We'll drink to that! Inspired by a popular diet, this team of health-conscious entrepreneurs are mixing up the cocktail world

Entrepreneur, April, 2003 by Nichole L. Torres

WHAT: Sugar-free and low-carb drink mixes

WHO: Christopher J. Miller, Craig Cook, Robert Pfeiffer, Heike Pfeiffer and Kerri Bryant, co-founders of Low Carb Living Inc.

WHERE: Encinitas, California

WHEN: Started in 1999

IT WAS THE RENEWED POPULARITY OF the Atkins diet that inspired Christopher J. Miller and his partners to start Low Garb Living Inc. After losing weight on the program, this chiropractor realized there were few cocktail options for people on low-carb diets, as nearly everything on the market was made with sugary syrup. "When I was on the diet, I couldn't drink margaritas," says Miller, 53. But during a trip to Mexico, he and his partners started experimenting with flavor combinations and sugar replacements to come up with a low-sugar alternative to traditional margarita mixes. Baja Bob's Sugar Free and Low Garb Bar and Party Mixes was born.

Selling the mixes was a challenge at first--the company started with powdered mixes that tasted fine, but they weren't moving off the shelves as fast as their liquid competitors. "People weren't looking for [powdered versions]," Miller says. "The liquid version was more recognizable."

So they found a copackager to make the mixes. Now, the company sells a full line of drink mixes, including pina coladas, daiquiris and Bloody Marys.

The Baja Bob's line is so popular with the weight-conscious set that the makers of the Atkins diet catalog contacted them. Says Miller, "I have a stack of e-mail from people who are so grateful we've come up with this idea" And with sales of about $500,000 in 2002, that gratitude seems to be pouring in.

At Your Disposal

WHAT: Service that refurbishes and disposes of old computers for business customers

WHO: Stampp Corbin of RetroBox

WHERE: Columbus, Ohio

WHEN: Started in 1996

WHEN STAMPP CORBIN WORKED AS A computer consultant in 1996, he noticed firsthand the problems companies faced when they had to purchase new computer systems and get rid of outdated equipment. So Corbin decided to launch a business to streamline the disposal process--and today, his company removes old computers, erases any sensitive information and then resells refurbished units or destroys unusable ones in an environmentally sound fashion.

"We have had companies with football-field-sized warehouses full of outdated equipment," says Corbin, 42. "Those assets are depreciating very quickly. When they call us, we introduce them into the secondary market [right away]." His clients get a monetary return on their old computers, as well as the assurance that their confidential data will remain that way.

Currently, RetroBox serves 80 Fortune 500 companies; just one such corporation might retire 10,000 computer assets a year. Corbin sells many of these refurbished and discounted computers directly to consumers online. RetroBox also sells through eBay and in bulk to international clients.

WHAT A FIND! Stampp Corbin's business proves that one man's junk can be another man's treasure.

Initially, Corbin's biggest challenge was educating potential customers about RetroBox's services. But that's no longer a problem, now that sales have grown 450 percent over the past three years and doubled in 2002 alone.

Music to Their Ears

WHAT: An online emporium of children's music

WHO: Ingrid Harding of PlayhouseRadio.com

WHERE: Biloxi, Mississippi

WHEN: Started in 2001

WHEN INGRID HARDING HAD HER first child, she wanted to expose him to music with appropriate lyrics--songs that the family could listen to together (without the parents wanting to stick cotton in their ears). The music she wanted existed, but it was tough to find--she didn't know where to look in record stores, and on the Internet, it was hit or miss. She would preview songs that were labeled "children's," only to discover they contained inappropriate lyrics. "It was frustrating," Harding says. "[I thought] it should be better organized."

That desire inspired Harding, 34, to start PlayhouseRadio.com, a Web site where parents can listen to prescreened children's music and buy custom-made, kid-friendly CDs. It took months of research, though, for Harding to learn the Internet protocol, as well as the music licensing and publishing business. Says Harding, "I don't think I slept for a year, calling around to find [information] about the legal angle, the financial angle, the technical angle."

Getting the technical side down was step one; finding the artists and music was step two. Harding, who works with independent music artists, found that those relationships were mutually beneficial. She needed content for her Web site, and the artists needed a place to sell their work. With 100 artists currently featured in her catalog, Harding is far from finished. She plans to find more artists and to make more music available to parents and their kids. Says Harding, "My goal is pretty idealistic--to change the image of children's music.

Tagging Along

WHAT: Fashionable, decorative identification badge holders

WHO: Ava Minsky Foxrnan of Moon-babies LLC