ThisWeek Community Newspapers

Bill Gunderson and Steve Sandbo could be considered the ultimate Buckeye fans. Gunderson and Sandbo have turned their passion for Ohio State sports into a successful business.

Gunderson and Sandbo are the founders of Collegiate Snacks, an Upper Arlington-based company that distributes potato chips, tortilla chips and caramel corn in college-logo packaging from OSU and several other major universities. A portion of each sale of the Buckeye products supports OSU scholarships and student programming,

OSU Class of 1982 graduate Bill Gunderson spent 17 years in the snack food industry and bakery manufacturing. He was involved with the development of the first microwave popcorn package as well as the first trademarked snack product, Chi-Chi's tortilla chips. Sandbo, a graduate of Wittenberg University, has 25 years of experience in the grocery industry.

Gunderson and Sandbo, who have been friends since grade school, said starting Collegiate Snacks last June was a natural progression. The enterprise has allowed them to combine their professional experience with their love of college athletics.

The company got off the ground after a successful test market in about 25 independently owned and operated stores, Sandbo said.

"It went extremely well, exceeded our expectations," he said. "We had an idea we thought we could grow."

In addition to OSU, Collegiate Snacks has since acquired official branding licenses for Michigan State University, the University of Michigan, the University of Minnesota, Indiana University, the University of Tennessee, West Virginia University, and the University of Louisville.

"Our goal is when you look at the bag, to make the consumer believe it is an officially licensed snack -- that the university is making them," Sandbo said.

"We want them to think it was made on Woody Hayes Drive," Gunderson said.

In actuality, the products are manufactured in Louisville, Ky., where Gunderson now lives (the company's sales office is headquartered in Upper Arlington).

The company's goals are to eventually expand to 16 to 20 universities -- a tall order since official licensing is very competitive, Sandbo said.

"It's become very tough to get collegiate licensing. With the television coverage (of college sports), it's just exploded," he said. "They're very particular."

Collegiate Snacks' success to date has enabled the company to establish a national reputation, Sandbo said. The company's products are carried in major chains such as Kroger, Giant Eagle and Wal-Mart as well as independent grocers such as Huffman's Market in Upper Arlington.

"It's been a fun product to go into the major retailers and talk about," Sandbo said. "It's kind of hard to say Columbus is not going to support an Ohio State product. It's not going to happen."