Photo Credit: TRUNOLA
It’s a sweet beginning with a hot finish. After making its debut at Natural Products Expo West, Hot Honey Granola from TRUNOLA is checking the boxes on three major trends: swicy, mushrooms and regenerative agriculture. We spoke with Charles Marble, the company’s president/CEO, about the choice to debut a hot honey product in the growing competitive space.
National Honey Board (NHB): Having lion’s mane mushroom in a honey granola is unique.
Marble: What we’re doing with the TRUNOLA brand is coming out with a functional portfolio of granola, and with Hot Honey and the mushroom powder, we are able to claim that it’s a good source of vitamin D. Having that claim provides a functional granola. On top of that, with the lion’s mane, it really adds a whole dimension of adaptogens that have been shown to support cognitive health and assist the body with dealing with stress. We’re excited about that product.
NHB: Can you talk about the choice to use honey in Vanilla Almond, Goldenberry Turmeric and Hot Honey Granola?
Marble: The reason why we use honey in the Hot Honey is because of the big trend. Granola is very millennial, 25 to 35, and honey is a great ingredient. With hot honey hitting the market, we thought wouldn’t it be great to add it and really create a flavor profile with hot honey granola. Honey lends itself — especially in this product — you can’t forget the tagline: A sweet beginning with a hot finish. Because that is exactly what happens, you get the nice, sweet hit of the honey and then a slow burn in the back of the throat.
NHB: In terms of competitiveness, how does your market positioning make TRUNOLA products stand out?
Marble: It’s the functionality. We’ve only had this brand for about a year and a half, so we’re still getting out there. I’ll put it up against the big guys. TRUNOLA is 100% organic, T is for Trust, (we’ve been making granola for 40 years), the R is for Responsibly sourced organic ingredients — and that’s really the differentiator. The U is Unconditional passion for product quality.
NHB: You’re a member of The Farm Powered Strategic Alliance. Regenerative farming was also a huge talking point at Expo West.
Marble: All of our waste goes to a local dairy farm, and then it’s combined with manure into an anaerobic digester. That creates methane gas that powers a generator that powers the farm, the hot water, etc. Then they sell it back to the grid, so we’re helping the community, we’re decreasing landfills and the liquid matter coming out of the digester goes on the farm fields with 30% higher nitrogen content than normal fertilizer. The dry matter they mix with fresh hay to bed the cows.
To learn more about TRUNOLA’s newest Hot Honey Granola and mission, visit trunolafoods.com/product/organic-hot-honey-trunola-granola/.