The snack chips invented by Brentwood’s Sean Olson have a funny name – ips – but Olson isn’t joking about building up the brand.

A tech entrepreneur and business consultant by trade, Olson spent two years developing ips, or “intelligent protein snacks,” then hired a food industry veteran to turn the product into a real business.

Paul Sheppard, now chief operating officer of Ips All Natural, was formerly a vice president at Pom Wonderful, the pomegranate juice subsidiary of L.A. agribusiness giant Roll Global. He and Olson knew each other from their days at the Boston Consulting Group.

“One thing I knew immediately was that I didn’t know much about the food industry,” Olson said. “I wouldn’t have started the company if I couldn’t find someone who did.”

Together, he and Sheppard have gotten major distributors to carry ips, high-protein snacks made of egg whites and corn flour that are baked at high pressure so they’re crunchy without being fried. Launched in February, the snacks are sold in about 250 locations, including health food stores and gyms, mostly in Southern California.

“Someone going to a gym, they want something higher protein,” Olson said. “Some gyms will sell other healthy chip options, but none of them have the kind of protein we do.”

Olson estimated ips will have sales of about $200,000 this year, but hopes to top $1 million next year as the snacks are distributed to more locations.

And he’s not stopping at snack time. The same process used to make ips can also be used to make an egg white-based cereal, and Olson plans to roll that product out in the years ahead.

He opted to start with ips chips, though, because he said cereal is tougher to market.

“It’s easier to build a brand with snack food,” he said. “Nobody carries their box of cereal around with them. It’s a much more marketing-intensive channel.”

– James Rufus Koren