Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Frederick Privette. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Frederick thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

I came up with the idea of the Smorz Krunch from my then seven your old daughter. She was in summer day camp and s’mores were the subject of the day in school. When I picked her up from camp she asked could we make s’mores. We stopped by the store on the way home and picked up the supplies.

As we were making the s’mores I saw how much she enjoyed them and then I thought. How could I make these better? I went back to the store and purchased different ingredients. I tried and failed several times before I came up with the final product.

I made a lot of samples and gave them away and created cards for feedback. Everyone LOVED them! At the time I was playing minor league football and decided to pursue my passion. Starting my on business and the Smorz Krunch was just what I needed.

I had know one to turn to for assistance. So I went to the library for help. They directed me to the SBA and SCORE office. I was told “ Your product would never sell and you could never compete with large brands”. Little did they know the words of discouragement made me work harder!

Over time I worked multiple jobs to gain capital boot strapping KPKandies. I was lacking on thing. A higher education.

Once an obtained a good paying job. I started having health issues. My appendix ruptured and two months after that I had a heart attack. Having a near death experience. The heart attack made me realize one thing. If you don’t have anything to live for. You need to have something to die for. I found something to live for and that was KPKandies and bringing my products to market.

I enrolled at the University of Phoenix and obtained my degree in Hospitality. Making me the first person in my family to obtain a college degree.

After I created the Smorz Krunch I also created the Graham Cracker Delite ( for the people who are not fans of marshmallows). To test our product we did local trade shows in our area and we sold out! People were excited to see and try something new.

Our company in e-commerce based and that is the way I intended for it to be. The biggest challenge with being an e-commerce based company is customers do not want to pay for shipping. They want the product right now! So now we are in the process of obtaining funding by way of kickstarter. We have also looked into the idea of licensing or product(s) to larger companies in exchange for royalties.

I have 30 plus years of food service experience. My strength has always been coming up with recipes and using ingredients know one would think of combining. Who would have thought of taking the traditional s’mores and adding any type of nuts to it along with rice krisp? I did. I figured out how to bring Krunch to a Smorz. I did not create the s’mores. But I did add elements to it and made it mine.

Frederick, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I come from a family that LOVED to cook! It was know mistake I became a chef. But it was a surprise to a lot of people when I created a line of confection products.

When football did not workout for me I remember what my father told me. “ find two things you love and become good at both of them”. After I retired from football I needed something to put my passion and work ethic into.

KPKandies brings something to my life that football could not. Something I can call my own, generational wealth for my family and the look I see on peoples faces when the try our products for the first time. It’s priceless!

We have four products.

Smorz Krunch
Graham Cracker Delite
Peanut Toffee Krunch
Simply Vanilla

People often ask me which is my favorite and I always say the Smorz Krunch until I taste the other products. Then it because a toss up.

I wanted to bring something new to the market. Confection lovers are looking for a new snack and KPKandies offers that. The good thing about being a chef and knowing my product is recognizing the versatility with in the product. I have created other recipes for my product line. Ice-creams, milkshakes, cheesecakes, flavored creamers to name a few. We can do anything with our products any existing company can do.

Nut and food allergies is our biggest hurdle. We are not the only company facing that challenge. We only focus on the customers that don’t have those challenges. I found another need in the food industry. I am not going to let the cat out the bag. I can promise you the customers we lost. We will get them back with the additions to our product line.

Do you sell on your site, or do you use a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc?

We do sale our products online. The challenge is shipping our products during the summer months and people not wanting to pay for shipping. We found out customers will pay for shipping once they figure out they can not get our product in stores. Shipping chocolate during summer is not a good idea. We have reached out to some ice cream shops to sale our products along with combining our products with store made ice cream.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

I look and listen to a lot of YouTube videos. But I can relate music producers and artist. It takes a lot of brain power to create a beat or write a song. To me it is know different than coming up with a recipe. You need the right ingredients to come up with the perfect product. Doesn’t matter if it’s a beat or a food product.

The kitchen to me is what the studio is to Dr.Dre or the RZA. I have watched YouTube video of entertainers who has worked with these two produces and they all talk about their work ethic. If you were to interview anyone who has worked with me they will tell “ Chef Fred is a beast in the kitchen”!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.kpkandies.biz
• Instagram: Kpkandies
• Facebook: KPKandies
• Linkedin: Frederick Privette
• Twitter: KPKandies
• Youtube: KPKandies
• Yelp: KPKandies