Udis Granola

Pollan Meets Udi's Au Naturel

When Michael Pollan recommends in his book In Defense of Food that people should avoid packaged foods with more then 5 ingredients.  When I read that, I immediately thought about Udi's Au Naturel Granola with just 3 ingredients (oats, honey, and canola oil).  So, when I got the chance to meet him last night at the Naturally Boulder Spring Fling, I introduced him to the Au Naturel.  He seemed amused, gave me a high-five, said "way to go", and signed my copy of The Omnivore's Dilemma.  Here's a picture of us together at the event:

He gave a brief talk at the event and his message was "show me the movement!".  He was referring to something President Obama said at a dinner when asked whether he would champion reforming our food system.  Obama acknowledged that our food system is broken.  It contributes more to greenhouse gases then even our transportation systems (think of waste produced by industrial farms, energy it takes to move food all across the country, fossil fuels used to fertilize crops, etc.).  It contributes to rising health care cost (think Type II diabetes, obesity, cancer).  It makes us vulnerable to national security threats by having so much of our food system centralized in so few places.  Obama's point was that he can't lead change in these areas unless the people want to get behind it and "show me the movement."  Showing the grassroots organizer within him, he acknowledged that it would take a movement to bring about change, but he would be there for us.

Michael Pollan told all of us in the natural food industry this story because we would have to be the one's to create a broader movement.  Our work isn't done by just getting a person like Obama elected, we'd have to keep building a movement to reform the way we eat in America.

If you'd like to read a great piece by Michael Pollan, click on this link of his open letter published in the New York Times on his recommendations to the New President on how to approach food policy.  Now head to the public library and check-out a Michael Pollan book.  Here in Denver there is a wait list for all his books, but be patient.

Be Udiful,
Eric

Nuggets on Rachael Ray Show

Udi's Granola Nuggets will star in an upcoming episode of The Rachael Ray Show this Thursday, May 14th.  Well, not exactly star, but be featured on the "Snack of the Day" segment.  If I read Rachael Ray's guest schedule correctly, then hopefully Denis Leary received a bag of our Nuggets as well as all the audience members.  Here in Denver, The Rachael Ray Show airs on KCNC CBS4 weekdays at 9am.  To find when the show airs where you live visit:

http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/show-info/showtimes/

Be sure to set your DVR's!

This news comes on the heals of another celebrity sighting with our Nuggets.  Before last week's Korn concert at the Fillmore, Jon Davis (lead singer) was spotted with some of his favorite granola - Udi's.  The gift of Udi's Granola got these gals some VIP passes to the show.

Korn and Rachael Ray may seem worlds apart, however, it's been a mind-blowing couple of weeks for our humble granola Nuggets.  I guess they'll have to start getting use to all of this attention and hopefully it won't go to their head.

Be Udiful,
Eric (aka Granola Tycoon)

Udi's Gluten-Free Baked Goods

Last month, Udi's launched our new frozen gluten-free baked good line at ExpoWest, the natural foods industry tradeshow.  There was a ton of buzz at our booth around what could finally be the first great tasting gluten-free breads, pastries, and pizza crusts.  In the past those folks who suffered from celiac disease have had to eliminate all things that contained wheat from their diet.  Could you imagine not being able to eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or a slice of pizza?

Our company has had great initial success launching granola across the country (now available in all 50 states).  That same store, distributor, and broker network now selling our granola will begin rolling out our Gluten-Free line across the country.  Presentations are being made at many key retailers across the country as this blog posting hits the Internet.  We are in the process of integrating the gluten-free products into the ordering and delivery systems already set-up for granola.  There are some challenges though as this line is frozen versus the dry, shelf stable granola we've been selling now for 4 years.  Bear with us as we work through all this.

