This Charlotte startup made custom wood gift boxes for Greg Olsen, former presidents and more
It all started with cigar boxes. In 2012 Caleb Musser was selling printers door-to-door in SouthPark and he wanted a way to get in the door with business owners. Cigar boxes got him in.
A couple years later he started working as the Director of Sponsorship Sales for a NASCAR team, the No. 95 driven by Michael McDowell. He started making larger, custom wood gift boxes for potential sponsors in order to get meetings.
Then in 2015, with $1,500 in his pockets, he decided to quit the race team and do the gift box thing full time. Two years later, Musser and Company has made custom, laser-etched wood boxes for the Atlanta Hawks, all of the NFL owners at Super Bowl 50, Presidents George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush and more.
“Sometimes I, like, pinch myself,” Musser said in his new workshop, tucked in the back of a small office on Mint Street.
And Musser is just getting started. He brands his company as a “creative agency that specializes in tangible communication.” Basically, it’s a combination of a creative agency — helping a client come up with an idea — and a manufacturer — actually creating the thing the company thinks up.
“We create gifts, experiences, messages that stand out,” he said. And the company has branched out into 3D printing, handwritten notes and “experiences,” described on the website as “anything from gift-delivering drones to an unexpected drop-in from Stormtroopers.” (More on that in a bit.)
But it started with the boxes. He spent nearly all of his money creating 40 sample boxes. Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated in Charlotte was Musser’s first big client — and he said he got paid for that project right when he was getting ready to run out of money. From there, he got a deal with Auburn University, then the New York Mets baseball team, and once he landed a pro team, things started rolling.
“My pitch was basically like, ‘This is what I used when I worked for a little race team. You’re the Mets. This will work a lot better for your guys,'” Musser said.
Businesses use the boxes for a variety of reasons: To thank corporate donors, as a gift for employees, or to open doors and build relationships with current clients. After becoming the first tight end in NFL history to record three consecutive 1,000-yard seasons, Carolina Panthers TE Greg Olsen had Musser and Company make a cigar box for QB Cam Newton and a wine box for backup QB Derek Anderson.
The boxes are made with local materials. The wood comes from Stewart Enterprises in Monroe, and the leather for the straps and laser-etched coasters comes from Anchor Leather in Davidson. The boxes are stained and assembled by hand, and Musser said the company can make two or three boxes in an hour, from start to finish.
David Cohen, a graduate of Savannah College of Art and Design, is the main person who helps Musser construct the boxes, along with a rotating cast of three other workers.
Musser and Company is a small operation, and most of the leadership team is family. Musser, 27, is the CEO, with his father, Scott, serving as a senior advisor; his cousin, Ryan, handling the financials; and his brother, Derek, overseeing production. Mark Garafano rounds out the leadership team, handling product innovation and manufacturing. Musser said the business has been self-funded from the beginning, with no investors.
He hopes to continue growing the operation and offering more services. He recently launched Southern Favor, which allows anyone to order a custom wood gift box, with prices ranging from $85-$200.
The company also recently created the 2016 Pounding 4 CLT Awards, “honoring four CEOs who are making a charitable impact on the Charlotte community.” The awards were delivered by two Stormtroopers — an example of the type of “experiences” Musser and Company can provide clients.
“The idea is what makes it special, whatever the delivery mechanism is,” Musser said. “It’s fun, man. It’s kind of crazy how quickly it’s grown in just a couple of years.”
Photos: Courtesy of Musser and Company; Corey Inscoe
This story was originally published February 9, 2017 at 11:02 PM with the headline "This Charlotte startup made custom wood gift boxes for Greg Olsen, former presidents and more."