Something to chew on.(PAGE 3)(Brief article)

When 25-year-old Matt Davidson decided to make chewing gum, he also made a decision to get into business with his parents

While an undergraduate student at UC Berkeley a few years back, Davidson came up with the idea for a chewing gum that includes memory-and concentration-enhancing ingredients such as a rosemary and ginkgo biloba.

Luckily for Davidson, his parents were prepared to back him, and gave him a $60,000 loan to start L.A.-based Think Gum LLC, which began selling the gum last year. But their generosity didn't end there.

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Because Davidson is now a graduate student at Stanford University, his parents, Idelle and Peter Davidson, have an active role in running the business--out of their West L.A. home.

Davidson said he stores about 6,000 pounds of the gum in their basement, a haul that translates to about 2 million pieces of gum.

And on top of that, Idelle Davidson handles shipping and scheduling deliveries to retailers across the country.

But there is something in the arrangement for Matt Davidson's hard-working and munificent parents.

"They are 5 percent equity owners in the company because of their generosity and all their help," Davidson said.

Staff reporters Charles Proctor, Howard Fine and Daniel Miller contributed to this column. Page 3 is compiled by editor Charles Crumpley. He can be reached at crumpley@labusinessjournal.com.

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