May 31, 2007
Not just plane granola
Last week, I was sitting on a plane destined for Oakland, Ca. sandwiched between my co-worker and a stranger. We struck up a conversation with this young woman, who told us she was flying from her home in Chicago to California for a business meeting.
It turned out she works for a company called Bear Naked, which manufactures all natural granola, hot cereal and trail mix. She seemed pretty passionate about the product and the company. She had even made a deal with United Airlines to serve packages of Bear Naked granola in their on-board snack boxes.
Well, I sure as heck wasn't buying one of those $5 snack boxes, but I did obtain some Bear Naked upon my return. My co-workers and I have been munching on the stuff around my desk for the past couple of days and we all agree that while it's not as crunchy as your typical store bought granola, it sure is flavorful.
It might be that the consistency is not what I'm used to because Bear Naked is soft-baked and "bearly processed and utterly naked." In other words, no preservatives to keep it crunchy.
Wow, that just reminded me of the cereal varnish that Clark Griswold invented in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. I'm pretty sure there's none of that on this cereal.
Bear Naked has a story behind it, and it's a pretty good one.
A young Connecticut woman named Kelly Flatley started the company when she was barely old enough to drink. She had always made homemade granola in college and after working for Sports Illustrated for a time, she decided she really wanted to be making granola for a living.
Enter her old middle school best friend, Brandan Synnot, a former talent manager for Saturday Night Live. The two basically built this company from nothing, investing their life savings at age 23 and operating it out of a spare bedroom in Flatley's parents' house.
The granola was sold for years out of small retail outlets around New England. Finally, in 2003, they secured some bigger retailers like Stew Leonard's and Food Emporium.
Today, the cereal is available all over the place. Most of our Kroger stores carry it, as do Fresh Market and Tinnell's. It is sold in zip-lock pouches instead of cereal boxes and comes in flavors like fruit and nut or blueberry walnut.
It's inspiring when young entrepreneurs make their dreams come true. They aren't even 30 years old yet and they have a national product selling like hotcakes.
Not only that, but this granola is pretty delicious.
Comments
[May 31, 2007 12:08 PM]
DebiI can't wait to try it! I'm addicted to Nature Valley Fruit and Nut granola bars.