Inspiration can come from the simplest of things.

David Sheffield was working as an engineer when he saw a friend making bottle openers out of wooden discs.

The disc looked, to him, like a hockey puck.

Now Sheffield runs Buffalo Bottle Craft, turning baseballs and hockey pucks into bottle openers.

"It's just a regular solid hockey puck,” he said. “We put it in the machine that carves out the rubber. We put in a magnet and a stainless steel plate. Screw it down four times and it's a bottle opener.” 

The company ships openers featuring NHL and MLB team logos or specially designed images to customers all across the country.

All the manufacturing, from the labor to the shipping, is done at the Foundry in Buffalo.

"Manufacturing can be done in Buffalo if it's done efficiently with a lean manufacturing mindset," Sheffield said. 

Around Christmas time they get extra busy, especially with custom orders. 

It's this time of year that prompts Sheffield to reflect on his own business, born from a simple idea. He encourages other potential entrepreneurs that if they have an idea, go for it.

"Just put it up there,” Sheffield said. “The worst that can happen is nobody buys it. The best that can happen is all of a sudden you have crazy demand and you have a good problem to solve. How do you make it quick enough?"