MixMyGranola

MixMyGranola was featured in:

Review by MixMyGranola Press

Sun Sentinel features MixMyGranola

When the vending machine is calling you, click here instead

MixMyGranola.com lets you customize granola just to your liking.

Is eating healthier one of your goals? Choose granola as breakfast or as an at-the-ready snack for when hunger pangs attack and the vending machine is calling its siren song.

MixMyGranola.com lets you customize granola just to your liking.

You start with one of five bases and add ingredients from the lists of fruits, nuts and seeds, extras (everything from coconut to jelly beans) and "enhancers" (which include shots of caffeine powder, acai powder, green tea powder and the like).

The site updates the price of your granola and gives you a status nutrition report as you go along, so you can make it as healthy as you like. (Sure, dark chocolate has antioxidants, but I'm not sure how you can justify the gummy bears. Oh right. They're organic!)

The base granolas start at $4.49 and add-ins range from 49 cents to $2.49 each. Your mix gets you a pound of granola. Mix a batch for everyone in your family because if you spend more than $40 you get free shipping.

For the indecisive or unsure, Mix My Granola also offers pre-mixes ($6.99 to $11.99) specially blended by flavor ("Let's go nuts!" for nut-lovers), activity (Runner's Mix) or goal (like weight loss or lowering your cholesterol).

Review by Kim Ossi

Edible South Florida features MixMyGranola

Granola, your way

You have to pick the raisins out of your cereal bowl. Your significant other, on the other hand, can't stand almonds. Time to check out MixMyGranola, a Miami-based company that customizes your granola with over 75 all-natural ingredients. Thanks to MixMyGranola, we are now addicted to dried raspberries. Order online at mixmygranola.com

Review by Edible South Florida

Eating Well features MixMyGranola

Mix your own granola.

Point and click your way through more than 60 ingredients at mixmygranola.com to customize your granola. Pick your base mix, then add your favorite dried fruits, nuts and seed. Name your mix before you check out and - voila!- your granola will arrive in a few days. Our favorite feature is the Nutrition Calculator. Displayed throughout the "mixing" process, it calculates nutrition information per serving as you add ingredients.

Review by Eating Well

Entrepreneur features MixMyGranola

Business Spotlight: MixMyGranola

Matthew Pawlik likes a challenge. After working on Wall Street, he wanted to break the restraints of the corporate world and start fresh. So in 2008, Pawlik stepped way out of his comfort zone, teamed up with Andreas Bergmann and Raoul Duggal, and launched the customizable granola company MixMyGranola.

By going online, customers can create and name a granola mixture of their very own--just the way they like it. First you choose one of the organic, all-natural or low-fat granola bases (I'd go with French vanilla if I were you). Then you get to choose from more than 50 add-ins including dried fruits, nuts, seeds and even organic gummy bears.

While creating your mix, a nutrition facts calculator on the side of the page updates as you add ingredients. Once you've checked out, your crunchy masterpiece will arrive at your doorstep in a few days in a sleek recyclable tube complete with a personalized label--pretty cool, huh?

We recently caught up with Pawlik to discuss niche marketing, the recession and wearing shorts to work.

How do you market your niche business?
We are on all the social networking sites including Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and Digg. Blogs are also great venues to spread the word about your company. Bloggers have a very loyal following and get your message across effectively to potential customers. In fact, we sent out free samples to specific bloggers and saw about an 8 percent conversion rate.

We also use Google Small Business Apps, which is an excellent free resource for collaboration on projects, Word docs, and Excel spreadsheets.

And we also use the online space to improve customer service. We constantly answer e-mails about our product and communicate with our customers through e-mail. Our turnaround in answering e-mails is less than 30 minutes and we usually answer immediately because everything ties into our Blackberry and iPhone.

How has the recession affected your business?
Operating in a recession is the only thing we know. Our business was launched at the height of the financial crisis in 2008 when every investment bank was collapsing before our eyes.

You've already received some serious press attention. How have you achieved that?
We really "press the flesh" and contact any and everyone we know. It is a lot of hard work but we saved a ton of money by not hiring a P.R. firm. Plus, when the business owners themselves contact editors and influential people, they find it more genuine than when it is coming from a third party P.R. firm.

What's the best part about owning your own business?
We live in sunny south Florida so I love coming to work in shorts and a tee-shirt.

What single piece of advice do you have for aspiring entrepreneurs?
Always watch your costs and spending. You might have the best business idea in the world, but if you burn through your funds too quickly, your idea will die before it has time to take off. Sometimes the road less traveled is the most rewarding when you reach the destination.

What does the future hold for MixMyGranola?
Sign up for our newsletter and find out!

Review by Kara Ohngren

Today's Diet & Nutrition features MixMyGranola

MixMyGranola

Get granola your way from MixMyGranola. Choose from more than 60 ingredients to create a customized mix that's shipped to you in a tube. www.mixmygranola.com

Review by Today's Diet & Nutrition

Modern Luxury features MixMyGranola

Mix My Granola

The new and locally based MixMyGranola.com which counts skinny stylist Rachel Zoe among its fans, allows you to go online to mix and match all-natural ingredients like organic muesli, goji berries and sunflower seeds, and then have the customized grains shipped straight to your door. mixmygranola.com

Review by Modern Luxury - MIAMI Best Of The City 2010

The New York Times features MixMyGranola

Until recently, I’d drifted away from grainy breakfasts, even though breakfast is a great time of day for whole grains — especially if you exercise first thing in the morning, as I do. Then I rediscovered steel-cut oats and homemade granola.

