U-M professor launches first consumer product, a skewer for frozen bananas, in his 70s

Dr. Richard Brown, a professor emeritus of radiology at the University of Michigan and Ann Arbor resident, is preparing to roll out his first consumer product: a reusable plastic skewer designed to easily store and eat frozen bananas.

The patent-pending product, called Poka Snack, is made from reusable plastic and designed to be twisted into a banana before freezing and eating. When frozen, bananas release their natural sugars without adding any extra calories, making them a delicious, healthy, and extremely inexpensive snack choice. Poka Snack ensures they’re safe and simple to make as well.

The idea for Poka Snack hit Brown, an avid frozen fruit lover himself, last September as he surfed the internet looking for something to adequately hold his favorite treat. All he could find were bamboo and Popsicle sticks, neither of which appealed to him for health and practicality reasons.

“Neither of them hold the food very well. … They can splinter, absorb freezer odors, and, if you keep them there long enough, would grow bacteria,” Brown says. “So I really didn’t like that idea, and then I started thinking, ‘Well, could I build a better mousetrap?’ ”

After testing almost 40 different prototypes, Brown is now ready to commercialize his product. He selected a U.S. manufacturer for mass production and launched a Kickstarter fundraiser early in August, where donors can receive their own Poka Snacks before the product hits retail shelves. The company hit 75% of its fundraising goal in under a week, according to Brown.

Perhaps the rapid donations were in part due to Poka Snack’s booming social media presence. Brown has accumulated over 14,000 followers on his product’s TikTok account, with multiple videos garnering more than 100,000 views. 

Brown, who is in his early 70s, didn’t exactly grow up with social media, and TikTok presented a steep learning curve at first. But he says he had an “epiphany” when he learned to ditch his minute-long infomercials for quick-hitting 10-second shorts that show instead of tell, and now the platform is playing in his favor.

“I thought people would want to know everything [about Poka Snack], but I would put people to sleep if I told them everything I like about bananas,” Brown says.

Brown’s experience with social media speaks for his whole Poka Snack journey. He started his company not because he was a marketing or inventing maestro, but because he wanted to solve a problem. 

“Dr. Brown isn’t retiring. He’s rewiring,” Brown says. “The secret is to stay curious.”