Mom’s Choice Awards is excited to announce another post in our interview series where we chat with the inventors, designers, publishers, and others behind some of our favorite family-friendly products.
Hello, Mom’s Choice readers! Welcome to another interview in our interview series. For this interview, we were able to speak with two of our honorees, Jack & Nichole Clark, creators of the MCA award-winning product, the Buggie Huggie™ Shopping Cart Tray! The Buggie Huggie™ is like a high chair tray for your shopping cart. It has a “hugging” safety layer to help keep toddlers from standing up or falling out of the shopping cart. The Buggie Huggie™ Tray is the perfect place for snacks, books, toys, and activity sheets. It even has an additional phone holder accessory for kids’ favorite shows and apps. Keep reading to find out more about the Buggie Huggie™ Shopping Cart Tray, and the couple who made it all possible, Jack & Nichole Clark!
MCA: Hi Jack & Nichole! Thank you for sitting down with us today and congratulations on your Mom’s Choice Award! The Buggie Huggie Tray is an essential product and sure to be a staple for any parent shopping with little ones. I’d first like to start off the interview by finding out a little bit about you both!
Jack & Nichole Clark with their 3 children.
Jack & Nichole: We’re parents to three super-active & amazing kiddos (Noah, Jonah, and Avery)! We love hanging out with our family and friends, playing sports, traveling, and exploring the great outdoors, cooking and eating great food, and making plenty of time for music, games & goofiness. We also love opening our home for dinners, leading Bible studies, hosting long-term guests, and even throwing block parties for our whole neighborhood. We hope that everything we do as a family reflects God’s love in the way we love others.
MCA: That’s wonderful! Did your family life play a big part in the creation of your company?
Jack & Nichole: Even before we got married, we have always felt called to be the kind of family that brings real hope to other families. After our middle son Jonah fell out of a shopping cart two years ago, hitting his head on the floor, I (Nichole) got super stressed out about taking him shopping with me. My first son Noah didn’t struggle in the shopping cart hardly at all, but Jonah was different — if he wasn’t unbuckling himself and trying to stand up and jump out, then he was having a total mega-meltdown! When I first had the idea for the Buggie Huggie, I felt like it was the God-send I needed to be able to go shopping with my kids again in peace. It’s been a crazy adventure to bring this in-store shopping product to market during a pandemic, but we couldn’t be happier hearing other moms’ feedback about what a game-changer it is!
MCA: A game-changer it is indeed. Can you tell us about your company’s mission?
Jack & Nichole: Our mission is to empower moms with tools that help reduce stress, build confidence, and eliminate mom guilt. We remind moms of their value as world-changers through the little people they are guiding into big futures.
MCA: That is truly a heart-warming mission. The Buggie Huggie Shopping Cart Tray offers a lot more than just a more comfortable experience for children riding in a shopping cart. Tell us about all of Buggie Huggie Shopping Cart Tray’s unique features!
Jack & Nichole: Our shopping cart tray is made of food-grade plastic that is BPA-free and dishwasher friendly. This makes the Buggie Huggie perfect for snacks, as well as coloring sheets, activity books, or any other tabletop toy your child loves. Our double latch safety system makes it almost impossible for your little ones to stand up in the shopping cart seat. We have two hooks on the front so moms can easily clip on a pacifier or even car keys to keep for easy access. The phone holder accessory is designed to securely grip most phones, whether for kids’ favorite shows or for moms to display their digital grocery list.
MCA: The phone holder accessory is a game-changer in and of itself! You both talk about how big of a part your family has played in your company, can you elaborate on how it has been building a company as a family?
Jack & Nichole: There’s never a dull moment, that’s for sure! I (Nichole) get to be the voice & vision of the company, and I love activating my creativity and compassion for moms in the content we put out. Jack has an amazing entrepreneurial drive that keeps the details & logistics running smoothly. Our kids love praying for the families who purchase & use the Buggie Huggie, as well as coming up with new ideas for videos and ways to share our mission with others. It’s been a huge effort to get this thing off the ground, but we feel crazy blessed to have such a supportive community of family & friends behind us!
MCA: Many might be surprised to hear this, but shopping-cart-related injuries to children are quite a problem in the United States. Can you tell us some of the safety statistics for shopping carts and toddlers?
A child using the Buggie Huggie Shopping Cart Tray.
Jack & Nichole: Each year, over 24,000 kids in the US go to the ER from shopping cart injuries. Most of those are children under 5 years old, and most suffer head injuries in some type of fall. In fact, shopping cart accidents are the #1 cause of head injuries for small children.
Our survey found the #1 challenge moms faced while shopping was their child trying to stand up in the cart. The Buggie Huggie Shopping Cart Tray can help secure your child in the seat with its double-latch safety system and extra “hugging” restraint layer.
MCA: Those statistics are very alarming. Buggie Huggie is definitely a safety necessity for all parents while shopping with their little ones! With all the success you have seen so far, what is next for Buggie Huggie Shopping Cart Tray?
Jack & Nichole: Our biggest goal right now is to support families who are finally heading back into stores with their kids after over a year of pandemic stress. We know that there’s still a lot of fear & fatigue that moms have to battle, and we want our platform & product to be a source of encouragement. We believe that we were made to live in a community — to be “out and about” and connecting and enjoying the world around us with others. Every new endeavor from Buggie Huggie will always be driven by bringing more peace and less stress to families! Thank you, Moms Choice Awards, for helping us spread the Buggie Huggie love to even more families this year!
MCA: You’re so welcome, and thank you both for sitting down with us and giving us a little more insight into your award-winning product! We are sure we will see a lot more from you both soon.
You can learn more about Jack & Nichole Clark and their award-winning book, Buggie Huggie™ Shopping Cart Tray by visiting their MCA Shop pages.
