Page 10 • Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019
St. Louis Park
(SUN SAILOR STAFF PHOTO BY SETH ROWE)
Plymouth resident Nathan Shubert, with Minneapolis-based Lurie LLP, and Maple Grove resident Jenny
Stendahl, of Rush Creek Golf Course in Maple Grove, sample JonnyPops treats Feb. 20 at a TwinWest
Chamber of Commerce Leadership Luncheon in Plymouth.
Pops
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
of tragedy and success.
The name is in honor of his cousin,
Jonathan Jeffery, who Brust has said of-
fered him homemade ice cream during a
trip. The two thought they could make a
better product, but Jeffery died of a drug
overdose before they could pursue the idea
further.
“That obviously was a big shock to
the family and nothing that we had been
through before,” Brust said at the Twin-
West event.
When Brust started JonnyPops with fel-
low St. Olaf College students, they agreed
to name the company JonnyPops after Jef-
fery.
The founders decided to partner with the
Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, which
provides drug and alcohol addiction treat-
ment at centers locally in Plymouth, Maple
Grove, Chaska and St. Paul and through-
out the country. The idea was to create
healthier treats that also supported addic-
tion recovery.
The positive messages printed on sticks
below the creamy frozen pops are part
of the company’s mission to improve the
world, Brust said.
The company’s goal of providing jobs
for people coming out of halfway houses
and addiction recovery is less well-known.
“We employed them straight on our
plant fl oor,” Brust said, noting that the
company does not discuss the effort as part
of their branding efforts.
“The information is certainly made
available, but we never wanted to come
across as someone who’s trying to capital-
ize on a tragic event,” he said.
That aspect of the company has infl u-
enced its growth plans. Company leaders
realized they needed to support volume
year-around because at-risk people whose
workplace routine is disrupted can have
a hard time maintaining recovery, Brust
said.
“We do the best that we can to maintain
a full schedule, and that’s something that
the whole team is behind,” he said.
Because the volume of sales in Minne-
sota can plummet during the state’s cold
months, company leaders decided to enter
sailor.mnsun.com
(SUN SAILOR STAFF PHOTO BY SETH ROWE)
A slide depicts the JonnyPops manufacturing process at its St. Louis Park plant. The business has
continued to double every year since 2012, said CEO Erik Brust at the TwinWest Chamber of Commerce
luncheon.
Southern markets. They also began cater-
ing to corporations like 3M and Thomson
Reuters.
With its healthier ingredients, the com-
pany also entered the school lunch mar-
ket. They offered pops at reduced prices to
Minneapolis Public Schools.
“From my gross margin standpoint, it
was pretty challenging to just want to even
take that bet in the fi rst place,” Brust said
of the discounted rate.
However, the efforts paid off as Jonny-
Pops expanded to the St. Paul and Anoka-
Hennepin districts and eventually emerged
at schools in about 40 states.
“There’s all these things we stumble into
that I’m sure later on in life I’ll just look
back and say, ‘well, that’s luck, right?’”
Brust said.
He noted that Michelle Obama’s support
(SUN SAILOR STAFF PHOTO BY SETH ROWE)
for rules that required healthier choices in Erik Brust, CEO of St. Louis Park-based JonnyPops, jokes about the similarity between his glasses and
the look of the company’s logo, shown on the screen at left.
schools benefi ted the company.
“All of a sudden, all the other ice creams
are kicked out,” he recalled. “Like, we’re
“It was pretty awesome to just go get out
allowed in with seven other products.”
with that group of other young entrepre-
He noted initiatives in schools to help neurs and people who are doing amazing
excite kids about school lunches and to things in their communities,” Brust said.
promote attendance by providing stickers “It sort of unleashed a fl urry of PR for us.
for free JonnyPops to students who make And believe me, my LinkedIn inbox still
goals.
does not stop. It’s become, actually, just a
Outside of schools, the product is avail- nuisance.”
able in about 11,000 retail locations, in-
The attention has come with some risks.
cluding some Walmart stores.
Some early advisers in the food indus-
Of the rapid growth, Brust said, “We try decided to create similar products as
have been drinking from a fi re hose since JonnyPops, Brust said.
day one.”
“We had a lot of early mentors who met
Sales have doubled every year since 2012, us through some of the Minneapolis events
and he anticipates sales to double again in who have certainly turned their backs on
2019 compared to 2018.
us and launched competitive products be-
(SUN SAILOR STAFF PHOTO BY SETH ROWE)
In the beginning, he said doubling the cause of it,” he said.
JonnyPops CEO Erik Brust holds a box of a prod-
business was not diffi cult. Its founders had
Two of the fi ve products that he said uct made by his St. Louis Park-based company.
been promoting the product at the Min- took aim at JonnyPops have failed while
nesota State Fair and turned some modest three remain.
products in big-box stores, Brust said, “I
profi ts, but basically had been working for
“It’s not like I think our future is neces- think we appeal to a lot of the same ethos
free for the fi rst few years, Brust said.
sarily determined by that, but I think that’s that people have for a local product just
With the large-scale sales the company some of the big surprises in terms of like, because of the authenticity, of the age of it,
now has, an audience member asked Brust most shocking,” Brust said.
how accessible it is and how young we are.
if he had an exit strategy.
However, he also credited the local food
“So, even though we can only be local to
“I don’t think we have to anticipate go- industry for its support for new businesses, Minneapolis, we are fi nding that in other
ing anywhere anytime soon, but I do think comparing the Minneapolis area favorably hotbed communities around food, a lot of
that this team inherently is excited about with Portland, Oregon, and Boulder, Col- people started still rooting for us as, like,
growth,” he said.
orado. Many markets do not have a Lunds the underdog, hometown hero, because
& Byerlys or Kowalski’s Market grocer we have this, whatever – dogged determi-
National attention, local attitude
that will welcome new, local products, he nation to go fi gure it out. And we’re sort
Forbes Magazine named Brust and co- indicated.
of very transparent on what we stand for
founder Connor Wray to a 30 Under 30
Even as JonnyPops has expanded well as a business.”
list for 2018.
beyond Minnesota and ended up with
To learn more, visit jonnypops.com.