The Granola Bar cofounders on falling forward into growth

Take-Away with Sam Oches

Nation's Restaurant News

Business, Entrepreneurship

2.5 • 15 Ratings

🗓️ 21 January 2025

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode of Take-Away with Sam Oches, Sam talks with Julie Mountain and Dana Noorily, cofounders of The Granola Bar, a breakfast-and-lunch, modern diner concept with eight locations across Connecticut and New York. These long-time friends initially started a granola business out of one of their kitchens in 2010, and in 2013 opened their first restaurant essentially just to give them a commercial kitchen to manufacture granola. But customers in their Westport, Conn., hometown had different plans, making that restaurant so popular that Julie and Dana abandoned the granola business and became full-time restaurateurs. They joined the podcast to share the lessons they’ve learned on their entrepreneurial journey and how they’ve fallen forward into a business that has financial partners and a new CEO who are helping to steer its slow-but-steady growth.

In this conversation, you’ll find out why:

The business you start is not always the business you will grow
Meet the hole in the market you’re serving, not what’s trending nationally
If you don’t lean on social media early on, then it’s just icing on the cake as you grow
With strategic hires, you can know what you don’t know
Sometimes real estate can dictate your entrepreneurial drive
It’s OK if your end goal is to stay small and keep it all

Have feedback or ideas for Take-Away? Email Sam at [email protected].

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey there, welcome to Takeaway with Sam Ocas, a podcast from Nation's Restaurant News.
0:05.1	I am Sam Ocas editor-in-chief here at NRN, and this is the show where I give you an all-access pass to the restaurant industry's most influential decision-makers.
0:14.3	This week, I'm talking with Julie Mountain and Dana Norley, the co-founders of The Granola Bar, a breakfast and lunch, modern diner concept
0:22.8	with eight locations across Connecticut and New York. These longtime friends initially started
0:28.2	a granola business out of one of their kitchens in 2010, and in 2013, they opened their first
0:34.3	restaurant essentially just to give them a commercial kitchen for
0:38.3	manufacturing granola. But customers in their Westport, Connecticut hometown had different plans,
0:44.5	making that restaurant so popular that Julie and Dana abandoned the granola business and became
0:49.9	full-time restaurateurs. They joined the podcast to share the lessons they've learned on their entrepreneurial journey
0:56.3	and how they've fallen forward into a business that has financial partners and a new CEO
1:02.2	who are helping to steer its slow but steady growth.
1:05.6	In this interview, you will learn more about why the business you start is not always the
1:10.2	business you'll grow,
1:11.5	how you can know what you don't know via strategic hires,
1:15.4	and why sometimes real estate can dictate your entrepreneurial drive.
1:20.3	Jumping out into my interview with the granola bars, Julie Mountain, and Dana Noraly.
1:25.8	Note that Julie is the first to speak just to give you some
1:28.4	clarity on voices. Also, don't forget to stick around after the interview, as I will share my
1:33.0	six takeaways from this discussion, actionable insights that you can take with you on the go.
1:41.6	Okay, I'm sitting down with Julie Mountain and Dana Norley, the co-founders of The Granola Bar.
1:47.7	Dana and Julie, thank you guys so much for joining me today.
1:50.5	Thank you.
	...

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