WCCO-TV highlights success of company started by St. Olaf students
“An idea that started in a college dorm room has grown into a fruitful business for three recent college graduates,” notes a WCCO-TV profile of a frozen pops company founded by four St. Olaf College students.
The students — Erik Brust ’14, Connor Wray ’14, Andrew Sather ’14, and Kilian Wald ’14 — started JonnyPops with the support of an Entrepreneurial Grant from the St. Olaf Piper Center for Vocation and Career.
Their business plan led them to take first place at the inaugural Ole Cup entrepreneurial competition this spring.
The group began by selling the pops at just two locations. Now, as the local CBS affiliate notes, JonnyPops are sold at 2,000 locations in seven states and will make their debut at the Minnesota State Fair later this summer.
A portion of every JonnyPops sale goes to the Hazelden Foundation, which helps those suffering from drug addiction.
JonnyPops has also garnered the attention of KMSP-TV, KSTP-TV, and the Star Tribune, among other media outlets.