Today we’d like to introduce you to Scott Jones.
Hi Scott, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
We’ve been making Grinola for our own enjoyment for a little over 8 years now, and the company just celebrated it’s 1st birthday of being a full-time enterprise.
My wife and I enjoy cooking shows, and in 2017 we ran across what seemed to be an interesting granola recipe. We weren’t really into granola or health foods in general, but it looked good and we made a first batch out of curiosity. It came out really good, if a little sweet, so we pared back the sugar by about half and it became a favorite breakfast and snack for us.
I started taking bags with me in my work truck, and having Grinola readily available kept me out of the fast food drive-through lines. It is effective at fueling my body well, and is a very enjoyable treat to munch on throughout the day.
Grinola had it’s name and a very rudimentary logo even at that early stage, and we started gifting it at Christmas and bringing it to pot-lucks and get-togethers to share with our friends and family. When we shared it, we kept getting the same response: “you need to do something with this!”. Over the years, a few bags were sold here and there, but we were already employed full-time and never really dedicated the effort to build the brand or start a full-time business with it.
During the few attempts to get it going, I was stopped by God speaking to my conscience and telling me plainly “you’re not going to turn this into a business until you obey me on this thing”. Well, I knew what the thing was, and He knew what the thing was, and I was playing games with my Creator like He didn’t see me persisting in my disobedience. Once I released that habit, that idol in my life, over to the Lord, He gave me the opportunity to start Grinola, and rescued me from corporate drudgery and allowed the start of my dream: to build something of my own; a true labor of love to share this unique and wonderful brand and product with the world.
We officially launched at a big event to wrap up the end of our local farmers’ market season last September. Prior to the big day, a very smart and capable friend helped to design the current logos. We used those new designs to build out a booth that conveys our fresh and exciting brand. We were very well received from the start by our local community, and followed up on that initial success by attending a handful of Fall and Christmas festivals and markets. We realized during these formative months that we had stumbled into a space where we had a fun brand, and a unique product, that attracted people and brought genuine joy to our customers. People really got behind us and supported our small family business, and we gained both new customers and repeat business. Our tasty, crunchy, wholesome goodness had caught on, and we realized that we had the makings of a viable business on our hands.
At the Christmas market in Dahlonega last year, where we sold out of product hours before the event ended, we gained the understanding that we had hit on something at just the right time: people were turning back to locally-made and all natural products, and people apparently LOVED what we had to offer.
In the “off-season” of the first quarter of this year, we started the process of building the business for growth and sustainability. We filed to become an LLC and for trademark protection of our name, established some excellent partnerships with local retailers, strengthened our website to handle increased volume, and started exploring new packaging options.
We had an excellent summer of growth through gains in production capabilities, increased retail activity, and a very successful season at our local White County farmers’ market. Now we are poised for a great Fall and Christmas season of festivals and markets, and we will see what God does next with our small family business!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I think it’s been a fairly smooth road, mostly because I love what I’m doing and we have a fun culture around the business. There have certainly been some challenges and some learning opportunities, as in doing anything new, but we also realized that God went before us and fought some of the battles that couldn’t have been won on our own.
One learning opportunity has been going through the trademark process to protect our name. We’ve been through the application process, had to dispute another party who sought to use the name as well, and have discovered how to handle the legal aspects to ensure we would be able to protect our name for our own use going forward.
Another challenge was ensuring that we had the right oats for our product. We went through several suppliers and some extensive testing before we identified just the right rolled oats that gave us the perfect crunch without being either too hard or soft.
Of course, we’ve continually sought the best sourcing for our ingredients and had to work hard to keep costs down and be frugal as we’ve reinvested in the business along the way.
As you know, we’re big fans of Grinola. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
‘We really appreciate that support! Really, our primary and bold message is “We bake and sell the world’s best Grinola!
Grinola is a premium, healthy, gluten-friendly, low-sugar, no-preservatives-added granola product, available in a variety of delicious flavors. We use only the finest ingredients (including 100% Whole Grain Oats, Georgia-Grown Pecans straight from the farm, Organic Grade-A Amber Maple Syrup, and pure Madagascar bourbon vanilla bean extract.
Our biggest differentiator is that each batch is hand-crafted for superior quality and hand-pressed into bars & blocks to obtain our signature crunch.
Grinola is the perfect healthy snack right out of the bag, crumbled with milk as a delicious cereal, crushed over yogurt for a nutritiously satisfying breakfast option!
We are veteran-owned, family-run, and local to Northeast Georgia.
We are really proud of our fun, vibrant, and exciting brand and logo design. We love watching people’s reaction when they experience Grinola at local markets. They read the name, see what we’re offering, and the light bulb comes on, producing a smirk, smile or grin. Everyone wants their brand to make people smile, and ours truly does…especially when they taste the goodness of our products.
We have some well-established flavors (pecan/blueberry, almond/cranberry, cashew/cherry, and chocolate chip) and we’ve had a blast offering some amazing market special flavors along the way (peanut butter/chocolate, a couple of hot honey flavors, strawberries & cream, banana pudding, and cookies & cream to name a few).
We have a robust online store (www.grinola,shop), we are available in a growing number of wonderful local retailers, and we’re still in the fun phase of attending festivals and markets to build our brand and introduce Grinola to our neighbors.
In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
Grinola is well-positioned in a growing portion of the healthy snack & breakfast food industry.
We believe that people will continue to be drawn to natural products that aren’t loaded with chemicals & preservatives, and that are made locally for local markets. We keep hearing that people care about what they’re putting into their bodies and how it affects their health and the way they feel.
We believe that there’s a lot of upside to our business and the industry as a whole.
Thank you for this opportunity. For your readers that have not experienced our products yet, we invite them to try Grinola…something to smile about.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.grinola.shop
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eat.grinola/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Grinola/61566426153102/