Lately, I’ve begun making granola again. It only took one batch to hook my son, who takes a bag of it to school every day as a mid-morning snack. I was inspired by a nifty Web site called www.mixmygranola.com, where users can order up a custom mix of granola beginning with a crisp base of sweetened oats and rice. After selecting your base, you can choose from a wide selection of added dried fruits, nuts and “extras.” (Unfortunately there are some questionable options, like M&M’s and gummy bears, which negate the virtues of the healthy base). Then they send you the granola with your own customized label. (...)

Review by Martha Rose Shulman

Life & Style features MixMyGranola

Mixes to Munch on

It's no surprise that mix master Rachel Zoe opts for customized, all-natural granola from MixMyGranola.com for on-the-go-energy. She can choose from berries, animal cookies and even gummy bears. Her fave? Bananas, of course.

Review by Life & Style

Rachel Zoe features MixMyGranola

Hit The Trail

As anyone leading a hectic life will tell you, keeping one’s energy levels up throughout the day is crucial! When blood sugar drops, it is not pretty. One of the healthiest ways to stay alert is by snacking on your favorite assortment of treats. MixMyGranola makes this easy—you have to try them out for all of your on-the-go grazing.

How many of you trail mix junkies, like myself, have yet to find your perfect all-faves-in-one blend, so you always pick out only the best parts? With MixMyGranola, those days are over! This ingenious site was created for you to customize your own yummy mix. Have a sweet tooth? Make yours with a lot of peanut butter bites and chocolate raisins. There are plenty of treats for the salt lovers too—roasted almonds, yogurt pretzels and more…! The possibilities are endless—it is truly bananas…which they have too :

Zoe Do: Keep MyMixGranola.com gift certificates in mind for the holidays. Fab and affordable!

Availability: MyMixGranola.com (mixes begin at $9).

Review by Rachel Zoe

Hungry Girl features MixMyGranola

The Buzz

MixMyGranola makes YOU a granola designer. Go to the website, pick a granola base (we like the low-fat kind -- big surprise!),
and select exactly what you'd like in your mix -- there are more than 70 different ingredients, from fruits and nuts to caffeine powder and gummy bears! PLUS, at any point in the building process, you can check in with the nutrition calculator to view the stats on your granola-to-be. Order your own mix NOW. YAY!

Review by Hungry Girl

Shape features MixMyGranola

MIX MY GRANOLA

After selecting a granola base, choose from more then 65 fruits, seeds, nuts, and flakes to add in. (mixmygranola.com; from $5 for 16 ounces)

Review by Kristen Maxwell

Vegetarian Times features MixMyGranola

CUSTOM CRUNCH

Choose your granola, fruits, nuts, seeds, and extras: Mix My Granola lets you create a blend and then name it. Starting at $4.49/16 oz.; mixmygranola.com

Review by Gabrielle Harradine

Real Simple features MixMyGranola

The Best Granolas - No matter how you like it―on yogurt, with milk, or plain―these picks are sure to please.

For Picky Eaters

Love dried strawberries? Can’t stand walnuts? Log on to mixmygranola.com to create your own custom breakfast mix. The company offers dozens of fruits (from dried blackberries to mangos), eleven nuts, and seven seeds (flax, anyone?). For the truly creative, organic gummy bears, crystallized ginger, and wasabi peas are also available. An on-line nutrition calculator lets you see how your picks add up.

Review by Lindsay Funston

YUMSugar.com features MixMyGranola

Sir Mix a Lot

My younger sister is one of those people who absolutely adores breakfast foods – she finds herself eating them all day long. So I was shocked when she said she was swearing off one of her a.m. staples: granola. Always health-conscious, she discovered how high in fat and calories a serving could be. I suggested she try the granola from MixMyGranola, a website that allows you to customize the fixings in your granola and check the fat and calorie content of each serving before ordering. Find out how it works after the jump

First you start by picking your granola base; we tried both the original, organic granola as well as the low-fat granola. Then comes the fun part: you’ve got the option to load up the granola with fruits, nuts, and seeds, plus interesting and quirky extras like crystallized ginger or wasabi peas.

We kept the low-fat granola base simple by stirring in raisins, cranberries, and organic flax seeds. With each addition, you can click the nutrition calculator to check the stats on every serving. For the original organic mix, we chose roasted almonds, dried blueberries, and organic dates.

When the mixes arrived, we were equally excited to pop open the containers and munch away on our granola.

I paired mine with Greek yogurt, while my sister slurped hers with vanilla almond milk. Although we both preferred the taste of the original mix, the low-fat mix held its own in terms of taste and crunch. We loved that both of us could pick and choose exactly how we wanted our granola. How would you mix yours?

Review by Party Sugar

Health.com reviews MixMyGranola

Foodie Friday: MixMyGranola

Call me high maintenance, but there’s something so appealing about having my food made exactly the way I want it. So for a demanding eater like me, creating my own Healthy Lady mix of MixMyGranola made the perfect customizable breakfast in a bowl.

The product: MixMyGranola (16-ounce containers start at $4.50, with ingredients ranging from $.50–$2, plus shipping and handling costs; mixmygranola.com)

The health factor: MixMyGranola allows you to select only the ingredients you want, which is both a blessing and a curse. They offer a variety of healthy dried fruits (from raisins to goji berries), nuts, and seeds, but they also offer candy (it was so hard to resist the gummy bears!). My Healthy Lady mix clocked in at 239 calories per 1/4 a cup (with 5 grams of fiber and protein), so I had to be careful with portion control. But the granolas are all-natural and preservative-free, and the ingredients are organic whenever possible.

The taste factor: Scrumptious! I chose low-fat granola with roasted almonds, dried blackberries, raspberries, apricots, and coconut shreds. The result was perfectly crunchy oats, huge chunks of dried fruit, and just the right amount of almonds. I liked mixing mine in plain yogurt, but it would be great straight out of the container.

