Snack Attack Get the lowdown on news, trends, programs and more.
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Matthew Labul finds the chocolate-covered prunes of Polanddelicious. But when he and his brother Eric launched TheInternational Junk Food of the Month Club in 1996, they didn'tput prunes on the lineup due to their use-as-needed stigma inAmerica. Who knew snacks were worth such scrutiny?
The brothers Labul knew. Snacks, after all, are their calling.Consider the origins of their New York City company, World CandyStore: While in the Navy, Eric, 33, sampled junk food around theglobe. Back home in New York, Matthew, 32, worked as an advertisingcopywriter (and still does). Sense the winning combination?
To find worthy snacks, the brothers scouted grocery stores inlocal ethnic neighborhoods. "We'd bring [our findings]home and have a massive taste test and a gallon of water,"says Matthew. The criteria: must not taste like an American snack;must have sealed packaging; must not be so foreign-tastingAmericans won't like it.
The rest of this article is locked.
Join Entrepreneur+ today for access.
Already have an account? Sign In