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Small batch granola that leaves a positive impact on the environment and community

Michele Tsucalas is the founder and owner of Michele’s Granola, a Maryland-based company that bakes and sells handmade, small-batch cereal. The company’s line of products includes multiple flavors of granola as well as muesli and quinoa. As an organization committed to sustainable principles, Michele’s Granola sources GMO-free and organic ingredients, uses 100% recyclable and biodegradable packaging materials, and powers its facility completely through wind power as certified by Green-e. Additionally, the company is dedicated to generating a positive social impact, and has created the Give One for Good Food program, through which Michele’s Granola donates 1% of all granola and muesli sales to organizations focused on improving the food system in Baltimore.

Michele Tsucalas spoke with citybizlist publisher Edwin Warfield for this interview.

EDWIN WARFIELD: Can you tell us about some of the lessons learned and turning points over the years?

MICHELLE TSUCALAS: There have been a lot of lessons learned over the last ten years. I think that the greatest lesson I’ve learned, though, is to be prepared for anything and to just take a deep breath and keep going. One of the things I’m most proud of in my company is my team. I have a fantastic team. We’re almost 30 people in our organization now and I would like to say that we’re a team of doers. Everybody within my organization knows how to make things happen for Michele’s Granola. We range in our daily responsibilities from business management to accounting-type of responsibilities, to delivery driver, production staff—they’re actually mixing and baking and packaging the granola every day—and we have a wonderful sales team. I think that everybody is really just focused on what we do, which is pretty straightforward: we make the best granola anybody has ever tried and we’re just trying to get it into more people’s mouths. So, I think having a pretty straightforward mission has helped us attract great people and keep them over the long term, and then also we’re growing, so that’s very exciting day to day: to be part of something where the opportunities are really limitless.

Q. What does the future look like for Michele’s Granola?

A. I think for Michele’s Granola the future looks a lot like yesterday—just maybe a little bit bigger. We take everything day by day. We look at yesterday and we say, “Where can we get today? Where can we get in six months? Where do we hope to be within a year? Really, we have to keep our eyes on what’s happening in the industry right now. The natural and organic industry is growing and changing, and we attribute a lot of our success to the growth of the industry itself over the last few years. We live in a highly populated area of consumers who are really savvy about what they’re putting into their mouths, and we’re also very fortunate to have hundreds of natural and organic food retailers within our immediate area. We’re able to deliver directly to most of our customers. That’s been a big benefit to us and those customers are growing.

When I started Michele’s Granola, I was a shopper at Mom’s Organic Market, which is based out of Rockville. They have a store in Arlington, Virginia, where I started, and I used to go there and buy all my ingredients out of their bulk bins. I would just scoop their bulk bins clean. That company has grown to 15 locations and they just opened a store in Pennsylvania and I think they are moving into New Jersey next. So, they’re growing, and with them, we grow.

Q. What do you need to grow?

A. I think about growing nationally often, of course. I’m a business owner and I want to be successful and I want the best thing for myself, my family, for the people who work for us; but we found that there isn’t just one way to do things. You can grow and be successful just focusing on your home area, and we have very strong brand recognition in the mid-Atlantic region. Like I said, the industry itself is growing a lot. The base of consumers who are now shifting their habits from eating whatever they had been eating over the last 20 years—they’re now eating natural and organic products, and so they’re buying ours, so we see the business continue to grow.

In just this last year, we’ve grown about 20% over the previous year and we are still primarily based in just the mid-Atlantic region. My sights are set on doing what feels right for the company and the brand, sticking to our small batch, from scratch process because that’s what makes our products so amazing and delicious. I don’t think that process itself is limiting, because we have grown from six bags at that one farmers market to 2,500 pounds a day in our current facility. So, I feel confident in its scalability. It’s just more choosing the opportunities that are right and not growing too fast, because we don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves or into an opportunity or partnership that really does not support Michele’s Granola and the 30 people who are behind it each day.

Connect with Michele on LinkedIn

ABOUT OFFIT KURMAN

Offit Kurman is one of the fastest-growing, full-service law firms in the Mid-Atlantic region. With over 120 attorneys offering a comprehensive range of services in virtually every legal category, the firm is well positioned to meet the needs of dynamic businesses and the people who own and operate them. Our eight offices serve individual and corporate clients in the Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, and Northern Virginia markets, as well as the Washington DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York City metropolitan areas. At Offit Kurman, we are our clients’ most trusted legal advisors, professionals who help maximize and protect business value and personal wealth. In every interaction, we consistently maintain our clients’ confidence by remaining focused on furthering their objectives and achieving their goals in an efficient manner. Trust, knowledge, confidence—in a partner, that’s perfect.

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Edwin Warfield, CEO of citybizlist, conducts the CEO Interviews.

If you're interested in reaching CEOs, please contact edwin.warfield@citybuzz.co

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