Small Firm Is Squeezing Into Market : Tom’s of Maine to Go Nationwide With Its Premium Toothpaste

Now that our national sweet tooth has been attacked by premium ice cream and cookie brands such as Haagen-Dazs and Famous Amos, is it time to brush with a premium toothpaste?

Tom Chappell hopes so.

Chappell is the owner and namesake of Tom’s of Maine, a small Kennebunk, Me.-based company that is going national with its brand of toothpaste, mouthwash and deodorant.

The gimmick: They’re all healthful and natural. No saccharin in the toothpaste, no alcohol in the mouthwash--just basic ingredients such as spearmint oil, glycerin, aloe vera juice and chamomile tea, depending on the product.

Sources Listed

Even the source of each ingredient is listed: The carrageen used as a thickener in Tom’s of Maine toothpaste, for instance, comes from seaweed, according to the package.

Since launching a marketing push, Tom’s toothpaste has captured about 3% of the market in Portland, Me., where the products were first test-marketed, and its share of the market in Boston, the company’s first big target, is approaching that level, Chappell said.

The products have been sold in health-food stores and some drugstores in the Washington area for many years, but now the company is making a major push here, with increased distribution to Giant, Safeway, Peoples Drug, Drug Fair and Dart Drug stores, and radio commercials featuring a spiel by Chappell himself.

Alcohol-Free Ingredients

The mouthwash is a particular success here, Chappell said, apparently because its alcohol-free ingredients list has made it a favorite of alcoholic-help groups.

Charlie Mistretta, a buyer for Giant Food, said Tom’s of Maine toothpaste has been a good seller in the two years the food chain has stocked the item. “It’s quite naturally far behind a Crest or a Colgate, but it sells pretty well,” Mistretta said. “For what he’s got, and his price and his audience, (Chappell) is doing a hell of a job here.”

Mistretta said Tom’s mouthwash is not as successful as the toothpaste at Giant, and “the antiperspirant is really struggling.”

Tom’s toothpaste “is not a barn-burner,” said David Eisenbery, senior vice president for marketing of Peoples Drug Stores, “but it’s a nice quality drugstore product that moves along pretty well.”

Tom’s of Maine’s toothpaste costs about twice as much as an equivalent-sized tube of Colgate toothpaste. The other products are also more expensive than big name brands, but that has not hurt their sales in the local area, one of the nation’s best markets for high-priced consumer goods.

The market for the products is “inner-directed” people, according to Chappell. He says the products are aimed at a highly educated group between the ages of 20 and 50 that is very health-conscious. Washington, like Boston, has a high proportion of such people, according to Chappell, and the company is now seeking other, similar markets. Next stop is San Francisco, and the company has targeted 10 other cities.

Carving a Niche

Tom’s so far has only a dab of the $1-billion-plus national market for toothpaste and other tooth-care products, and doesn’t yet seem like a major challenger to the big national brands. “There’s different segments and niches in any category. . . . I guess this is one that these folks have identified,” said a spokeswoman for Procter & Gamble Co., the maker of Crest. “It will be interesting to see how they progress if they go out to compete with us and others in the general category.”

Chappell started his company in 1970 “on a shoestring,” with $5,000 borrowed from a friend. Chappell said the company, which has 40 employees, will do about $6 million in business this year, and it is growing at a rate of about 60% annually.