Fat Brain Toys co-founder Mark Carson is probably Santa Claus

Nothing brings out the kid in us all more than the holiday season. The lights, the presents, seeing family, all of it has a way of evoking some nostalgia in us. For Fat Brain Toys co-founder Mark Carson, it was his inner child and nostalgia that lead him to creating the Omaha based toy company. “I’m…

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The Fat Brain Toys warehouse in west Omaha after the Christmas rush. Photo by Jake Hull.

Nothing brings out the kid in us all more than the holiday season. The lights, the presents, seeing family, all of it has a way of evoking some nostalgia in us.

For Fat Brain Toys co-founder Mark Carson, it was his inner child and nostalgia that lead him to creating the Omaha based toy company.

“I’m definitely guilty of being a childlike mind trapped inside an adult body,” said Carson. “I think a lot of that is recalling things that I really loved as a child, and trying to kind of find those again.”

That’s what drives their product selection, according to Carson.

“It’s not necessarily getting swept up with all the new crazes. It’s more like these familiar play patterns that are so close to our heart,” said Carson.

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Making their own toys

Established in 2003, by Mark Carson and his wife Karen, Fat Brain Toys has always focused on products that inspire creativity and spark curiosity. Starting in 2006, FatBrain began designing and selling their own original toys.

“The current count is about 60 original products. We’ve got another 9 slated to release here in February. We’ll debut those at the New York Toy Fair,” said Carson.

True to their mission, Fat Brain pours a lot of time and effort into crafting their toys, which have garnered them multiple major awards and nominations over the years. Yet with all of their success and accolades, Karen Carson believes their biggest accomplishment is their team.

“Our biggest accomplishment is the longevity and the people that we’ve been working with over time. As we have been able to add different positions—whether it’s technology, the graphic, customer service, accounting—it’s fun to build that team. It feels good to be able to create jobs, good jobs,” said Karen Carson.

Building their own software platform

As if designing some of the best toys on the market wasn’t enough, Mark Carson runs his company on software that he and his team developed.

“I’m a web developer by trade. A lot of that is second nature to me, and I’m always more inclined to build than buy,” said Carson. “Basically, almost every system that we run in the company has been developed by our own in-house technology staff.”

That includes the front end, warehouse operations, and even the POS in their retail locations.

“Those are basically glorified web apps that are all connected to assured back ends. A lot of companies talk about multi-channel, omni-channel. We were doing it from day one, by the nature of the type of company,” said Carson.

Surviving Christmas

The toy company’s staff swells from 55 up to nearly 300 during the Christmas season, doing half of their annual business in a 40 day period.

“To call us seasonal is almost kind of an understatement,” said Carson.

Every Christmas Mark and his team make technology upgrades to help ease their anguish during the busy season, but Mark and Karen Carson fully embrace the rush of holiday and are very thankful for the 14 Christmases they’ve been in business.

Fat Brain Toys has retail locations in Omaha and Kansas City.

Jake Hull is the Lincoln Editor for Silicon Prairie News and a Community Builder for AIM in Lincoln, Nebraska.

This story is part of the AIM Archive

This story is part of the AIM Institute Archive on Silicon Prairie News. AIM gifted SPN to the Nebraska Journalism Trust in January 2023. Learn more about SPN’s origin »

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