his years, from 2000 to 2004, as co-owner of Thee Parkside Cafe in San Francisco. After creating flavored cream by mixing Grand Marnier, vanilla and other fluids into whipped-cream chargers, O'Connor wondered if he could do the same thing with funnel-cake or waffle batter. But the idea didn't get tested until a few years ago, when he started dating the woman he'd later marry, Mistine."She loves waffles," O'Connor said. "And when we started dating, it was like 'Oh yeah, baby, I'll make you waffles.' That's what got me back into mixing the batter."O'Connor brought the idea to his friend Nate Steck, who had been in the food- development and -manufacturing business for more than a decade -- producing, among other things, the Nate's line of meatless meatballs, chicken-style nuggets and rolled tacos. Steck said he would hear from people pitching food ideas three or four times per month, but O'Connor's idea was different."He told me, 'I have an idea. Don't steal it,' " Steck remembers. "I thought it was genius. I was wondering why no one had done it already."Steck and O'Connor co-founded the company and looked for a food-processing facility -- but were turned down by everyone in the whipped-cream sector. In the end, they built their own plant in Southern California.The product launched in October, and Steck says Batter Blaster has already moved 400,000 units -- well above expectations.(E-mail Peter Hartlaub at phartlaub(at)sfchronicle.com.)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)