South Bay International CEO Toby Konetzny shares his initiatives since taking the helm at the company last October. Then he reveals South Bay’s Top 3 most innovative products in 2023.
Transcript
Waynette Goodson
It’s Waynette Goodson. I’m your managing editor of BedTimes Magazine and have the privilege of being with Toby Konetzny today. He is the CEO of South Bay International. Toby, it’s been a big year for South Bay. And one of the things that has happened. You got promoted to CEO. So, let’s kick things off by telling us about, for this Take 5, just what your focus has been, your initiatives taking the helm of the company.
Toby Konetzny
Sure, sure. So, named CEO in November. And you know, it’s been a quick eight months, maybe? I know. I know. So here we are at Summer Market again. And, you know, our goal always continues to be big in innovation and big in R&D. So our whole goal is to always provide products whether it be from our pillows, from sheets, mattress protectors.
You know, mattresses is how do we solve that problem. And that’s really always been our focus. I’m trying to bring that more with our product, marketing, and sales teams, as our whole goal is solving that consumer problem.
Waynette Goodson
You give me one specific example of how South Bay is helping retailers drive sales now. Sure. At this current time.
Toby Konetzny
We took some of our Essentials product lines and dropped those down in price because we want to. We understand that people don’t have maybe the thousand dollars to spend, but, you know, maybe they have the $599 to spend on a still a quality product. So, you know, our goal is to always provide that ten-year warranty and a product that is still supportive.
If someone’s spending $500, they want to get that full ten years of use out of it. So, you know, we work with our product team to develop a really strong line there. We revisited all of our adjustable beds. We were able to make some modifications to that. But I still, to this day, believe sleep is in a great spot and that even in this economy, they might not spend the money on a new sofa, they might not spend the money on a new dresser, but they will spend the money on getting better sleep.
Right.
Waynette Goodson
If you had to say this is our most innovative product in 2023, what are those top notes?
Toby Konetzny
We did develop; it’s a fiber that we can put into our mattress protectors. We can put them into mattress covers and pillows, and what it does is that it eliminates 99% of dust mites allergens, and that can actually be in any OEM product that we develop for you. We can put Allerknit in it, or you can just buy the top of bedding, which is, you know, a duvet insert.
We have two mattress protectors and a pillow protector. So that’s one great innovation. Another innovation we have is our battery, the Vault. So many people rely on an adjustable bed to sleep better to get out. The last thing we want to do is not be able to use the battery or the power. So, we have a battery pack that is completely seamless.
Set it, forget it, and keep it underneath the bed, and you can use your adjustable bed whether or not the power goes out.
Waynette Goodson
Love it. Very easy. Much more simplified. And then we are in the Active line. I love the idea of an Active line. I’m so into fitness, so I’d love what you’re doing here. Tell us about this.
Toby Konetzny
So, we developed a foam we call our reactive foam. It feels similar to a latex. It has a bounce back as a support. It’s a dense product, about 3.4-3.5 lbs of foam. So we have three beds in this particular collection: a 10-inch, a 12-inch hybrid and a zone. But we feel like many people, you know, particularly if you’re more active and your body needs to rest, it also needs a little more support, memory foam.
You know, you tend to kind of sink into it a little bit. Latex is great. You get a little bit more pushback – bounce back. But the cost is there, right, with latex. So here, we’re able to develop a polyurethane foam with a similar feel to latex, just without the cost of latex. Feels great. Great, you know, cooling technology and all cooling cover.
So it’s a great product we innovated that we feel very confident about.
Waynette Goodson
So, you all managed to narrow it down to three. That’s the new Allerknit; let’s see if I can do this the new Allerknit for allergens. That’s right. Then we have Active here for fitness wellness and the Vault battery backup for your adjustable base. Wow.
Toby Konetzny
Generator.
Waynette Goodson
A generator?
Toby Konetzny
That’s right.
Waynette Goodson
Our power generator. Toby, thank you so much for being a part of Take 5 and thank you for tuning in to Take 5. And as always, have a great night’s sleep.
