Sweet success: In ‘trolling’ for business, this dad enlisted the help of his daughter
If you’ve ever wondered what a troll turd tastes like, it turns out the answer is strawberries. At least, that’s true if yours come from Fantastical Droppings.
The company is a venture that Shawnee resident Lee Urban shares with his 7-year-old daughter, Charlotte. For now, they sell one product — an Australian strawberry licorice — under two different labels. You can buy it as Unicorn Ass Candy or Troll Turds.
Urban said he understands that not everyone wants to have “ass” printed on their candy and thus came up with the alternative. He hopes to add a new flavor, Dragon Dingleberry, in the near future.
The sweet adventure started when he and some friends were watching their kids play with an inflatable unicorn sprinkler outside that just happened to sprinkle the water out of its backside.
“The joke was, as the water was shooting out of the unicorn, wouldn’t it be hilarious if it shot something else out of its ass, other than water? If it was candy? And that triggered an idea,” Urban said.
Although he’d love to make the candy himself, the full-time lawyer said that was a little out of his wheelhouse. With a nod to his licorice-loving grandpa, Urban spent about six months taste-testing different types with his friends to figure out what would make the cut.
The next step was finding the right packaging to keep it as fresh as possible. He buys the candy itself from a wholesaler in Minnesota and has it packaged by Sunflower Food Co. in Lenexa.
It took two year for the initial idea to come to fruition.
He has three goals with the company: spending time with Charlotte, teaching her about entrepreneurship and introducing her to charitable giving.
It’s a small operation. Urban estimates they sell 50 to 60 packs of candy a month.
Charlotte said she enjoyed going to their pop-up sales at Mr. D’s Donuts and Ice Cream Bae. Urban said Charlotte likes to talk with people about the product at the pop-ups.
When it comes to packaging, she’s in charge of putting special stickers on each bag of candy and drawing artwork on the shipping boxes.
Charlotte says her favorite part of the candy business is, “Doing it with my dad.”
Each bag has a turd-related joke printed on the bottom. It all goes along with the company motto, “For the little squirts that make your life complete.”
Eventually, Urban hopes to involve his son, Lincoln, who is five years younger than Charlotte.
It’s been a learning experience for Urban, especially when it comes to how purchasing power affects your supply chain as a small business.
“From a cost perspective, you really have to be in a volume game to be successful,” he said. “It’s so important to connect to and support other small businesses.”
Just as important to him as teaching Charlotte about how a business works is showing her how they interact with charities.
“We drive from Shawnee to downtown Kansas City to the donation center at Children’s Mercy Hospital, and we talk about why we’re doing this. We budget for either a cash or in-kind donation of our candy every year,” Urban said.
Urban doesn’t take a salary, and all of their proceeds after expenses go to local charities.
It’s not just Children’s Mercy on their list. They’ve donated to Melissa’s Second Chances and Veterans Affairs as well.
Right now, you can get their candy online at fantasticaldroppings.com, or at K-7 Liquors and Missie’s Discount Liquor in Shawnee, but Urban hopes to add grocery stores to their vendor list soon.