A business involving the sweet tooth favorite, the humble Whoopie Pie, called "Let’s Make Whoopie," has made Josh Rogers of Williamsport and his business partner, Lauren Elsasser, $5,000 richer, when they recently won the Greater Susquehanna Valley Keystone Innovation Zone’s 2012 Venture Plan Competition held at Susquehanna University.

Rogers and Elsasser are both business majors with an emphasis in entrepreneurial management, at Susquehanna University. The "Let’s Make Whoopie" business project was a blending of different abilities the two possess.

Elsasser has a baking business that specializes in sweet treats, out of her home in Mifflinburg and Rogers enjoys marketing and also added the feature to the business of developing various types of apparel such as t-shirts, sweatshirts and aprons with their business’s name and logo emblazoned on them as a way to help promote the business.

Rogers said "Let’s Make Whoopie" is a way for he and Elsasser to wed two passions that each has into a profitable business concept. The one Rogers has for silk screening and the one Elsasser has for baking. He said they wanted to form a business that offers tasty whoopie pies and creative apparel that centers on the business’s name.

"Lauren was raised in an area in which there are a lot of Amish around who do a lot of baking, especially cakes and pies," Rogers said. "She learned from them how to make whoopie pies, which are not found in too many places outside this area.

"We thought having a business that sold whoopie pies with new and unique, gourmet type fillings might make for an interesting business. So we then developed our own business model and entered the Venture Competition."

"Let’s Make Whoopie" has started out by offering six flavors of whoopie pies, and are offering a wide variety of different type of flavors. They have developed an array of special flavors to offer for each month. For example in March they offer such flavors　 as "Leprechaun Belly," In April one of the flavors they have is "Peep Explosion," June has a Strawberry Cheesecake, October has flavor called "Trick or Treat Hangover." And December has a "Santa Belly.

These are just a few of the many interesting and unusual "gourmet" whoopie pies that will be made available.

Rogers and Elsasser started developing a 45-page business plan for their business in January of this year and had it ready in time for the Venture Plan Competition in April. They received $100 in start-up money from the Sigmund Weis School of Business at Susquehanna.

In this year’s Venture Competition the "Let’s Make Whoopie" team was one of 18 participating in the competition. Teams were made up of students from Susquehanna, Bucknell, Bloomsburg universities and Luzerne County Community College..

According to Rogers the number was winnowed down to nine and "Whoopie Pie" was one of the final nine. As one of the nine finalists, Rogers and Elsasser had to make a final 30-second "elevator pitch" of their business plan. The judges liked what they saw and heard and awarded them first place.

"It means a lot to win something like the Venture Plan Competition," Rogers said. "It is a real honor and it shows us that we can go out and be a success and that our business has so much potential for success."