I first came across Boss Defrost when I was a server at the Art, a hotel. I had seen the faucet-like contraption hanging out by the kitchen sink, but I didn’t know what it was or what it did.
I soon found out that my coworker Mac Marsh, who was an engineer at the Art, was in the middle of a ground-breaking invention. He had designed an appliance that mimicked the running-water method typically used in restaurants. However, this method results in thousands of gallons of water going down the drain. With Boss Defrost, restaurants are able to reduce the amount of water they use to thaw frozen products by 98.5 percent.
Mac began to brainstorm for the idea in 2017 and ran prototypes in the Art’s kitchen in collaboration with Chef Michael Wright. He was so devoted to making it work, he quit his studies in biology at Metropolitan State University, a semester short from graduation. The pay-off was worth it though as the product finally launched in January 2020 and was covered by Food & Wine.
The article gave Boss Defrost the coverage it needed as restaurants across the country began to utilize the water-saving appliance in their own kitchens. Currently, more than 25 states use Boss Defrost, especially along the coast where seafood restaurants are more popular and have to thaw a majority of its inventory.
Then, coronavirus struck, and it wasn’t until the end of July that business for Boss Defrost started to pick up again.
“Things are coming back around,” Mac says. “More people are realizing the need to save water and financial resources as well.”
Mountain Girl Eats: What are some things you’ve learned as a start-up in the past few years?
Mac: The learning curve is so sharp. You have to be the jack of all trades, the master of none. It’s such a small company, we have to learn marketing, sales — all of the things that come with it. I’m constantly learning new stuff as well. My business knowledge was really minimal at the time, so I had to learn how to function as a business and how to grow it too.
Boss De Frost has come a long way since you first made that prototype I saw in the kitchen. Now you’ve expanded to 25 states. What are your company’s goals now?
The end of the year goal would be to get into all 50 states. I would like Boss Defrost to really have a strong hold in kitchens, where that’s their go to for defrosting and people don’t think twice about it. The ultimate goal for us is to transform the way the restaurant industry thaws frozen food.
Do you have any future projects in the works?
As we grow, we want to put money into the research and development aspect of it and create new designs. We’d like to scale up Boss Defrost and add variety and different iterations. It’s definitely in the pipeline for sure. We always want to create and innovate new products that can be utilized in the restaurant.
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