LOGIC, Inc.
608-658-2866 info@ecologiccleansers.com

As a young college student, LOGIC Inc. founder Rick Theiner became enthused to learn how the polymers and plastics industries were moving toward renewable products. Encouraged by his boss, a former hippy with a definite environmentalist slant, Rick eyed the day when the chemical industry would no longer be dependent on petroleum-based materials. The post-graduate real world, unfortunately, was not as progressive, he learned when he accepted his first real job as a chemical engineer. Nine months later he jumped at the chance to return to research.

Over the next year Rick made two life-changing discoveries: First, he learned that cleaning chemicals could be gradually shifted into more environmentally friendly materials. Second, and much more pertinent, was that he discovered homebrewing. For beer-drinkers in the Mid-South in 1991 there was not a lot of diversity. Bass, Guiness and St. Pauli Girl were about as exotic as it got when it came to beer, he remembers.

Diving into beer-making, Rick learned that it was a lot of fun but also a lot of work. Bottle cleaning, in particular, was a pain. Bottles were obtained from a local Budweiser distributor who resold cases of returnable bar bottles for $2 a case. Needless to say, they were used and often quite foul. Nothing really worked very well to either remove the labels or clean the insides. Rick’s chemistry background came to the fore and he realized that he could formulate his own product to meet his personal requirement. Straight-A was born.

LOGIC Inc. was formed in 1992 when Rick decided to market his product to the homebrew and winemaking market. He began by mixing the ingredients at home in a cardboard drum and hand-filling plastic bags for sale. He reached out to homebrew shops with samples and the orders started trickling in. Before long he heard from Ron Hartman, president of LD Carlson, the largest distributor of homebrewing and winemaking supplies in the United States, who wanted to know about Straight-A. Suddenly, LOGIC Inc. was receiving orders for 500 pounds instead of five – creating the demand for better manufacturing and distribution facilities. Rick kept his day job, mixing the batches at night to meet delivery requirements.

In 1994, Rick became concerned about the use of toxic iodine-based sanitizers. The result was One Step, which quickly began outselling Straight-A because it was a more versatile product. While Straight-A has retained a loyal base that prefers the more heavy-duty cleaner, One Step quickly became LOGIC’s best-seller.

At the suggestion of LD Carlson, LOGIC began working with F. H. Steinbart (now Brewcraft USA) in Portland, Oregon, to distribute the products on the West Coast. Distrivin Ltee. of Canada (now Winexpert) was also added to give LOGIC an international distribution network.

In 1996 when Rick accepted a full-time job in North Carolina, he decided to hire a contract manufacturer to produce the cleansers. Unfortunately, it didn’t work. Quality was inconsistent, orders were late and there were often contaminants such as wood chips in the products. In 2004 LOGIC contracted with a new manufacturer and distributor in Madison, Wisc., under Rick’s direct supervision. The same year, Rick accepted a product development position with a global corporation. Over the next four years Rick developed several new products and LOGIC was producing Straight-A, One Step, Barrel OxyFresh and two private-label products sold by larger homebrew shops. Annual production topped 250,000 pounds a year in 2010.

Rick’s full-time day jobs allow him to stay on top of new research, new technology and new products, which has led to the reformulations of both One Step and Straight-A – ensuring that no other product on the market compares to them when it comes to performance.