In the meantime, you can begin to find our new frozen gluten-free line in stores now across the country.  Since last summer, our gluten-free line has been available at Colorado King Soopers and City Market stores.  Now you can look for Udi's Gluten-Free items at Whole Foods-Rocky Mountain region, some Colorado Vitamin Cottage locations, Lueken's (Bemidji, MN), Jackson Hole Grocery (Wyoming), and more locations every day.  A key distributor in the Minneapolis area just picked up the product line, so we'll be rolling out to more stores in that area very soon.

It's an exciting and challenging time when you are launching an entire new product line.  Be sure to continue to tell us about stores in your area that should carry Udi's Frozen Gluten-Free line and we'll do our best to make it happen.  Your testimonials are great too as we love to hear your feedback and new product suggestions!

Be Udiful,
Eric (aka Granola and now soon to be Gluten-Free Tycoon)

Royal Crest Dairy On Board

There is now no excuse to skip breakfast if you are Royal Crest Dairy home delivery customer.  Udi's Original Granola will now be delivered straight to your home along side fresh milk and other dairy products.  Milk home delivery might seem like a thing of the past, but believe it or not there are companies like Royal Crest Dairy (RCD) are thriving across the country.

My family signed up with RCD last summer because their milk tastes great (yes, you can really taste the difference).  Plus, it's so convenient to have milk delivered right to your door.  No more lugging home heavy gallons of milk from the grocery store.  We are a gallon a week milk family, so one less thing that we have to bring home from the store.  They also deliver delicious eggs and other offerings (including now Udi's Granola).  Here is their URL if you want to learn more: www.royalcrestdairy.com.

Tyler Nemkov of the Westword writes about the new partnership between Udi's and RCD in his blog "Food for Thought."  Click here for a link to his story and to comment on the blog posting.  Below is the text from the Tyler's story:

Royal Crest is now delivering Udi's granola

By Tyler Nemkov in Food for Thought

Friday, Apr. 17 2009 @ 12:08PM

On a day such as this, with some sort of sleet falling from the sky like God is throwing mini water balloons, walking outside is not in my best interest. As much as I love Udi's line of granolas, trenching through slush to get some cereal just doesn't seem worth it.

But if you're lucky enough to be a customer of Royal Crest Dairy, which has been delivering a variety of mostly dairy products throughout the Denver area since 1927, you can now get Udi's granola delivered to your door. "A few years ago I realized how good of a combination it would be," explained Eric Clayman, Udi's self-described Granola Tycoon. "Royal Crest was really interested, but we had packaging issues and just kind of put it on the back burner." It moved to the front burner about five months ago, when Clayman was watching his family eating granola and drinking Royal Crest milk one morning, and realized that the fit was too good to ignore. So he contacted Royal Crest again, and they pulled together an agreement for how Royal Crest would deliver the granola, which Udi's sells for $5.49 a bag. "It launched this month," Clayman told me. "In the first day, we sold about 300 bags of granola. This means it's a pretty major account, and a whole other channel for us. We are reaching out to other delivery services in Utah and Kansas City, and we don't think any of our competition is going this route." Clayman said he's also renewed contracts with Wal-Mart and T.J. Maxx. Udi's granola is now in all fifty states, and sales have increased 50 percent from last year, he added. The Granola Tycoon is proof positive that a business can flourish in a bad economy if you're willing to get creative -- something Clayman has never hesitated to do. The last time I spoke with him, it was regarding his strange exchange with Stephen Colbert. He told me he still hasn't gotten a response from the comedian, but hasn't given up trying. Maybe Royal Crest can deliver his message.

Udi's Puts Colbert "On Notice"

My jaw dropped the other night while watching The Colbert Report when I saw a joke showing Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad endorsing Streit's Matzos.  Udi's Granola has been using a ringing “endorsement” by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in advertisements in Jewish magazine HEEB since 2007. The ad features a photoshopped picture of the Holocaust denier eating a delicious bowl of Udi’s Granola under text reading: "Israeli-born Udi Baron makes a granola so delicious, nobody can say no."

