We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tamara Ketchian. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tamara below.

Tamara, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I had been making my own granola for about 10 years since I couldn’t find any healthy granola options in the store. After being a stay at home mom for 17 years, when looking to go back in the workforce, I realized I needed something flexible. I turned to my granola knowing there was a need for this healthy snack and thought I could fill the whole in the market. It was also requested by family and friends proved to me that others thought it was delicious as well. I looked into the cottage food laws which allows you to make certain food products at home and sell them direct to consumer. I knew I needed to make my granola accessible to everyone, healthy and delicious. I now have 11 flavors of granola and all are free from gluten, dairy, egg, peanut, sesame and most are soy free. I also offer 2 completely nut free flavors as well as one that is for those leading a diabetic or keto lifestyle.

Tamara, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I started really looking at the food I was feeding my body about 10 years ago, reading labels, understanding their ingredients, etc. I’ve always enjoyed granola with my yogurt but soon realized that something that was supposed to be healthy was actually loaded with added sugars, preservatives and chemicals. This prompted to me to start making my own granola, which tasted even better than the store bought ones and I was able to control the amount of sweetener added. Using only pure maple syrup, my original flavor is low glycemic and not too sweet. I used to give my granola out as gifts to friends, family, my kids teachers etc. People started requested it and asking to for me to bring it places. This made me realize there are others like me who want to eat clean and healthy and still have flavor! That was how Wildwood Granola was born! I based all flavors on that first recipe and now have 11 varieties plus seasonal ones. All of my flavors are vegan and free from gluten, dairy, egg, peanut, and most are soy free. I also offer two completely nut free options as well as one that is grain free and sugar free for those living a diabetic or keto lifestyle. I started out as a cottage food business and quickly outgrew the capacity in my home kitchen and moved to a shared kitchen space during my second year of business. Being in a commercial kitchen also opened up more avenues of sales channels. I now not only sell at in person eventts and online but I can now ship across the U.S. I am also allowed to sell in stores as well. I’m very excited since I just took my first wholesale order so I’m looking forward to the change and growth this new opportunity brings.

Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?

I do manufacture my own granola at this point everything is still handmade and mixed by me in a shared kitchen space. I have never owned a food business before so there was a big learning curve! Unlike a service based business or if I was making jewelry or clothes, I can’t just set up shop anywhere, bake and sell. There are a lot of regulations and requirements that you have to go through in order to make and sell a good product. I had to learn all of those laws and rules as well as how to source ingredients, how to price my products so I wasn’t losing money, how to sell at at farmers market There are a ton of resources online to help small businesses so I did take advantage of alot of what is out there that is free for anyone. I also joined some incubator groups which help you learn specfic things about your industry as well as network with other makers in the same field. Many times you learn something from another small business owner! When moving my business out of my house and into a commercial kitchen, I had to learn new processes and working with different equipement which effected my product. So I had to do some test runs and samples until I got the flavor back to what it should be.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

My business has been self funded and I started with $5,000 out of my families personal account as a loan. Thankfully my business did well and I was able to pay it off quickly. Another source of income for me has been to enter pitch competitions and to apply for grants. The pitch competitions are a great way for you to really hone in on your elevator pitch and your brands story. The more you do, that better you get at them. They are great exposure for your brand and they also come with the chance to win money that you don’t have to pay back! They are also a great networking opportunity and a way to get experience if you ever need to ask for capitol or to take on investors.

There are also many non profit orginzations such as the SBA and the WBDC in Connecticut that offer the chance to apply for a grant to be awarded certain monies. All you need to do is to prove that the purchase will allow your business to grow and how much. I have been awarded grants that allowed me to purchase a cargo van, pieces of equipment, licensing for bar codes and nuutritional labels..

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.wildwoodgranola.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wildwoodgranola/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wildwoodgranola/