Interactive Snacking

Founded by Marquez Knolls Resident Laura Gowing, Busy Benny Offers a Sustainable Snack Box and More, Which Will Support Marquez Charter Elementary School in February

By SARAH SHMERLING | Editor-in-Chief

It was after a 16-hour flight to Australia in 2022 to visit her husband’s family when Marquez Knolls resident Laura Gowing was inspired to launch Busy Benny.

Laura and her husband, Edward, made the journey with their two kids: Ella (then 2 years old) and Benny (then 5).

“My son was fine, he watched 18 movies and did great,” Gowing said. “But [Ella] didn’t want to watch an iPad or TV or anything. She just had no interest, no attention for that. And so the whole flight, I was like, ‘What am I going to do?’ This is not a 20-minute flight, how am I going to keep her busy on this flight to Australia?”

The answer: copious amounts of snacks.

“I had these two gallon Ziploc bags of snacks—one for each kid—and I’m just feeding her snacks,” Gowing explained. “And I could see she’s like, ‘What else you got?’ It was a game to her. It wasn’t like she was hungry, but it kept her occupied for a huge chunk of the flight.”

At the end of the flight, the lights came on and the flight attendants started serving breakfast. Gowing said she looked down and saw plastic wrappers from the snacks all over the airplane floor.

“I was just mortified,” Gowing said. “I was like, ‘This is disgusting. There has to be a better way. I don’t want to be this person.’”

Hoping to find something more practical than what she used on the Australia flight, Gowing started searching and found various types of “snackle boxes,” but did not locate a “safer, more durable, longer-lasting option.” She said she was “shocked that nothing like this existed on the market,” so she decided to launch her own product.

“I didn’t find anything, and I was talking to my husband, I’m like, ‘Look, I think I want to create this and see if I can find somebody to manufacture it and test it out,’” Gowing said.

Gowing has a background in buying and consumer retail: She was working in brand relations for a software company when safer-at-home orders went into place for the COVID-19 pandemic, which “got too hectic” when trying to work from home with two kids, so she had taken a break at the time.

“A career motto has always been ‘surprise and delight the consumer,’” Gowing wrote on her website, “so it was only fitting that this product would do just that.”

Though inspired by Ella’s snacking, the brand, which officially launched in June 2023, was named after Benny, who Gowing said is known as the “busiest boy around” in her family.

The line now includes the original Stainless Steel Snack Box (which includes six individual snack containers and a rectangle lunchbox, designed for on-the-go use), Stainless Steel Divided Plates and Bowls (for at-home dining), and a Stainless Steel Slim Water Bottle (for all ages).

There are Replacement Snack Containers, Replacement Snack Lids and a Stainless Steel Spork available as well. An Add-on Activity Set can be purchased, which includes dry erase markers and reusable cling stickers to be used directly on the snack box for added entertainment.

The products are all designed to be reusable and dishwasher safe (top and bottom rack for the stainless steel portion, which was another element that was important to Gowing). The snack boxes are reconfigurable based on what needs to be packed inside and are leakproof.

“While bento boxes are great, the spill one, spill all functionality is not ideal for a busy toddler,” the website read. “The separate snack containers allow each snack to stay on their own. And better yet, no leaks or accidental touching of foods. The design also ensures that even if a lid is not properly put back on, the double seal from the exterior box prevents spillage in your precious handbag, backpack or carry-on.”

The individual containers also provide toddlers and kids with entertainment, as they can open and close their mystery snack containers and find out what’s hidden inside.

“It fits the snacks nicely but it also has that element of surprise and delight,” Gowing explained, “like you can play with them. It’s playful, it’s curious.”

She shared that Busy Benny plans on expanding in 2024 and that she is currently working on developing bigger options for kids who are a little bit older.

Gowing has partnered with Marquez Charter Elementary School, where Benny is in first grade, for the month of February, committing to donate a portion of sales to support Friends of Marquez—a nonprofit organization run by parents that aims to fund supplemental educational programs that enrich the curriculum offered to students, including class size reduction, instructional aides, an edible garden and media lounge.

After growing up in the Palisades, living at the top of Bienveneda, Gowing returned eight years ago after living in New York.

“There’s no other neighborhood in Los Angeles that has the sense of community, that small town feel in a big city,” Gowing said of living in the Palisades. “We’re close to the beach, we have an amazing, cute little downtown … It’s just such a nice sense of community.”

Busy Benny products are available via busybenny.com, as well as Marquez Avenue children’s boutique The Gray Dragon.