Last week, Comedy Central’s popular The Colbert Report featured a joke in which Ahmadinejad endorsed Streit’s Matzos, exclaiming "Even I can’t deny it’s delicious!"

Coincidence? We think not.

That’s because last summer, just before the Democratic National Convention rolled into town, Stephen Colbert called us Denver residents a bunch of “granola snarfing” hippies. In response, Udi’s Granola sent him a care package that included granola samples, along with the HEEB Ahmadinejad ad – and all we got in return was a polite “thank you.”

HEEB couldn’t let the similarity slide, calling it “uncanny” in a blog posting on Wednesday, March 18. Click here to see the full text:

http://www.heebmagazine.com/blog/view/1548

Udi’s Granola just had to respond.

So “Granola Tycoon” (that's me!) - posted this response on The Colbert Nation forum, officially putting Stephen Colbert “on notice” to fess up to borrowing the idea:

http://forum.colbertnation.com/tcr/board/message?board.id=TCR&thread.id=5301

Will the show respond? Stay tuned!  In the meantime, take a look at the two ads side by side and you be the judge.

In Today's Denver Post . . .

. . . there is an article in the business section about Udi's Granola called "Crunching Numbers: Udi's Granola is gaining a foothold and eyeing future growth."  Got to love that play on words!  Very nice article that talks about our growth to date and the potential that is still out there for Udi's Granola.

Here are links to the online article and a video from the Denver Post's visit to our granola bakery.

Article Link:
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_11240536

Video Link:
http://videocenter.denverpost.com/services/link/bcpid1504364485/bclid1419798684/bctid4839358001

Please let us know what you think of this great publicity from our hometown newspaper!

Be Udiful,
Eric

The World of Facebook

This week I was introduced to the world of Facebook (ok, I'm so behind the times).  After reconnecting with many old friends, who had no idea that I was now making granola for a living, I decided it was time to create a Facebook presence for Udi's Granola.  If you are big fan of Udi's Granola, please visit our Facebook page and tell us more about yourself.  Here is the link:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=31354051826&ref=mf

There are discussions on what's your favorite flavor and where do you buy our granola.  I've added pictures that help tell our story.  And there is even a link to a great story that just appeared in Denver's own 5280 Magazine called "Home Grown" about food companies from Colorado.  Our Hawaiian Granola is featured in the story along with lots of other Colorado food producer friends.  Here is the link to the 5280 story for those of you who don't want to go to Facebook:

http://www.5280.com/issues/2008/0810/feature.php?pageID=1347

Have fun exploring Facebook, it has certainly kept me up late at night!

Be Udiful,
Eric

Reviewed in Gourmet Retailer

We just got the word today that Udi's Granola is one of this month's editor's choices in Gourmet Retailer Magazine.  This magazine calls itself "the leading voice of the gourmet industry", so it's always great to be recognized by your peers.  The editor discovered our product at this past summer's Fancy Food Show in New York City.

It's also great to see a fellow Colorado business reviewed in the column as well.  The editor also liked Epicurean Butter, whose booth was adjacent to ours at the Fancy Food Show.  Each day at the show around lunch time, the folks from Epicurean Butter would prepare a flight of butter tastings for me.  After sampling many of their offerings, I have to agree with the editor of Gourmet Retailer that the Lime Sea Salt is my favorite!

Click here to link to story

Be Udiful,
Eric

More Stores!!!

The fall is when many grocery stores reset their shelves with new products like Udi's Granola.  Across the country, you'll now be able to find us in numerous new locations.  If we aren't yet in your area, please recommend Udi's to your store manager and drop us an email so we can reach-out to them as well.

Let's start in the Northeast, where King Kullen is about to place our product in their stores across New York's Long Island.  Another Long Island chain called Best Yet Markets has also picked-up our granola.  In the Northeast, it's not just happening for Udi's in the New York area.  In Western Massachusetts, a grocery store chain called Big Y has picked up our product line.

