When Chris Pouy was a boy, he wouldn’t drink milk unless it was first steeped in sugary cereal. Inspired by his picky childhood palate, he launched a business earlier this year he hopes will make a big splash in the beverage industry: Cow Wow Cereal Milk.

His downtown L.A. company last month signed a contract with Cincinnati grocery chain Kroger Co. – parent of Ralphs Grocery Co. in Compton – to sell cereal-flavored milk in 1,800 grocery stores nationwide. His first product, Fruity Trudy, meant to taste like it had been steeped in Fruit Loops, Fruity Pebbles or Trix, debuted in January at Bristol Farms grocery stores.

“Basically,” he said, “we want to be the Ben & Jerry’s of flavored milk.”

The company, which employs three and is not yet profitable, was funded with an inheritance from his father, who died five years ago. “He was my angel investor,” Pouy said.

Shortly after the product’s launch, Pouy attracted a living investor who contributed $1.5 million. The money allowed Pouy to put out a second flavor: Chocolate Chip Cathy.

The milk, made in plants in Northern California and Minnesota and sold in 8.5-ounce cartons that can be stored at room temperature for up to a year, retails for $1.99.

Pouy, who was scheduled to pitch the product to buyers for Walgreens Co. of Deerfield, Ill., last week, said he expected Cow Wow to turn a profit in the next year if he can add the nationwide chain’s 8,000 stores to his list of vendors.

– Bethany Firnhaber