Turning a passion into a business

Making granola for you and your family is one thing; deciding to start a company from it takes you into a whole new world!

Judit started making our nuts-only granola for our own use. As is apparent from this website, we are gluten-free and grain-free and follow the paleo diet. We were dissatisfied with commercially available granola options as most had “extras” in them, like added sugars, or relied on oats for most of the bulk. We found them to be too high in carbs as well as being too sweet. Judit's passion for healthy living is demonstrated in the care she gives to the foods we eat, which are low carb and low sugar, in addition to being gluten- and grain-free.

When we had house guests, one of the breakfast options we offered was our "just nuts granola". When they asked for more and requested we bring some with us when we visited them, we thought we might be on to something. 

After some lengthy discussions, we decided to do more with this healthy food; we thought we'd try selling it.

Before we started offering it commercially direct-to-consumer, we wanted to build a proper brand. We had a vision of what niche we wanted to fill and who our target customer was. The next step was to find a good name, branding, and positioning for the product. The look-and-feel of the product was as important as the product being tasty.

We searched and brainstormed and played with a number of ideas and names – and none of them were quite right. One day, when talking about what it was we were making – just nuts granola – the name came to us: JUNULA. You know – JUst NUts granoLA! 

We then worked our graphic designer friend Scott Gross to create the brand logo and color palette to arrive at the look-and-feel we have today. 

While this was in the works, Judit was busy in the kitchen playing with recipes. In addition to what nuts were chosen for flavor and texture, it was also important we include superfoods. We wanted some flavor diversity, and she hatched our initial three flavors, Cherry Berry, Just Enough Chocolate, and Tropical Sunrise. 

We sent the flavors off to Kansas State University for nutritional testing, as we wanted to be sure we were, indeed, selling healthy granola. The good news came back that we were.

With a good product in hand and branding to support it, we were ready to go! All we had to do was start selling – but how? This was new territory for us.

To give the product a real test before we were in too deep, we chose to sell at a local farmers market as a way to test market the product. We planned to offer free samples as well as sell bags of granola. 

After months of preparation, we were ready to go and committed to a farmers market on March 14, 2020 – just when COVID-19 was exploding in the US…

What to do?

We went to the market, and people tried our samples and bought from us. We were encouraged and, as farmers markets were deemed an essential service, we continued selling at them for the rest of the year. We also built our online store (another learning curve!) where we could safely deliver JuNūla to customers at their homes across the United States.

And the rest, as they say, is history! We are growing and still learning as we go. As with any business there's always more to be done!

We are grateful for your business and belief in what we stand for. Thank you for joining us on this journey!