In the Midwest, you'll soon also find Udi's in Roundy's, which is primarily based in Wisconsin, but has stores in other neighboring states as well.  Also in the Midwest, we were placed in family-run chain of stores called Lueken's located in Bemidji, Minnesota.  Dave Lueken sent the following picture of what he calls his "wall of Udi's".  His girlfriend calls Udi's "the only granola on the planet".  We happen to agree with that!

In the Southeast, the natural food store chain Chamberlin's in Central Florida has us and their sister stores in Oklahoma called Akin's also carry the product.  Also, in South Carolina, Bi-Lo carries Udi's along with their sister stores in Alabama called Bruno's.

Out West, Mother's in Orange County, California now carries Udi's Granola.  In the Mountain West (Idaho, Montana, Wyoming), Albertson's is rolling out our product.

And finally, has anyone out there heard of a small chain called Wal-Mart?  If you remember from July, 220 of their locations picked up Udi's Granola.  Now in September, another 540 stores have put Udi's Granola on the shelf.  That will put us in Wal-Mart locations in 40 states across the country.

In this summary of new stores, I'm sure I've forgotten a few, so feel free to let me know if I've left something off the list.  It's humbling to see our granola in places big and small all across this country.  We are still just scratching the surface of stores that could carry our delicious granola.  So, if there is a place you discover that is still not carrying Udi's Granola, tell your store manager and post a message on this blog and we'll see what we can do.

Be Udiful,
Eric

Wal-Mart Jumps on the Udi's Bandwagon

Yep in July, 220 Wal-Mart locations started selling Udi's Granola.  Then in September, another 540 stores come on board bringing our total to 760+ locations.  Wal-Mart will start-off carrying our Original, Cranberry, and Hawaiian flavors.  Our sources tell us that the Hawaiian flavor is the favorite of the Wal-Mart buying team (the folks who made the decision to bring us in).  Also, my personal favorite!

For a small business like Udi's Granola, launching at Wal-Mart doesn't come without its challenges and dilemmas (everyone has an opinion about Wal-Mart).  On the challenges front, Wal-Mart means big increases in production.  That means our production shifts go longer into the evening, we have to source greater numbers of raw materials, and then find places to store all the finished goods.  This is also the first time we've worked with a consolidator.  Wal-Mart works with various consolidators that warehouse and deliver goods to their 40+ distribution centers across the country.  When orders come in for a product like Udi's Granola, the consolidator pulls it from their inventory, puts it on a truck with other items, and ships to the appropriate Wal-Mart DC for delivery to the store.

On the dilemma side of the equation, we never considered not doing business with Wal-Mart despite how some people feel about them as a company.  They negotiated a very fair price with Udi's, which was important because we couldn't under-cut other folks we do business with.  Also, as Wal-Mart continues to add more specialty food items to their stores, we were excited and flattered to be part of those offerings.  Take a closer look at your local Wal-Mart and you'll find specialty food brands like Stubbs BBQ sauce (our friends from Austin), Briannas salad dressings, McCann Irish Oatmeal, Monari balsamic vinegar from Italy, and Inglehoffer mustards from Oregon.

You can now get your Udi's Granola fix at the Wal-Mart locations listed below.

