“It hit me like a brick-what was a demonstrated desire that people kept on buying, but nobody liked?” Baron says.Īsymmetric information kept cheap college futons in demand, Baron reasoned, despite their long list of drawbacks: bulk, discomfort, and the fact that they don’t even convert particularly well from couch to bed. The Nugget creation story goes back to UNC-Chapel Hill, where the three founders met, and where Nugget Comfort CEO Baron first dreamed up the idea for the company.Īt first, he sought to reimagine one of the creakiest, most disposable facets of college life: The dorm-room futon. The first week, there were nearly 300,000 entries for the 10,000 Nugget slots. Last October, looking to level the playing field and manage expectations, the company created a “Nugget Lotto’’ system. Magazine had named Nugget the fastest-growing furniture manufacturer in the United States and fastest-growing company in North Carolina. In a profile of the company, Buzzfeed described the coveted couch as a “Supreme Drop for Moms” and by the fall, Inc. Knockoffs also began to pop up on the market. At one point, there were 200,000 people on the waitlist, and the resell market boomed, with Nuggets selling for $500, then $1,000, then several times that. The closure drove fulfilled orders down and parental hype up. In mid-March, cautious about COVID-19, Nugget paused its operations and Nugget staff, then around 20 people, went home with pay and benefits for 45 days. Since 2017, demand has been roughly tripling each year at the onset of the pandemic, the company was still fulfilling orders from the end of 2019. Getting them has been another thing.Įven before the pandemic, the small company, which manufactures out of Butner, N.C., had been struggling to catch up on mounting orders. “This product beyond exceeded my expectations and my son is OBSESSED!” reviewer Amy Taylor wrote on the Nugget website “AND I personally want all things Nuggety.”Įveryone seemed to want all things Nuggety. Rave customer reviews emphasize the versatility of the design. They call it a ‘play couch’, but it is so much more! It is a tower, a cave, a cozy place to nap and read, a slide, and an all around kid entertainment hub.The best of INDY Week’s fiercely independent journalism about the Triangle delivered straight to your inbox.įor families doing both school and life at home during the pandemic, the Nugget-which can be rearranged into slipsides, forts, or just a regular-looking couch-has become a ticket to a creative, customizable (and padded) new world. Each Nugget set is made up of two triangles, a thin, soft cushion, and a thick, firm cushion. Originally created by some college kids, the Nugget is a simple concept: four foam pieces, to be used however you can dream of. The Nugget is basically anything your kids want it to be! If you’ve been here any period of time, you know that I love open-ended play. Never heard of a Nugget Comfort (aka “Nugget” or “Nugget Couch”)? Let me fill you in. All opinions in this blog post are my own. I’m so excited to share that Nugget is launching a new fabric, corduroy, in two new colors, Lilypad and Bearhug! We were gifted a new Lilypad Nugget Comfort. We have been long-time fans of Nugget Comfort’s play couch.
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