The modern-day marshmallow tycoon
Pennsylvania’s Bethlehem More than ten years ago, Michael Tierney set out to reimagine a beloved campfire song. When he was a late-teen student at culinary school, he went to a backyard get-together where pals gathered and ate s’mores.
He recalled, “I was thinking, ‘Boy, I really don’t like smores.'” “Why? I never really thought traditional marshmallows were all that interesting. For me, the real deal clincher was that when you made s’mores the traditional method, you were never left with melted chocolate. It never had the same appearance as the ads.
After cracking open a marshmallow and inserting a piece of milk chocolate within, he cooked it over a fire. The resultant confection, which “melted from the inside out,” served as the model for the multimillion-dollar brand Stuffed Puffs, which is only entering its third year on store shelves.
A vanilla marshmallow with milk chocolate filling, a chocolate marshmallow with milk chocolate filling, and a cookies ‘n’ creme marshmallow with a white creme filling and chocolate cookie crunch are the three main products that Stuffed Puffs sells. By this summer, distribution is expected to reach 30,000 stores nationally, and the company, based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, is expected to produce between $40 and $50 million in sales this year.
Before starting the company, Mr. Tierney worked for a short time as a fine dining chef in establishments with Michelin stars. The idea of a loaded marshmallow, meantime, kept popping into his head. He took a break in 2012 to work on his unique take on the classic s’mores, creating prototypes and assembling a temporary production facility in the basement of his mother.
“By trying to fill a marshmallow, I kind of taught myself engineering,” he added. “I assumed this would be quite simple. These days, every brand has a co-packer, so I can locate an equipment supplier who can handle this as well.
The same disbelieving responses emerged from meetings with manufacturers: “You don’t think we thought of this?” He was informed by a senior executive of a well-known candy firm, “We’ve spent millions trying to do this. It’s not feasible.
Mr. Tierney persisted in experimenting despite failing to secure the substantial funding required to expand his idea.
In 2014, he turned his focus to a new project and started the gluten-free baked goods company Mikey’s. These days, 10,000 retailers sell Mikey’s goods, which include pizza crust, English muffins, tortillas, and handhelds made with basic, wholesome components like eggs, cauliflower, and almond flour.
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A $5 million investment was given to Mikey’s in 2017 by Factory LLC, a scaled-up operating organization run by Richard C. Thompson, the former CEO of Meow Mix, Freshpet, and American Italian Pasta Co. The partnership gave Stuffed Puffs fresh optimism.
“Rich recognized what I saw in Stuffed Puffs, and he also had the financial resources and track record to turn it into a reality,” Mr. Tierney remarked. “He and the Factory team supported this and provided funding for us to build our first manufacturing facility outside of Milwaukee in Wisconsin.”
In 2019, Stuffed Puffs made their national premiere exclusively in Walmart stores. The product’s demand was boosted by a collaboration with well-known electronic musician Marshmello, which led to an unexpectedly “overwhelming consumer response,” according to Mr. Tierney.
The brand outgrown its Wisconsin production site in less than a year, and the firm began construction on a 150,000-square-foot facility close to Bethlehem, a $30 million project funded by Factory. The new facility can accommodate four specialized, high-speed lines that can produce $500 million worth of goods, according to Mr. Tierney, the 31-year-old CEO of the Stuffed Puffs and Mikey’s companies. The day-to-day operations of Mikey’s are managed by a management team lead by the factory; nonetheless, Mr. Tierney is responsible for product creation and business strategy.
He described the possibilities for Stuffed Puffs as being “kind of boundless,” referring to marshmallows that have coatings, inclusions, fillings other than chocolate, or different forms and colors. Additionally, Mr. Tierney sees potential in the nutraceutical industry.
“Depending on how that market develops, we can do non-critical-dose vitamins, supplements, or cannabis in a really unique dosing format,” he stated.Additionally, the business might test out organic or allergen-free formulas.This is more than just s’mores, in Mr. Tierney’s opinion. “This platform is for technology.”