Be Udiful,
Eric

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

STORE #	CITY	STATE
332	HUNTSVILLE	AL
356	AUBURN	AL
1229	HOOVER	AL
2690	MADISON	AL
2748	GULF SHORES	AL
4333	FAIRHOPE	AL
4581	MOBILE	AL
11	MOUNTAIN HOME	AR
100	BENTONVILLE	AR
144	FAYETTEVILLE	AR
261	HOT SPRINGS	AR
2745	FAYETTEVILLE	AR
4460	MAUMELLE	AR
5244	LITTLE ROCK (NW)	AR
5260	ROGERS	AR
1299	COTTONWOOD	AZ
1417	PRESCOTT	AZ
2766	SCOTTSDALE	AZ
2767	MESA (N)	AZ
3846	MESA	AZ
3896	PEORIA (LAKE PLESNT	AZ
4325	YUMA	AZ
5329	PHOENIX	AZ
1645	HANFORD	CA
1660	PALMDALE	CA
1853	HEMET	CA
3523	SANTA CLARITA (E)	CA
5096	PALM DESERT (C.CITY	CA
953	LOVELAND	CO
984	CASTLE ROCK	CO
1434	COLORADO SPRINGS	CO
1689	AURORA	CO
1896	COLORADO SPRINGS	CO
2270	DURANGO	CO
2729	FORT COLLINS	CO
2892	PARKER	CO
3313	CENTENNIAL	CO
3867	WESTMINSTER	CO
5099	GRAND JUNCTION (W)	CO
5137	AURORA (SE)	CO
5341	BROOMFIELD	CO
2331	WATERFORD	CT
2371	WALLINGFORD	CT
174	COCOA	FL
613	ORMOND BEACH	FL
721	PORT CHARLOTTE	FL
929	PORT ST LUCIE	FL
943	CASSELBERRY	FL
987	FORT MYERS	FL
994	NEW PORT RICHEY	FL
1082	JACKSONVILLE(MANDAR	FL
1087	STUART	FL
1104	INVERNESS	FL
1223	TALLAHASSEE	FL
1362	DESTIN	FL
1390	PINELLAS PARK	FL
1874	ENGLEWOOD	FL
2740	TAMPA	FL
2789	BOYNTON BEACH	FL
2796	OLDSMAR	FL
2963	CORAL SPRINGS	FL
3207	SANFORD (W)	FL
3417	NAPLES	FL
3484	PENSACOLA	FL
3538	VIERA	FL
4262	THE VILLAGES	FL
5264	OSPREY	FL
5391	NAPLES	FL
575	WOODSTOCK	GA
878	CUMMING	GA
937	MARIETTA	GA
1227	AUGUSTA (MARTINEZ)	GA
1400	ATHENS	GA
1578	ROSWELL	GA
1766	MARIETTA	GA
2811	ATHENS	GA
2941	ALPHARETTA	GA
3403	DALLAS	GA
3461	PEACHTREE CITY	GA
3462	SUWANEE	GA
4436	ALPHARETTA	GA
5275	WOODSTOCK (W)	GA
1764	DES MOINES	IA
2827	CORALVILLE	IA
3762	WEST DE MOINES (SW)	IA
2861	GARDEN CITY	ID
196	CARBONDALE	IL
1125	NORMAL	IL
1734	CHAMPAIGN	IL
3255	SAVOY	IL
3460	PEORIA	IL
870	JASPER	IN
1479	VALPARAISO	IN
1665	MUNCIE	IN
1991	BLOOMINGTON	IN
2339	WEST LAFAYETTE	IN
2787	INDIANAPOLIS	IN
4230	FORT WAYNE	IN
35	MANHATTAN	KS
577	OLATHE	KS
664	HAYS	KS
1802	TOPEKA	KS
4321	WICHITA	KS
491	PADUCAH	KY
2628	LEXINGTON	KY
531	LAFAYETTE	LA
553	SLIDELL	LA
1206	BATON ROUGE (SW)	LA
2938	LAFAYETTE	LA
5022	NEW ORLEANS	LA
2336	PLYMOUTH	MA
2629	NORTHBRIDGE	MA