Why we love it: You can make your own healthy granola and have it shipped directly to your doorstep. Though it can get pricey—and caloric—it’s a selective shopper’s dream.

Review by Mara Betsch

Fox Houston features MixMyGranola

Mix Your Own Granola on the Web

Website of the Day for Tuesday, July 28, 2009

MyFoxHouston - It’s a breakfast snack that’s fun to mix, which is why there’s an entire website dedicated to granola. This Website of the Day lets you make it the way you like it.

The website “Mix My Granola” has a “mix it” button. It lets you choose a base granola, with options like “low fat” and “vanilla.” Then you select the mix-ins in you want - from strawberries to raisins.

The final step is the ordering process. Orders start at $5 plus shipping, but if you order enough they’ll do the shipping for free.

Since every order is a little different, the website can even calculate the nutritional values of your selection, so you know how many calories you’re taking in.

Free items on the include a blog, granola tips and recipes, and some videos that further emphasize how tasty granola can be.

-- Visit the site: http://www.mixmygranola.com

Review by Doug Delony

Epicurious features MixMyGranola

Granola: Breakfast for Champions

It is morning in America (to steal President Ronald Reagan's phrase) and I've just had a good breakfast. For a long time I was OBSESSED with oatmeal and had it every morning for about 8 years. But ever since I tested my coauthor's extreme granola recipe for our Real Food for Healthy Kids cookbook, I've been addicted to granola. The chewiness of the oats combined with the crunch of the nuts and sweetness from the raisins makes it like morning sunshine in a bowl. When I don't have time to make my own, I sometimes splurge on a couple of batches of Mix My Granola. You choose from four types of granolas (one of which is actually muesli), select from an assortment of dried fruits, nuts, and seeds, and add any extras like coconut shreds or nutrient-boosting powders such as green tea or acai. It gets shipped to you the next day and costs on average between $14 and $20 for a pound chock full of yummy stuff. And when I run out of my custom blend, I munch on Bear Naked's fortifying and tasty Cranberry Raisin and Banana Nut whole-wheat cereals as well as its granola. These cereals are, to quote another ubiquitous saying, "umm, umm good."

Review by Tanya Steel

Brides.com features MixMyGranola

Favors & Gifts

Mix it up

Weddings and granola prove to be a surprisingly compatible mix with online site MixMyGranola. Brides are using the site, which allows you to customize your own organic granola using ingredients like goji berries, almonds and dried papaya, to create special wedding mixes to include in welcome baskets or to hand out for guests to snack on during the ceremony. The site also tells you exactly how many calories are in each serving of your mix, making the granola an ideal treat for brides who are trying to eat healthily before the big day. Mix up your own batch at mixmygranola.com

Review by Kathryn Papanek

The Kitchn reviews MixMyGranola

MixMyGranola: Custom Granola at the Click of a Mouse

Do you like granola? We do. We always think about making it ourselves, but never seem to get around to it, sadly. So we jumped at the chance to try out a new online product: MixMyGranola, which lets you mix up custom batches of granola that are shipped to you overnight. What would this be, we wondered? Gimmick? Great granola?

A little of both, it turned out, in the end.

MixMyGranola's website walks you through choosing a base granola (we chose an organic granola) and then you get to customize it with all sorts of good things. Dried strawberries, blueberries, raisins, Goji berries, banana chips... the list of fruit goes on and on.

Then you get to the nuts and seeds: almonds, walnuts, pepitas — over a dozen choices! Then there were the potential mix-ins: protein enhancers, coconut shreds, yogurt pretzels, even M&Ms.

In the end, we plunked quite a few things into our granola: dried berries and bananas, flax seeds, almonds, pepitas, and more. The final tally came to quite a bill, too; including shipping this would cost about $18.

The granola-mixing process is a lot of fun, and very easy. But of course the shipping is a little discomfiting; all those airmiles, for granola? And for that price?

But we needed to taste it before passing judgment. The granola showed up the next day in a sleek tube. It was printed with the name we had assigned our granola, plus custom nutrition facts and labeling. The whole look of the product was sleek and impressive.

But how was it? All that is sort of beside the point if it isn't good granola, right? It was very good granola, with plenty of crunch and fresh taste. It lacked, however, the big crunchy chunks we really like in our granola. It had a finer texture, but it was still very oaty and delicious. There were also plenty of the mix-ins; they weren't skimped at all.

Overall, the verdict on this granola is that it does inspire us to make our own more often, since realistically we probably wouldn't pay this much money for a pound of granola. But it also did make us realize that buying this variety and quantity mix-ins might actually push our own homemade granola up to a similar price.

In the end, we think this could be a fantastic gift for a friend or sibling at school — perhaps someone you needs a gentle nudge to eat healthier or to eat breakfast more often. The service is fun, fast, and the granola was definitely delicious. It just isn't an everyday thing for us.

• Try it yourself: MixMyGranola

Review by Faith Durand

Gourmet features MixMyGranola

MixMyGranola

Here's a great way to customize granola. Just choose your favorite ingredients - fruits and nuts, or even chocolates or jelly beans - and soon everyone can enjoy 'your' granola.

(prices vary based on ingredients: mixmygranola.com)

Review by Megan M. Re

Woman's Day features MixMyGranola

Daily Dose: Mix Your Own Granola

Granola is one of those foods where you think you’re eating healthy, but in actuality, probably consuming way more calories and fat than you realize. Back in my college years, my friends and I would opt for a “healthy” snack and dump a mound of granola from the enormous dining hall cereal dispensers (which, by the way, didn’t include nutritional info) and mix with a bit of yogurt. Thinking back on it, we probably each ate about 3-4 servings more than we realized. Now, I’ve figured out that the key with granola is getting a low fat option, practicing careful portion control and always knowing the nutritional stats.

