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How Two College Roommates Built Multimillion-Dollar Snack Company Smackin'
Posted
December 6, 2024
Views
2,421
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2.23%
December 6, 2024
2,421
53
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2.23%
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19:21Now PlayingLike many baseball players, Brian Waddick and Cole Schaefer grew up munching on sunflower seeds during Little League games. By the later innings, though, the dugout snack could get a bit. . . well, dull. So the duo, who met as roommates at the University of Minnesota in 2017, decided to spice up the market with quirky flavors ranging from cinnamon churro to backyard BBQ. They started by seasoning the seeds in their dorm and taste-testing them on their classmates. Inspired by positive campus feedback, the duo raised $60,000 from state grants and angel investors to build Smackin’. This year, revenue should top $20 million, up from $2 million last year, and their seeds are available at megaretailers like Walmart, Dick’s and 7-Eleven. Schaefer attributes the rapid growth in traditional retail to its more than 700,000 Gen Z social media followers. “We took our online success and brought it into stores,” Waddick says.
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