3409	LEICESTER	MA
1890	SALISBURY	MD
2153	BIDDEFORD	ME
1542	GAYLORD	MI
2192	HOUGHTON	MI
2273	BURTON (FLINT)	MI
2417	PETOSKEY	MI
5065	KALAMAZOO	MI
159	COLUMBIA	MO
444	SPRINGFIELD	MO
2221	SPRINGFIELD	MO
2857	KANSAS CITY	MO
699	OXFORD	MS
2084	BOZEMAN	MT
1027	CONCORD	NC
1156	MOORESVILLE	NC
1317	ASHEVILLE	NC
1348	WILMINGTON	NC
1355	MOREHEAD CITY	NC
1385	GASTONIA	NC
1392	WILMINGTON	NC
1464	CHARLOTTE	NC
2005	KANNAPOLIS	NC
2793	KERNERSVILLE	NC
4274	DENVER	NC
5063	CHARLOTTE	NC
3267	OMAHA	NE
3278	LINCOLN (SE)	NE
1749	SOMERSWORTH	NH
1796	AMHERST	NH
2055	CONCORD	NH
2142	SALEM	NH
3535	EPPING	NH
831	ALBUQUERQUE (S)	NM
835	ALBUQUERQUE	NM
1306	ALAMOGORDO	NM
1397	ALBUQUERQUE	NM
1560	LAS VEGAS (SE)	NV
1648	CARSON CITY	NV
2593	LAS VEGAS	NV
3254	RENO	NV
3277	RENO	NV
3408	CARSON CITY	NV
4356	LAS VEGAS	NV
5070	LAS VEGAS (SW2)	NV
1810	FISHKILL	NY
1940	EAST GREENBUSH	NY
1959	MIDDLETOWN	NY
2056	SARATOGA SPRINGS	NY
2116	QUEENSBURY	NY
2152	ALBANY	NY
2351	CATSKILL	NY
2547	MONTICELLO	NY
2637	MONROE	NY
2844	HALFMOON	NY
2874	GLENVILLE	NY
3583	GLENMONT	NY
3842	MACEDON	NY
1427	CIRCLEVILLE	OH
2275	OXFORD	OH
2725	LEWIS CENTER	OH
2726	REYNOLDSBURG	OH
3293	CHARDON	OH
3486	ATHENS	OH
4479	PERRYSBURG	OH
4609	CINCINNATI (COLERAI	OH
41	BARTLESVILLE	OK
212	NORMAN	OK
472	BROKEN ARROW	OK
622	OKLAHOMA CITY	OK
1626	OKLAHOMA CITY	OK
2803	EDMOND	OK
2804	OKLAHOMA CITY	OK
4241	STILLWATER	OK
1880	COOS BAY	OR
3258	EUGENE (W)	OR
1644	LEWISBURG	PA
1770	CRANBERRY TNSHIP/EV	PA
2230	STATE COLLEGE	PA
2252	EASTON	PA
2287	NEW CASTLE	PA
2300	PITTSBURGH	PA
2368	EAST STROUDSBURG	PA
5239	BECHTELSVILLE	PA
1964	WESTERLY	RI
640	GREENVILLE	SC
5487	TRAVELERS REST	SC
688	NASHVILLE (S)	TN
2065	KNOXVILLE (W)	TN
2310	KNOXVILLE (E)	TN
2932	KNOXVILLE (SW)	TN
3835	OOLTEWAH	TN
5057	MURFREESBORO	TN
1800	GARLAND	TX
3506	CYPRESS	TX
5235	SANDY	UT
1292	CHRISTIANSBURG	VA
1682	CHESAPEAKE	VA
1726	HARRISONBURG	VA
1759	GLOUCESTER	VA
1833	FREDERICKSBURG	VA
2089	BRISTOL	VA
2136	CULPEPER	VA
2808	MIDLOTHIAN	VA
3216	VIRGINIA BEACH	VA
3219	WILLIAMSBURG	VA
5253	CHESAPEAKE (SW)	VA
1947	OMAK	WA
5272	POULSBO	WA
1571	MUKWONAGO	WI
2958	APPLETON	WI
2986	NEENAH	WI
2083	MORGANTOWN	WV
3215	GRANVILLE	WV