People can talk all they want about the economy falling apart, but when you see an upstart Miami based company stackin paper off selling cereal on the internet (talk about grippin' grain), you gotta say "hell, America's back." Check out this exclusive interview with one of three local cereal pioneers behind MixMyGranola.com. I spoke with 29 year old Matthew Pawlik, an Alabama transplant livin' on NW 79th street, via email about hippies, 16oz cans and 1 billion granola combinations.
Short Order - How's the granola market, I thought only hippies and old ladies ate that stuff?
MMG
-The granola market is currently about 400 million in sales in the US
excluding the 800 pound gorilla, Wal-mart. We believe in five years we can
capture 5% of that or 20 million in revenues. Also, we have been
presented with other opportunities and distribution channels because of
our unique brand/and customization business model, so sky is the limit.
Short Order - You have a lot of ingredients to choose
from, if I wanted to create a mix with one of each, how would you fit
it in a 16 oz. can?
MMG - After choosing 16 ingredients,
our intuitive website stops you from choosing more because each
ingredient addition is 1 oz.
Short Order - Is the world really ready for 1 billion granola combinations?
MMG
- You betcha! With the maturity of the Internet/web 2.0, customers are
empowered to customize their food products anyway they like them. Why
should bear naked decide what kind of granola mix a consumer likes? We
let the customer decide for themselves!
Short Order - Has anybody recommended strange ingredients?
MMG - Not
really, we have some pretty unique ingredients with the wasabi peas,
organic gummy berries, pomegranate cordials and hemp seeds . . . Oh,
one of our customers did ask for some beef jerky but I think he had a
little sense of humor.
Short Order - How's business?
MMG
- Business is awesome! We are overwhelmed with orders this holiday
season and expect to kick off 2009 with a great granola health
campaign! We have only been live for eight weeks and the response has been
amazing. We have really spearheaded a grassroots marketing campaign on
the web, saving a ton of money by not hiring a PR agency.
-- Jacob Katel
