Coonlocken of Kinsale, County Cork has developed a PP fork which can be folded in half and attached to the inside or outside of a pack. To be assembled for action its sides are simply bent down and clicked into place to form a rigid structure that performs like a conventional three-tined fork.
The patented fork is aimed at the burgeoning convenience food market, adding an arguably more civilised touch for tricky to eat applications such as salads or noodles.
Coonlocken managing director David Tucker says there are no current applications of the folding fork on the European market but it is generating a lot of interest from convenience food manufacturers.
Cost of the fork is driven by volume but Mr Tucker says that it may be cheaper than current solutions as a plant in the Far East is carrying out the tooling.
The company is now looking into development of a spoon version that will solve the problem of being short of cutlery when inspiration strikes to buy items such as yoghurts and the like
