Sometimes it takes a big leap to make a small appliance.

Take, for example, the Dash mini waffle maker, which cooks a single four-inch waffle.

On a recent spring afternoon, Evan Dash, co-founder and CEO of StoreBound, which owns the brand, sat at a conference table in the company’s bustling headquarters in Manhattan’s Financial District. He held one of the waffle makers and explained how it came to be.

Dash and his wife, Rachel, StoreBound’s co-founder and chief strategy officer, were at a trade show in Germany in 2012 when they saw a little pizzelle maker.

“And Rachel said, ‘What about a mini waffle maker?’” he told Retail Brew. “And I said, ‘It’ll never sell.’ Flat out, I just dismissed it.”

But she persisted, and an employee they’d brought along to the trade show sketched what Dash called a “cute, bubbly design,” of the waffle maker they’d ultimately introduce in 2015.

“And lo and behold, it was like gangbusters out of the gate,” Dash said. “People saw it and absolutely flipped.”

• More than 21 million of the devices have been sold.
• The hashtag #dashminiwafflemaker has 23 million views on TikTok.
• It has more than 186,000 five-star reviews on Amazon.

The Evan Dash who acknowledged his initial impulse was wrong and deferred to his team is not the same Evan Dash who previously was SVP of Macy’s home store, he said.

“When I worked at Macy’s, you’d have to open both doors for me to fit through with my head—I had this giant ego,” Dash said.

Keep reading here.—AAN

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If you hear the phrase “Skittles ban” going around, don’t panic. Skittles are not being banned—at least not yet.

The phrase was coined by critics to describe a bill passed by the state Assembly in California that would effectively prohibit the use of five chemical additives found in food products—red dye No. 3, titanium dioxide, potassium bromate, brominated vegetable oil, and propyl paraben—including, yes, Skittles, packaged cookies, and frostings.

While consumer advocates supporting the bill have touted the numerous health risks that come with the additives, its critics, which include (shocker!) candy brands, argue that the federal and state approval systems for the food additives have found them to be safe. Either way, the debate is only getting more heated by the day.

Real impact: Then there are others who say the ban would change the way a lot of the products taste. But is that really true?

Keep reading here.—JS

Retail Brew’s theme in May was customer experience, and a number of our most-read stories for the month fell under that heading. ICYMI, these were the top 10 stories readers really responded to, at least in terms of the number of people who read them. They cover everything from, yes, customer experience in its various guises and a couple of pretty unique stores to how Forever 21’s CEO is reinventing the brand.

1. Wayfair’s customer experience analysis may soon run on AI
2. The retail industry’s biggest bets on emerging tech in April
3. How one energy drink startup is using digital twins to beat the competition
4. Forever 21 CEO Winnie Park on reinventing the brand for Gen Z and millennials
5. Beyond robots: AI automation in manufacturing is about visibility and flexibility
6. Kizik’s first store perfectly showcases its ‘hands-free’ shoe
7. Inside Gotham, New York’s new cannabis ‘lifestyle concept store’
8. Ulta Beauty refreshes its digital store
9. Amazon and Mastercard expand biometric checkout tech amid consumer demand
10. What makes a brand or a product ‘hot’ among consumers?

Today’s top retail reads.

A new dawn: Chick-fil-A, which has maintained a steady reputation for its conservative values, is drawing criticism for being too “woke” as it pursues policies focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion. (the New York Times)

Wasteland: Secondhand clothing dealers from Ghana are lobbying to stop the fast fashion industry from dumping enormous amounts of clothing in the country, calling it an “environmental catastrophe.” (The Guardian)

Tread lightly: Corporations from Target to Anheuser Busch InBev are under intense pressure from consumers as Pride month kicks off. (Axios)

Three of the stories below are real...and one is most definitely not. Can you spot the fake?

1. Panda Express is funding an Asian American studies fellowship at an Ivy League university.
2. In honor of National Jerky Day, Jack Link is hosting a “meat retreat” that starts at $2,700 and will be held at a limited-time dude ranch resort.
3. A Panama-based speakeasy makes cocktail recommendations after doing a tarot card reading of the customer.
4. Two Florida women are suing a local burger joint for misleading customers by not using enough mustard on its burgers.

Keep reading for the answer.

Catch up on the Retail Brew stories you may have missed.

• Forever 21’s CEO on physical stores and sustainability
• The retail C-suite moves to know in May
• How virtual beauty try-on tech has evolved, and where it’s going next