Who he is: Co-founder of BarLuxe, a plastic barware maker.

How long he’s been doing it: BarLuxe launched this year, but he’s been in the plastics industry for years. He’s vice president of the family business, Gunn & Richards, makers of prescription bottles.

Solution needed: O’Brien was talking to friends in the nightclub industry about the problems with glassware. It constantly breaks, creating safety and liability concerns. O’Brien, who has bartended, had experienced the pitfall, too. “Still, people don’t want to pay $8 or $9 for a cocktail and drink it from a cheap-looking plastic cup,” he says.

A better plastic: O’Brien knew plastic barware would have to be free of the industrial chemical Bisphenol A, known as BPA, so he chose the plastic Eastman Tritan.

Bars and beyond: BarLuxe is used in the Power & Light District at Mosaic, Angels Rock Bar and The Jones rooftop pool. O’Brien is targeting casinos across the country. And he thinks people will be interested in the barware for residential use. His three children, ages 2, 3 and 5, use the glasses. “We finally have a somewhat adult-looking table,” he says and laughs. He expects to launch barluxe.com soon and sell the glasses starting at $3.95 each. A future addition to BarLuxe’s lineup: wine goblets.