LAKA [LAH-KAH]: WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
In English, the word LAKA means “to lock” and in Hawaiian it means “tame" (or “chill”). Put them together and LAKA means “to lock in chill.” Curiosity satisfied.
Camping, boating, drinking and thinking.
We’ve been boating and camping for years, and carrying the cooler is such a pain. With every experience we found ourselves critiquing aspects of the cooler we had to carry. They often lacked a bottle opener, making it difficult to open our drinks. While boating, drinks always tipped over due to a lack of cup holders.
Then, one day while camping with friends in northern MN, a couple of guys stopped by complaining about their warm beer because the ice had melted in their cooler. We joked around about how a rotomolded cooler would be the perfect solve, but nobody could justify spending that much money. Later that night we were cruising around on the golf cart and started thinking about how we could solve all of these problems.
FFWD six months.
Six months later, we gathered at our company party. We started telling stories from the summer and got on the topic of coolers again. That conversation led us to doodling some interesting designs on the spot.
In a few weeks, we accepted the challenge and began doing what we do best as entrepreneurs: we made a plan, met with engineers and designers, created our first prototype mold, and crunched numbers to keep the quality up and the prices down. Proof that we love a challenge.
Long story semi-short – LAKA came to fruition. Stay tuned as we continue to evolve the spirit of LAKA together.
Enjoy a different degree of cool.
- Your cooler lovers here at LAKA