A new company that is helping you do all three of those things is MixMyGranola. On their website, you can create a custom blend by starting with a base (such as low-fat granola or organic muesli). From there, you choose from a large variety of mix-ins like dried fruit and nuts to round out your personalized mix. It is shipped immediately and comes in a (large) container with the exact nutritional info plastered on the side. This way, you know exactly what you’re eating with each serving size. I tested it out and received my mix filled with dried mangoes and flaxseeds within a few days. So far, I’m loving it. I eat a small amount with non-fat milk as an afternoon snack or sprinkle some on my yogurt for added crunch in the morning.

Check out this pic to see just how much granola you get with each order. Look at the size of that thing compared to my computer!

Review by Abby Cuffey

Food Network's Food2 features MixMyGranola

Granola 2.0 -- Custom Snacking

Want to bring a little creativity and customization to your breakfast or workout? A new online start-up out of Miami lets you design your own granola from sign in to nuts.

Isn't there always one ingredient in pre-packaged granola that ruins the whole experience? It's that one weird fruit or nut that you pick around until you find a friend who specializes in eating that item.

Mix My Granola addresses that issue through an intuitive, new website that allows granola fans to choose their favorites, every step of the way. After selecting the base of your choice (organic, low-fat or French vanilla granola or organic muesli), you can choose from nearly 20 dried fruits (from Goji berries to dried sliced melons). You can then enhance your custom mix with dried nuts and seeds (they even have hemp seeds and chia seeds -- of Chia Pet fame). Finish off your mix with some fun extras like wasabi peas, Froot Loops or Gummi Bears.

The Food2 team did a test run last Wednesday afternoon and the tube o' granola was in our office less than 24-hours later. Across the board, the mix got thumbs up on taste -- and this is not the easiest crowd to please.

The biggest negative reviews were strictly based on my poor ordering choices. I opted for a lot of tiny seed in my mix which would be good over a bowl of cereal but was more challenging when eating by the handful.

The clear winner of the mix was the fruit -- flavor-packed dried strawberries and Maine blueberries that were a notch above standard grocery store fare.

They also have gift certificates if you want to surprise a friend with a more unique food gift that lets them be creative in the process.

Review by Mark Levine

Cookie Magazine features MixMyGranola

Mix My Granola

I recently discovered wonder-site mixmygranola.com, which allows you to customize your own granola based on preferences for fruit, nuts, seeds-- or candy corn and jelly beans. Parents can craft their perfect breakfast cereal or afternoon snack, and kids will hopefully be too distracted by the peanut butter bites and fruit loops to notice that there are also fiber-rich chia seeds or wholesome oatbran flakes in the mix.

I'm especially partial to my perfect mix of organic granola base, dried bing cherries, pistachios, flax seeds, coconut shavings and dark chocolate morsels. I've been eating it every morning since it's arrival in the mail, mixed with an indulgent pour of whole milk.

Review by Julie Alvin

New York Magazine's Grub Street features MixMyGranola

Mix Your Own Granola, Make Your Own Meat Cards

Let’s just get all three of these out of the way at once: There’s a Tumblr that documents “delicious” hospital food. It’s called Hospital Food. There’s a mail-order site that allows you to mix your own granola. It’s called MixMyGranola.com. And, most awesome of all, there are beef-jerky business cards. They’re called Meat Cards.

Review by Daniel Maurer

MixMyGranola is featured in Bon Appetit's Take 5

5. Buy: DIY cereal & granola

If you're sick of too-sweet breakfast cereals, check out the new breed of customizable cereal and granola Web sites. [...]

MixMyGranola.com is the same idea, but lets you create custom granola or muesli with all sorts of mix-ins. Delivery is quick and you can see the nutritional value of the cereals and granolas before you buy.

Review by Bon Appetit

Food Network Magazine features MixMyGranola

Granola. If you want more exotic ingredients than cranberries and nuts in your trail mix, try mixmygranola.com, where you can add as many weird items as you want to plain granola or muesli, like chia seeds and goji berries (or even gummy bears). $5 and up for 16 ounces

Review by Food Network Magazine

CBS 5 Phoenix features MixMyGranola

Make Mother's Day Special With Breakfast Treats

[...] To help you out with your Mother's Day plans, I've found two merchants providing just the things you'll need to make the most memorable breakfast ever, and the first one doesn't involve any cooking at all!

My new pal Raoul is a cereal genius. He saw a world full of unfulfilled granola eaters and figured out how to make their dreams come true. He saw us opening boxes, bags and bottles, buying dried fruit and candies and trying to mix up the perfect granola, either for breakfast or for snacks. On his Web site, MixMyGranola.com, you can select your granola flavor, and then the real fun begins. Choose from a dizzying array of fruits (from traditional raisins and dried cranberries to exotic things like goji berries and papaya), seeds and nuts (peanuts and almonds to amaranth and flax seeds) and even "extras" like M&M's, pomegranate cordials, crystallized ginger and tiramisu caramels. Whatever Mom's tastes, you'll be able to find plenty to tempt her palate.

You might even try one breakfast mix and one snack mix!

As a Mother's Day special, Raoul is offering free shipping on all orders between now and Mother's Day. His prices are incredibly reasonable given the quality of the granola, so make a mix for yourself, too.

And, as the finishing touch, you get to pick a name for your mix that will be printed on the canister. Teenagers, this might be the time to come up with that "Can I Borrow The Keys?" mix. [...]

