Project Sleeping Bear Granola – Origin Myth
In late 2021 the USPS delivered an invite to a free steak dinner. I don't eat steak but Sarah does. The steak dinner would be accompanied by salad, potatoes and a seminar on financial planning. Sarah and I imagined attending in funky costumes, creating the sort of characters that would eat steak while planning their finances. We registered as a lark.
As the date approached, we had plenty of other irons in the fire and were leaning towards skipping the steak. When the day arrived Sarah said she really thought we should go because we'd likely meet someone interesting. That sounded like intuition talking! We dressed up as ourselves and pointed the Tundra east, into a blizzard.
The big tables at Boones Long Lake Inn were packed. "Snow is no deterrent to Northern Michganders", Philip our presenter/host quipped cheerfully. We sat down with several other couples and chatted. Diagonally across the table, we met Bryan and Karla Black. They told us about the granola business they'd been running for 10 years. Eventually they asked us if we might want to take over, they wanted to GIVE us their granola business. Not only the super secret granola recipes they'd developed, but big stainless bowls, a market tent, banners and the next to new LP gas convention oven they'd been baking in.
Our own oven had been non-functional for the better part of two years, so a working oven was exciting. But a whole NEW business? That was a little daunting. We were already running several businesses and had a big garden planned for the spring. Sarah and I hashed out the idea all the way home.
We had a lively email exchange with the Blacks and included Margaret, Sarah's mom, who had just been making a batch of granola the first time Sarah called. Spooky! After much family debate we accepted Bryan and Karla's amazing proposal with the caveat that we'd cut back from 7 recipes to 3 and only do 2 of their 4 farmer's markets. By the time market season was upon us, we had decided to cook just their top selling recipe, Maple Pecan, using only organic ingredients and packaging with glass mason jars instead of plastic. Sarah's mom and our friend Kim are Sleeping Bear Granola's designated bakers.
At our first market in Elberta, Sarah sold over 20 of the 26 lbs she'd brought, over $400 gross. A great beginning! Following our open source aesthetic, we eventually want to post our progress including a balance sheet as we go. Stay tuned.