1 In 4 American Households Have Snack Food Invented In Minnesota

Did you know that there is a billion-dollar brand that got it's start right here in Minnesota? The American snack actually came from a Chinese food brand in the 1960s.

Duluth Entrepreneur Jeno Paulucci started Chun King after World War 2

According to the food site Sporked, Americans returning from overseas in World War 2 came back bringing tastes of foreign culture with them. That's why Paulucci started the Chun King canned Asian food brand. One of his most popular items was frozen egg rolls.

Pizza got big in the United States in the 1950s.

It's hard to believe that pizza hasn't been a huge meal for over 100 years in America, but it really only started to take off in the 1950s. Paulucci came up with the idea to use something he already had to capitalize on this new trend. So he took his egg roll wrapping machine and had the idea to put pizza ingredients into it. One of his employees, Beatrice Ojakangas, perfected the recipe and came up with pizza rolls.

Jeno's Pizza Rolls Become Totino's Pizza Rolls In 1993

The pizza rolls were big, and in 1985, Paulucci sold the brand to Pillsbury. Pillsbury already had Totino's frozen pizza, so they rebranded Jeno's Pizza Rolls to Totino's in 1993, and have been an enormous hit.

Totino's Pizza Rolls Becomes General Mill's 9th Billion Dollar Brand

Totino's pizza rolls was sold to General Mills in 2001, and it has become the 9th biggest brand for the company. 1 in 4 American households have Totino's Pizza Rolls in their freezer.