Review by Scott Wilson

College Candy reviews MixMyGranola

Fit Finds: Granola, Just the Way YOU Like It

Granola is a tricky little bugger. Sure, it seems like the healthiest choice to pick at the dining hall in comparison to the other less-than-appealing options, but the truth is that granola can pack a ton of fat and calories if you’re not careful. Like, you’re-better-off-eating-the-Lucky-Charms kinda calories. Luckily, a new company (and my new obsession) has provided a solution: customized granola mixes.

Yup, that’s right! At mixmygranola.com, you choose every single thing that goes into your very own special mix.

How does it work? There are four easy steps:

First, you pick your base (options are organic granola, french vanilla granola, organic muesli and low fat granola), and then you can add in dried fruits (I chose dried mangos, bananas and raspberries…yum!) and nuts (omega-3 rich flax seeds for me). To top it off, if you want to add some treats to the mix, pick from “extras” such as gummy bears, yogurt covered pretzels and chocolate chips.

And that’s all! Just click to order and within a few days, you’ll have a (large) container of ready-to-go granola. Mine came within two days after I placed the order and I must say, it is delicious. It even has the exact nutritionals for my personalized mix pasted right on the side so I know exactly what I’m eating, unlike when I pour a fatty bowl of the stuff in the caf. I just measure the stuff into single serving plastic baggies and grab and go on my way to class. Easy, healthy, delicious.

OMG I’m so in love. And you can start your very own love affair with mixmygranola.

Yay granola!

Review by Abby

The Oakland Tribune on MixMyGranola

Picky Eater: MixMyGranola turns granola making into an online sport

I KNOW PEOPLE who make their own granola, dumping into a hot skillet exactly what they want to see in their cereal bowl — dried fruit, nuts, seeds, coconut and more. Every time I see it done, I think that I'll join the make-my-own-granola ranks. But I don't. The next-best thing arrived in my mailbox — an invitation to order up a batch of granola made my way.

By going to the brand-new www.MixMyGranola.com Web site, I was able to click through a tasty array of 50 different options to build my very own granola mix. I even got to name it. As I considered the options, I decided to go totally radical — to build a granola completely different from any other I've ever tried.

I opted for vanilla-flavored oat flakes mixed with coconut, berries and cherries. Just for fun I clicked on the chocolate balls button. Cherry chocolate? Now that's a good reason to get up in the morning.

For my second batch, I went junk-food crazy, throwing in some sugary puffs and chocolate bits. I could have put more candy in the mix, but the nutrition calculator anchored on the page begged me to be reasonable.

The day my tubes of granola arrived in the mail I couldn't get them open quickly enough. I tasted. I liked my concoctions, but realized that as with any sport, it will take practice to get it exactly the way I want it. More coconut, more nuts, less chocolate next time.

My two 16-ounce tubes cost $25, delivered. A little pricey, but cost varies according to the ingredients you pick.

Review by Jolene Thym

The Boston Herald reviews MixMyGranola

EAT: MIX MY GRANOLA

Is your granola full of raisins when you love almonds? Too many dried blueberries, too few dried cranberries? Mix My Granola shares your pain. The company’s Web site (mixmygranola.com) lets you custom-blend your own cereal from three granola bases, 16 dried fruits, 17 nuts and seeds and 17 extras. Try French vanilla, cashews and goji berries, which are overtaking Craisins as the hip crowd’s berry of choice. - JED GOTTLIEB

Review by Jed Gottlieb

Gourmeted.com reviews MixMyGranola

Say hello to my new morning companion: MixMyGranola granola. It’s delicious, all-natural and preservative-free, comes in sexy packaging and it’s made just the way I like it. Did I just say sexy? Can’t blame a girl for liking good packaging.

We love granola. Dan snacks on it, and I enjoy mine with yogurt. So we were more than happy to accept Raoul’s offer to try their product. Raoul, Andreas and Matt are the guys behind MixMyGranola.com , the hip new website that lets you customize your very own blend of granola.

Dan and I were like kids in a candy store when we created our own granola mixes. Go check out the website and you’ll see what I mean. I love that we could see the actual nutritional information (and cost) of our granola mixes as we added each ingredient.
Each personalized granola mix came in a (sexy) sleek 16-ounce recyclable tube that is similar to a Pringles container.
Each mix you create has a unique Mix-ID that identifies your particular blend. This allows you to re-order the same mix for faster check out next time if you want to stick to the same one. I like that a lot.

We were amused by the extra ingredient included: “lots of LOVE“. I kid you not, and you can see above for yourself. We also noticed that our mixes were prepared and signed by Andreas, complete with a happy face. I love all these small details. It is always a treat when you come across products made with love, passion and pride.
Now let’s move on to our MixMyGranola mixes! Show and tell time…

Joy’s Granola:
Pretty colorful, huh? It was a fantastic blend of salty and sweet, if I may say so myself. I picked the organic granola as my base and added goji berries (the red-orange that stands out), dried bing cherries (big dark dried fruit on there), amaranth seeds (the tiny bird seed-like seeds on the lower right corner), pistachios, sunflower seeds and cranberries. I absolutely loved MY blend — I mean, I was afraid that I would finish it in a day!

Dan’s Granola:
Dan’s mix is sweeter with the French vanilla granola as the base, combined with cranberries, roasted almonds, amaranth seeds, honey smacks, cocoa crisp bite. He loved his crunchy-sweet blend.
Do they really taste like they’re made with lots of love? You bet!
Dan and I love this great and excellently executed idea for custom granola mixes. My only problem is — Why didn’t we think of this first?! Haha. This is a perfect solution to our (obvious) differences in granola preference. I also think it would be great as a gift for the people who seem to have everything. For them, you need to create a need, and what better way than to introduce them to something healthy (and looks hip!) they didn’t know they’ve been deprived of.

