The Provider 88-MK do-it-all cooler from PacBak has officially won the 2022 ICAST "Best of Show" Award, as presented on Thursday, July 21 during the 64th annual ICAST fishing industry trade show in Orlando, Florida.
When the announcement was made by American Sportfishing Association (ASA) President Glenn Hughes, a "Yes!" rang out from the crowd. It came from the visibly-touched Brian MacKinnon, PacBak company founder, who made it through a short acceptance speech sharing a bit of his background leading up to the release of the now award-winning product.
He and a friend attended the 2017 Las Vegas music festival in which a gunman killed 58 people. MacKinnon made it out okay, but his friend was killed, leading to tremendous grief.
"It kind of twisted me up a little bit, to the point to where I lost everything and was homeless," MacKinnon said after receiving the "Best of Show" Award. "I invented this while homeless."
The cooler, and PacBak's entry in the 2022 ICAST New Product Showcase, represents how far he and the brand has come.
"We signed up for this like three weeks ago!" said MacKinnon.
Though surprising, it's no stretch to understand why the Provider 88-MK won the award. As a relative newcomer to the fishing gear industry, PacBak beat the likes of Berkley, Simms, Frabill, and others, all well-known and established names in the business.
The Provider 88-MK holds 88 quarts and is a truly heavy duty ice chest that converts into a full on kitchen system anywhere you're using it.
The features are plenty, with the P88-MK serving a ton of uses common for an angler who historically would require a lot of equipment, space, and time to take care of business. The MK stands for Mobile Kitchen, as the cooler incorporates a vacuum sealer, removable table top, built in cutting board, and three separate chambers for storing food, drinks, bait, or other fragile items. The applications for hunters are obvious too, with all the necessary gear for processing wild game that they'd need in one combination cooler.
The PacBak Freshlok 18V sealer is an asset in its own right, and fits snuggly inside one of the three compartments of the P88-MK when not in use.
Most importantly, the P88-MK brings all of these items into the woods and onto the water, ensuring you'll keep any and all meat as safe and fresh as possible.
When the award was announced, the PacBak website still lists the Provider 88-MK on Kickstarter, and plans to begin a larger rollout are on the horizon.
