RICHMOND, Vt. -
Road construction is more synonymous with a headache rather than a sweet tooth, but one man is trying to get people to dig into his Road Crew Crunch.
It's an all natural, crunchy, gourmet snack mix that's vegan and gluten free. "It's a cereal-based mix -- cereal peanuts and pretzels for our original line and drench them in different flavors of chocolate," said Daren Rexroad, better known as Rex, and the foreman behind Rex's Outrageous Road Crew Crunch made in Richmond.
"Then we got the cashews -- give it a meaty bite and add a little bit of salt to it."
Rex has never worked construction. He was the assistant town clerk in Jericho. The original mix is grandmother's recipe -- she called it gravel. Rex recognized it could be a hot seller. He just needed a company name. "One day over the CB, the road crew said they needed a load of gravel. The road was bad, the asphalt is peeling, and it hit me -- so we ran home and put the bags together," he said.
And Rex's Outrageous Road Crew Crunch was born. There are 12 flavors that include ingredients like cereal, cashews, Craisins, orange flavoring and of course dark chocolate. Trust us -- once you start it's hard to stop. Even Channel 3 photographer Bob Davis clearly couldn't help himself.
Rex's Outrageous started in 2006. Six years later the company has grown dramatically. Its first order was for one thousand bags, which took two weeks to fill in the family's home kitchen. Now it's a different kind of construction job. "We are processing anywhere between 1,500-2,400 a month which is 150 cases a month," Rexroad said.
And this year plans to be bigger than ever. Rex and his family are hitting the road to market the business. They've sold most of their belongings, including their Jericho home and are moving into a travel trailer.
Reporter Gina Bullard: Are you scared?
Daren Rexroad: Absolutely -- I'm frightened
The snacks will still be made in Vermont while the family of five cross the country for the next four years. The kids will be road-schooled. "Basically I'm making grandma proud and that's what it comes down to and what we're pushing for it," he said
An outrageous ride ahead for a family -- making a Made in Vermont product.
