April 2003
Making Space for Big Ambitions
After walking in one day and seeing Kelly's parents' home overflowing with Bear Naked inventory, Kelly and Brendan realize that it's time for Bear Naked to find a new home of its own. They move into their own 800-square-foot office, which doubles as their warehouse and distribution facility. In anticipation of big things to come and with momentum picking up throughout other retail chains, Kelly and Brendan move the baking operation into a 500 square-foot commercial cookie kitchen.

May 2003
Stew Leonard Jr. Gets Bear Naked
Brendan and Kelly are selling their Bear Naked all-natural granola through small retail outlets around the area, but their efforts to reach a broader market are falling flat. Stew Leonard's, a renowned dairy and grocery store chain based in Norwalk, CT, seems ideal for their product, but the store's grocery buyer won't even return their phone calls. So, in an effort to get noticed, Brendan and Kelly come up with the idea to serve the grocery store buyer “breakfast in bed.” They arrive at 7:30 am, unannounced, with a Bear Naked-style breakfast, only to find that the buyer is away on vacation. What normally would be a deflating blow for most entrepreneurs turns out to be a milestone in Bear Naked’s history. Just as the wind is leaving their sails, Stew Leonard, Jr. walks through the lobby and, intrigued by their approach, decides to take the meeting himself. Two hours later, Leonard orders 50 cases, becoming Bear Naked’s largest account to date.

July 2003
First Hire
Brendan and Kelly realize they can’t continue to grow by themselves, so they hire a high school friend, Chris Mears, as their first full-time employee. For the first three months, Chris doesn’t have a desk, computer or phone. He focuses all his efforts on maintaining Bear Naked’s current accounts and building the foundations for great relationships with new retailers.

September 2003
Retail Explosion
Food Emporium signs on with Bear Naked, adding its 40 stores throughout the NYC metro market to the growing company’s list of retailers. As Bear Naked is still without a distributor, it becomes Chris's responsibility to deliver the product to all the stores, and to set up product demonstrations to introduce Bear Naked to Food Emporium consumers. Chris is so successful that his 1987 Volvo, which doubles as the Bear Naked delivery van, buckles under the strain. (Sorry, Chris!)

With successes at Stew Leonard’s and Food Emporium, it’s time to divide responsibilities in order to handle more growth. Brendan focuses his energies on sales, marketing and finance, and Kelly takes on the task of making 2,000 lbs. of granola per day at their newly leased commercial cookie kitchen.

Thanks to increased production at the new kitchen, Bear Naked’s availability grows to include 400 stores.

continues »