Judging by the 800 pounds of chocolate Daren “Rex” Rexroad goes through each month, his sweet and salty snack mix – Rex’s Outrageous Road Crew Crunch – is a hit. 

The mix of cereal, peanuts and pretzels drenched in chocolate is now sold in over 500 stores in 14 states, including hundreds of Vermont shops. 

 “It’s totally addicting,” Rexroad said. “I apologize to people who feel like they might gain weight.” 

The Crunch – a celebration of Vermont’s rural roads and the work that goes into maintaining them – comes in four main flavors. Asphalt is smothered in dark chocolate, Mud with milk chocolate, Gravel with white chocolate, and Sand with peanut butter. 

The Crunch hit the market in 2006, in simple packages decorated with Clip Art images of machinery. 

“It does most of the selling itself,” said Rexroad. He hasn’t had to go out and promote the product for over a year, he said. 

The Gravel snack mix is his grandmother’s original recipe. Rexroad developed the additional flavors in 2004, but wasn’t sure how to sell the product. 

Then, he started working as Jericho’s assistant town clerk. One day, he heard the road crew on the radio talking about the road conditions – mentioning gravel, mud, sand, and asphalt – and knew he had found what he was looking for.  

“I just looked at the town clerk and said ‘I’ve got to go,’” he said. 

Rexroad recently moved into a new location in Richmond, complete with bright yellow walls decorated with road signs – which he said cost him a lot of Crunch at the Highway Department.

He has started developing other flavors, including two can’t-miss holiday flavors. Mistle-Tow has cereal, cranberries, and pistachios covered in white chocolate. Black Ice is asphalt Crunch infused with mint, which Rexroad said rivals the Girl Scout’s Thin Mint Cookie. 

Rexroad makes and markets most of the Crunch himself, along with help from his wife, Annette. He often works 16-hour days, turning out about 420 bags of Crunch a day, he said. 

“I wouldn’t have it any other way, no matter how hard I have to work,” he said. 

Neither would we. 

For more information, or to order mass quantities, go to rexsoutrageous.com.  

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