Review by Gourmeted.com

Daily Grommet - Mixed with Love

Still trying to cook up the perfect Valentine’s Day plan? Well, if nothing says love like breakfast in bed, nothing says true love like a personalized granola blend on top of that breakfast tray!

That’s right. MixMyGranola will throw together a custom, all-natural, 16-ounce blend according to your specifications that lets him know you remember he hates raisins, loves Craisins, and adores all things chocolate! Just go to the site, choose a granola or muesli base, and layer in all your loved one’s favorite things. It’s that simple.

Founded by a trio of friends who realized that their ideal cereal blend just wasn’t available in stores, MixMyGranola offers lots of ingredient options for the tough to please: from dried mango and roasted hazelnuts to gummy bears and wasabi peas!

With more than a billion variations, you’re sure to find just the right match for your mate. You can even name the blend with your favorite cutesy nickname (which makes reordering a breeze).

You’ll have him at “Good morning.”

Review by Emily

Miami Herald interviews MixMyGranola

GRANOLA STARTUP MIXES IT UP ONLINE

Three partners run a Web-based business that ships customized specialty granola throughout the United States.

A local company is entering and creating a new market for the health-conscious and food finicky in the area of granola.

The cooked dried grain, normally mixed with dried fruit, has become a money maker for the owners of MixMyGranola.com, a Web-based company that launched in October.

''We customize granola and give customers a choice in what they want,'' said Matt Pawlik, 29, co-founder of the company.

To take advantage of the high-energy snack, all potential customers have to do is visit their website.

''There is no retail storefront,'' Pawlik said. ``We designed the website to be user friendly and house all the interaction.''

The site's home page allows customers to log in and pick a base granola -- either French vanilla, organic granola, organic muesli or low-fat granola. The next step, which has become the energy source of the company, is picking among the many dried fruits, nuts and seeds offered online.

After each selection, customers have the option of clicking on a nutrition calculator to see how much protein, carbohydrates and other essentials they are amassing. Lastly, there is an ''extras'' menu for those with adventurous tastes.

Such items as Gummy Bears bears, chocolate-covered raisins and jelly beans are offered. And for those who don't have time to mix and match, there are also premixed options.

''You can eat it like a trail mix, or with yogurt,'' Pawlik said. ``We get a ton of orders from the working professional in Manhattan.''

Access to the entire United States through the Internet is one of the reasons that MixMyGranola is a desirable venture, despite the current economy, according to Pawlik.

''Barriers to entry are low,'' he said.

FOUNDERS

The business was funded by Pawlik and two partners who each invested $50,000. Each owns a third of the company.

Pawlik brought with him a financial background, graduating from New York University and spending time working on Wall Street before taking on the risk, but it was the Internet skills by Andreas Bergmann, 35, also a partner, that really helped lower the overhead.

''I am really into the online world,'' Bergmann said. He saved the trio at least $20,000 by creating the logo. Bergmann, a native of Germany, ran two Internet-based businesses in Germany prior to the current endeavor. The third partner, Raoul, 35, handles legal issues for the young company.

Pawlik said they also received expert advice from the former CEO of BareNaked, maker of an all-natural granola and trail mix, which grossed one of the largest number of sales in granola at more than $60 million prior to being bought out. It was from this advice which he was encouraged to try the Internet as a strategy.

According to Pawlik, the granola market averages about $400 million in sales per year.

''We are hoping to catch a piece of that market share,'' Pawlik said. ''If we can get 5 to 10 percent of that, we will have a nice niche business,'' he said.

The cost of one container of granola or a mix is about $7 to $11, so the target audience is on the upper end, but the premixes being offered will broaden the audience base and reach customers who may not want to spend that much.

DAILY OPERATIONS

The daily operations are fueled out of a small warehouse off of Northeast Second Avenue and 72nd Street in Miami.

Pawlik and Bergmann demonstrate the meaning of ''built from scratch'' as they process orders, mix and pack shipments and conduct marketing and public relations efforts from the small two-story building.

''We are here really early and work late into the night,'' Pawlik said.

Their labor is paying off so far -- the company has processed more than 1,000 orders in its first two months.

Another advantage for the company, Pawlik said, is that their specialization in merely granola mixing has made them competitor free at the moment. 'There aren't any `me too' companies yet,'' Bergmann said.

Large companies such as Whole Foods and Trader Joes are players in the market, but the Internet aspect of MixMyGranola.com, is helping set it apart, Bergmann said.

Some of the perks customers receive beyond their granola of choice, is a flat fee in shipping of $4.99. Any excess amount is covered by the company. ''We eat the cost so that we can provide the customer with more quantity,'' Pawlik said.

Currently, the founders are looking for ways to automate the mixing stations, and for other avenues of marketing.

The primary tool to get the word out has been through popular blogs such as Daily Candy. And while the company has started with no investors, they are canvassing for possibilities in the future.

Review by Mamie Ward Joeveer

Triathlete Magazine

Carb-lovers will rejoice over this novel concept. Mixmygranola.com gives you the ability to custom blend your own cereal and has more options than a Rubik`s Cube. On its Web site, you can add your choice of three granola bases, 16 dried fruits, 17 nuts and seeds an 17 extras. A 16-ounce bag typically runs between $6 and $9. If it sucks, you have no one to blame but yourself.

Review by Jay Prasuhn

Replicator talks about MMG and granola

Replicator Inc., a cool blog that talks about putting the “custom” back in customer! Joseph Flaherty, Founder of Replicator Inc.,discusses MixMyGranola in-depth.

