Founder Fruncherz
Age: 15 | University Heights
by Lisa Love
Did you have an idea of what you wanted to be when you grow up?
I’ve always wanted to be an entrepreneur. When I was, like, seven years old, I used to live in Israel. I made ice popsicles, and I used to knock on people’s houses and sell it to them.
What sparked the idea for Fruncherz?
I saw these freeze-dried candy in stores, and I saw that it was a very popular product. It looked delicious and really cool. So I thought, why not make this kosher? They don’t make a kosher product like that.
How did you figure out the recipe?
We experimented a lot. We bought a whole bunch of candy – lollipops, taffies, – everything that we could think of. We freeze dried them all and tried it. We were seeing which ones tasted the best, which ones looked the nicest. Success is about the texture and the flavor. So we picked four different candies that we thought were the best.
How did you come up with the name Fruncherz?
It’s fun and frozen, and it has a crunch—so I combined all of that into one word. I added a “z” at the end to make it even more fun.
How did you get it out into the market?
First, I sold it around my school. Nobody knew what freeze dry candy was, so when we had like, lunch or break, I went around my whole entire school. Iintroduced them to what freeze dry candy is, and then people just started buying it. I charged $10 a bag.
How did you expand?
When I saw how well it was doing at school, I started contacting stores.
I’d email them info about the product and drop off samples. Most people understood it better after trying it. At The Grove, I set up a sample table. A lot of people didn’t know what freeze-dried candy was, so I explained it—and they loved it. That’s when bags started selling fast.
But you’re in other cities now too, right?
Yes, we’re in Atlanta, Detroit, Miami and in most of the kosher stores here in Cleveland.
How did you get to other cities?
Networking and connections. For example, when I was doing samples at The Grove, a girl came up to me and said her mom owns a store in Detroit. She told me her mom would love to carry Fruncherz—and that’s how we got into that store. Then Miami, we went on a trip for winter vacation, and we got in a whole bunch of stores over there. I brought a lot of samples and showed them that we’re basically the first freeze dried candy company that’s kosher, that’s professional. They loved it.
Have you faced any challenges so far with building the company?
Following up with people can be challenging. Some people aren’t usually as punctual as I am, so that can be a little frustrating. And then making the candy is very, very time consuming. I think that is probably the hardest.
Tell me what that’s like.
For example, we have four different flavors of saltwater taffy. We have to unwrap every piece by hand and lay them out with enough space in between. That alone takes two hours. Then the freeze-drying process takes three and a half hours. After that, I have to hand-pack each bag carefully because the candy is super fragile. You don’t want it to get crushed. I sometimes don’t go to bed until 3 am.
Why does being an entrepreneur appeal to you?
I’ve always wanted to be independent, to make my own income and not work for someone else. Plus, being an entrepreneur means you can create jobs and help other people too.
Where do you want to be in the next one to five years?
We’re already in more stores in Miami, and my dad and I are working on getting Fruncherz into a TikTok Shop. We’re also building a TikTok account for the business and looking into selling on Amazon. In the future, I want to create a healthier version of the product—something better for people to eat. I also want to get into real estate and run multiple businesses, so I’m not putting all my eggs in one basket. If one thing fails, I’ll have something else to focus on.