After living in Orlando Florida for fifteen years, a Buffalo boy has come back to town to realize a lifelong dream. Mick Fink moved to Orlando to intern with Disney right out of college, figuring that he’d seen all there was to see in Buffalo. Over time he created a career for himself in the graphic design business, and only visited his hometown for special family occasions. “While I was in Orlando my mother would send me a snack mix that she made for friends and family when we were young,” Mick told me. “The special concoction got me to thinking that I could use my passion for creating and growing brands that would build a family business centered around the snack mix. I’ve seen so many people take chances and create their own destinies. I knew that I had a good product, and needed to take the next step… which was to move back home and concentrate on this business.”
Mick told me that while he liked living in Orlando, he began to miss Buffalo the longer he was away – something that he never counted on. There was something about living in a tight-knit community that spoke to him. Surrounded by transplants in a distant city, he heard Buffalo calling and decided that it was time to fulfill his destiny. “I am coming from a packaging background,” Mick continued. “I want to create a family business with a product that I’m dedicating to my mother. I knew that Buffalo was more vibrant than when I left, which was an added incentive to return with my start-up. The sugary-salty snack mix is called Snow Crunch. It’s an on-the-go snack that is perfect for convenient stores. Essentially it’s a trail mix (corn and rice crisps, honey flavored grahams, yogurt covered pretzels, raisins) frosted with white chocolate (and candy coated milk chocolate pieces) – the exact same snack that my mother used to make for us when we were young. There’s nothing else like it on the mass market.”
At this point, Mick is already off to a solid start. Snow Crunch has been picked up by Delta Sonic (28 locations in three states), and 7-ll is currently testing out the It’s My Mom’s LLC brand. Mick has also met with a local distributor that has 
signed off on delivering the product once sales grow to 50 stores. Seeing that he’s more than halfway there, that milestone should not be far off. “In the meantime I’m concentrating on building my team here in Buffalo. Sales have been better than expected, so I need to make sure that the business is operating smoothly. I’m also working on releasing three additional flavors (other than white chocolate) that the company will be introducing into the market – strawberry, peanut butter and milk chocolate. My expertise is building brands, and I’m excited to do just that, in a city that I’m realizing is fairly new to me – a lot has changed since I left and I’m excited to be a part of the future of Buffalo.”
After trying Snow Crunch, I honestly believe that Mick is onto something that has serious legs, not just regionally but nationally. In fact, I’m surprised that there’s nothing out there like it… plus it’s got a great name that represents the product to a tee.
For those that are looking for a sweet twist on a traditionally salty snack, professionally packaged and priced to sell at $3.29 (suggested retail for 4.5 oz resealable package), Snow Crunch is a satisfying treat that successfully separates itself from the rest of the pack. Look for it on shelves in convenient stores in and around Buffalo.
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