Review by Joseph Flaherty

MixMyGranola featured on NYU’s Podcast

Co-founder of MixMyGranola, Matt Pawlik, an NYU alum, was interviewed by Evan Nisenson. Go Violets! Yes, that is the NYU mascot.

Review by Evan Nisenson

NBC6 interviews MixMyGranola

MixMyGranola founders Matt and Andreas were interviewed at NBC6 Today. Here is the video:

Review by NBC6

Thrillist on MixMyGranola

MixMyGranola
New Year's brings with it all manner of ambitious resolutions but how can you do anything if you can't even make good on "I'm going to eat breakfast"? Helping you start your day strong, MixMyGranola.

Miami-based MMG lets you custom blend over one billion different combos of mostly-organic granolas, fruits, and nuts, then ships the finished product in a 16oz container reminiscent of a Pringles cylinder, minus that mustachioed pusher who knows all too well that once you pop, you won't be able to stop. The process: first select a granola base (Organic, French Vanilla, 100% Organic Muesli), then choose any of 16 fruits, from dried apples/pineapples/papayas, to banana chips, to goji berries, enthusiastically described as "the next big thing in the berry world!"; cap things off with nuts & seeds including staples like cashews & almonds plus more obscure, protein-packing nuggets like seeds of chai and amaranth (also known as "pigweed", which is why it's also known as amaranth). Each package is tagged with a "Mix ID" for handy re-ordering, and includes a full nutritional breakdown, so you'll find out how much fiber you're getting, but you still won't know what the hell riboflavin is.

If your creation's still not "You" enough, MMG offers "extras" like mini yogurt pretzels, organic gummy bears, peanut butter bits, even candy corn -- and of course, you don't need New Year's to "Eat More Candy".

Meet your (granola) maker at MixMyGranola.com

Review by Thrillist Miami

Short Order interviews MixMyGranola

Mix Your Own Damn Granola

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.

Review by Jacob Katel

Glamour.com reviews MixMyGranola

Afternoon Snack: A Perfect Bowl of Cereal

Sometimes when I feel stretched to the max with deadlines, sounds better for a snack than a bowl of cereal. With me there? If you eat the right kind of cereal, and maybe top it with a little fruit, it's an easy nutritional home run. Here's a fun new cereal idea...

We've talked about eating cereal for dinner before (been there, done that!) and I also shared this fun new Web site where you can create your own personalized all of you who like granola-type cereals, as I do.

The company, MixMyGranola.com, lets you choose from a long list of ingredients (many of them organic) like dried strawberries, dates, melons, mangoes, pistachios, even wasabi peas and organic gummi bears (hilarious, I know!). You choose the list, they mix it up and send out your personalized box. Kind of fun, huh?

What's your favorite go-to snack cereal? Don't laugh. I'm obsessed with raisin bran right now, sprinkled with wheat germ.

Review by Sarah Jio

NBC's iVillage.com loves MixMyGranola

Maggie's Berry Bliss

People can get a bit picky when it comes to granola. Maybe you don't like raisins, or walnuts (I'm not a huge fan of either), or you can't stand sunflower seeds or coconut. Well, I got a nice package the other day from the folks at MixMyGranola.com -- my own personal granola mix, called Maggie's Berry Bliss (with a name like that, how could I not love it?).

The site allows you to customize your own granola blend; choose your granola base (a couple are organic), then add in as many dried fruits, nuts, seeds and extras as you like. They have a great selection of ingredients, including dried melon, goji berries and raspberries, hemp seeds, pumpkin seeds, jelly beans, wasabi peas and lots more. Prices range widely according to the number and type of ingredients you choose (a 16-ounce organic granola mix with dried blueberries and strawberries, roasted almonds, rice crispies and peanut M&Ms for $10.34, plus shipping), and there's even a nifty nutrition calculator so you can see just how healthy your selection is. Give it a cool name, and send it off to yourself or a granola-loving friend.

The ingredients in Maggie's Berry Bliss, crafted by the folks at MixMyGranola? They got it totally right crunchy, chewy, with just a tiny hint of sweetness. Must've been all that extra love in there.

Review by Maggie Shi

Organic.org reviews MixMyGranola

MixMyGranola
What better way to start your day than with a custom cereal you designed? MixMyGranola.com offers a wide variety of ingredients to add to an plain organic granola, all-natural French vanilla granola, and 100% organic muesli. Ingredients you can choose from range from flax to dried fruits to nuts and more! We received the breakfast blend, which arrived within 2–3 days delivered in a recyclable tube! The breakfast blend mix contained organic granola, paired with raisins, almonds, and flax. We found it to be very delicious and fresh. This is a great, novel product delivered in an innovative way! We highly recommend creating your own version of granola to start your day.

Review by Organic.org

MixMyGranola in Divine Caroline's FoundIt. LovedIt.

Mix My Granola
It used to be that the word "granola" brought to mind nutty cereal, dense-cardboardy bars, or hippies in Birkenstocks. After discovering and trying Mix My Granola, the word granola now suggests personal breakfast chef, tasty afternoon snacks, and excellent stocking stuffers. Mix My Granola is a cool site and idea that allows you to create (and name!) your personal granola mix by choosing from their delicious all-natural granolas and fifty extras like fruits, nuts, seeds, cranberries, blueberries, goji berries, and even gummy bears. Premixes available too. Packaged in a sleek 16-oz recyclable tube.

Review by Jacinta O'Halloran

Fit Sugar's Fit Gift Guide features MixMyGranola

For those lovely ladies in your life who you lovingly call heath nuts, I've found a few gifts that will make those gals go, well, nuts. As a health nut myself, I would be psyched to find any of these items packed in pretty recycled paper for the holidays.

