Crackheads Candy

Journal Sentinel Newspaper Article on Osmanium October 16th, 2008

Here is an article on Osmanium that appeared in the October 16th, 2008 newspaper.

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Big dreams from beans By KRISTINE HANSEN Special to the Journal Sentinel Posted: Oct. 16, 2008

Who he is:

John Osmanski

What he does:

Owns Osmanium, which makes chocolate-covered espresso beans

John Osmanski's boutique candy empire got its first jolt during an all-night video game session at the Milwaukee School of Engineering, before he was even a student there.

"I essentially made a big pancake of chocolate and coffee," he said.

Osmanski, 27, is the founder and owner of Osmanium, a Milwaukee company that produces chocolate-covered espresso beans under the names Jitter Beans, Crackheads and Crackheads2.

He still loves to snack on the chocolates, which are sold in 1.3-ounce boxes at local stores, including Outpost Natural Foods Co-op, Beans & Barley and Koppa's Farwell Foods.

"If you don't love it, what's the purpose?" he said.

Who he is: John Osmanski

What he does: Owns Osmanium, which makes chocolate-covered espresso beans

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Crackheads is what Osmanski and his MSOE classmates - he graduated in 2006, with a degree in biomedical engineering - called people who tried to function without a morning cup of coffee.

One box of Crackheads2 / Jitterbeans chocolate-covered espresso beans, he says, is equal to the caffeine in six cups of coffee, 7 1/2 energy drinks or 11 cans of cola.

Since starting his company in 2004, Osmanski has expanded it from a handcrafted operation to a large-scale company.

While he used to make the chocolates on a double-boiler in his kitchen ("just to see if anyone would like them") and print the boxes at a local Kinko's, today he employs a team in Madison to assemble the boxes, and the chocolates are made at a plant elsewhere in the Midwest.

In September, Osmanski signed a deal with another company to make and sell customized vending machines (dispensing a handful of his chocolates for 50 cents) to universities, hospitals, stores and other businesses.

So far, the venture has sold a couple hundred of the machines.

"I don't know if this would happen if I were in, say, Texas," Osmanski said. "I like this city a lot. The traditional way of business does apply, but there's so many other methods. You can use your friends and family as a test market, for instance."

It's all a far cry from his first business, a skateboard shop in Wales that he sold after a year to concentrate on college.

"Everything is happening all at once," he said.