PERRYSBURG, Ohio — Marsha's Homemade Buckeyes, a small business in Perrysburg, has been making Ohio's signature chocolate-coated peanut butter balls since 1984.
Currently employing about 30 people, Marsha's grew from humble beginnings to landing big deals with Cracker Barrel and Kroger.
Their buckeyes can be ordered online and delivered anywhere in the country.
"If you're in Portland, Oregon, and you want some buckeyes, you can go on our website and we'll ship it right to your door," Zak Kern, the e-commerce manager for Marsha's Buckeyes, said.
The buckeyes come prepackaged in 12-count containers and single or double wrappers.
And each production morning starts the same way Marsha Smith did it back in the day with the same ingredients, assistant production manager Mario Rodriguez said.
Raw dough to finished product takes about 30 minutes.
"Obviously we want to keep that same consistency, that same great taste for everyone to enjoy," Rodriguez said. "From when they first bite into it to the last time that they bite into it."
For those who have made buckeyes at home, the process of taking the raw dough and rolling it up can be a bit time-consuming.
But, Marsha's has a solution to this. The dough is loaded into a hopper and goes through a machine that can crank out up to 90,000 buckeyes a day.
"It's been huge for expansions because, if you think, you would need 16 employees dipping a buckeye every seven seconds to keep up with what that does," Kern said. "So, that has been such a big help for us and we're very happy to have it. We like to say that it's as close as to what your grandma made at your Christmas or your Thanksgiving without the pain of you having to make them."
This weekend, Marsha's will have a booth set up at OSU's Fan Fest leading up to Saturday's game against the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
"We'll be passing out thousands of buckeyes," Kern said. "So, if you are in the area, come find us and we'll give you a couple buckeyes that you can enjoy."