MixMyGranola:
Choose your health nut's favorite mix-ins to create a personalized granola mix, or buy one of the pre-mixed options. The granola is organic and many of the mix-ins are organic, too. Throw in some extra love by giving a gift certificate along with the bag you gave, so they'll have a refill to look forward to after they've gobbled up their first mix. Perfect for the health nut who already has everything.

Review by FitSugar

Splendora.com ranks MixMyGranola No. 1 on its Radar

Five Things on My Radar by Splendora Founder Gina Pell

1. Mix Your Own Granola
A Nielsen's National Eating Trends Survey showed that women who ate cereal on a regular basis weighed about nine pounds less than those who ate cereal rarely or not at all. I've started adding granola to my cereal for extra protein and just stumbled across mixmygranola.com which allows you to customize your own blend. I just ordered a vanilla base with goji berries, cranberries, and almond.--Gina Pell, Founder, 11-28-08

Review by Gina Pell

Miami New Times visits MixMyGranola

Customized Granola

Andreas (from Germany), Matt (Alabama) and Raoul (New York) started up MixMyGranola from a Miami warehouse not quite four months ago. The idea is simple: A website where you can custom-make your own granola mix with a few clicks and then have it shipped to your home.

Andreas explains that the notion of selling personalized cereals online is “already a proven business in Europe”, although with a different cereal. “We don’t have much granola over there although some things not so quickly.

“It took us a long time to find the right container” says Matt, who along with Andreas showed me around their new packing-and-shipping quarters. “It’s different. It stands out. The labeling is soy-based ink, and they’re 100% recyclable.” On the back of the each container is a list of ingredients, nutrition facts, and a signature of the person who prepared the blend. “We want to keep it personal.”

The partners noticed how people at the granola section at Whole Foods Market would choose a granola, then buy nuts, and then dried fruits, and so on. “There are so many different granola bins, but no way to customize it”, says Andreas. They saw their opening.

Kellogg’s took a stab at something similar in 2001. “They were trying to mix things like Captain Crunch with their Honey Smacks,” says Matt. “I don’t think they were able to get their pricing down. It really didn’t work out.”

Here’s how MixMyGranola works: The website has photos of each ingredient and is exceedingly user-friendly. Choose either organic granola or French vanilla granola, which will come to 16 ounces. Then select from 48 natural and organic ingredients -- dried blueberries, cranberries, strawberries, goji berries, almonds, raisins, coconut flakes, hemp seeds, wasabi peas, gummy bears, and so forth. As you add ingredients in 1 oz. servings, the granola base gets adjusted so it stays consistent at 16 ounces. A nutritional chart of the ingredients is likewise updated with each addition, as is the price. Before clicking out your order, give your unique blend a clever name so that it can easily be reordered. Matt named my sample concoction “Lee’s Funky Mix”; in retrospect, I probably shouldn’t have combined candy corn with wasabi peas.

“It’s not like everyone is picking that,” Andreas said of such add-ins. “They’re more like novelty items.”

-- Lee Klein

Review by Lee Klein

MixMyGranola in Daily Candy's Everywhere Weekend Guide

EAT

MixMyGranola
What: Choose your grain; add fruit, nuts, chocolate raisins, wasabi peas, etc.; and the snack geniuses will ship the mixture to your doorstep.
Why: It’s in the mix.
Where: Online at mixmygranola.com.

Review by Daily Candy

MixMyGranola at FoodProof.com

FoodProof.com reviews MixMyGranola:

http://foodproof.com/videos/view/mix-my-granola-150

Review by Mitch Trale

MixMyGranola.com - a hip new website to create custom-made granola, "the way YOU like it."

Andreas, a savvy Berlin professional, Matt, the southern gentleman from Alabama and Raoul, the fast-paced New Yorker, decided to join forces and create MixMyGranola in 2008.

Here is how it works, the idea is simple: Choose one of the delicious all-natural granolas to fill your 16 oz. granola container. Then choose from 48 ingredients consisting of fruits, nuts, seeds, and extras, including all-time classics like cranberries, blueberries, almonds, and organic raisins, or unique ingredients like hemp seeds, organic gummy bears, and goji berries to create the granola mix the way You like it. As you add ingredients in 1 oz. servings we will adjust your granola base so that it stays consistent at 16 oz. Then, be creative and give your mix a name and check out.

While choosing the ingredients for your mix you can click on the individual nutritional fact links to get more information about the ingredients and our live updating nutrition calculator always shows you the actual nutritional information of your mix.

Miami-based MixMyGranola will ship your custom-made mix to your doorstep in a sleek 16 oz. 100% recyclable container. On the back of the each container you will find a personalized label with the list of all ingredients, the nutrition facts, the name of the mix, and a signature of the mixer. Shipping comes at an affordable flat-rate of $4.99, no matter how many containers you order or where you want us to ship in the US.

There are over 1 billion combinations, so create the mix you like! No matter whether you are a granola lover, a health enthusiast, a business professional on the go, or simply a selective eater, MixMyGranola delivers your mix the way YOU like it.

“We believe the benefits of customizing our all-natural, organic granola and ingredients, as well as the continuing trend to live a healthy lifestyle, will pave the way for a successful future for MixMyGranola," says Matt Pawlik, one of the three founders. "After the recent beta launch of the site, we have received an abundance of positive feedback and many satisfied customers. We are looking forward to getting more feedback in the future and growing our customer database. We are committed to providing our customers with superior products, a terrific website experience and top notch customer service. Because after all,” Pawlik says, “MixMyGranola was created from one health conscious customer to another."

Review by MixMyGranola Press Release