When Brian Tetrud ’11 began exploring the feasibility of turning his hobby into a business, he had two main tools: a recipe and a spreadsheet.

As an IC student, Tetrud used a family recipe to make granola for himself that he also shared with his friends. But once he decided to put it out for public consumption, he embarked on a year’s worth of homework—and the granola became the fundamental ingredient in the success of Ladera Foods.

“When we started, it was a pretty nascent space,” Tetrud said. “Overall, premium granola was not very common. There were some local premium brands but no national premium brands.”

Walking the aisles at local markets in the San Francisco Bay Area gave Tetrud an avenue to compare his infant company to products already established on shelves. His ever-growing spreadsheet contained brand names, corresponding shelf prices, sugar content, protein content, and product amounts per container.

“Every granola had so much sugar,” Tetrud said. “For people trying to stay away from sugar, that is a key differentiation for us. My mom is a Stanford-trained medical doctor. That [low sugar] became our niche. Taking a broad sweep of the industry allowed us to find our position—we had the lowest sugar content at three grams per serving.”

A local bakery owner gave Tetrud some pointers regarding packaging, vendor contact information, flavor varieties, and an efficient use of rack ovens fit for baking hundreds of pounds of granola.

“We got some help from people who were not necessarily competitors with our business,” Tetrud said. “Once you are solidified as a brand, it’s much easier to talk with competitors. They know you aren’t going to try to steal their customers or a recipe.”

Majoring in economics at IC gave Tetrud the insight to analyze the food industry overall—to see how big it is and differentiate the various players—from the types of products that dominate to the various up-and-coming brands.

“Overall, it helps with the analytics side,” Tetrud said. “I wanted to go into a career in renewable energy, and those were the first jobs I had at Tesla and other solar startups. I started the granola company as a hobby.”

His hobby first gained a foothold in local stores and then took a big leap forward in 2015 when Ladera Foods landed a spot on Whole Foods shelves.

“That was an ‘aha’ moment,” Tetrud said. “Many food startups who are premium producers go to Whole Foods. Then I hired a team, and we got into Safeway.”

The local granola, made in Redwood City, California, has found a customer base primarily in the western half of the country. Supermarket chain H-E-B has provided a Texas outlet, and Ladera Foods also sells roughly 600 bags of granola per month nationally via Amazon. Tech companies in the Bay Area have provided another sales outlet by letting Ladera sell granola in their cafeterias.

Yet rapid growth presented a challenge.

“Expansion happened quickly, which costs money,” Tetrud said. “I had to repay that debt, which was a big challenge financially to get through that time period. We then had to stabilize at a lower level of growth.”

The company’s measured growth includes the hiring of additional staff to service accounts—with an eye on expanding to the East Coast. In addition to the flavor varieties featured on the Ladera website, the company is planning later this year to introduce Ladera Bites— high-protein, bite-sized puffs.

A major influence on the beginning and evolution of Ladera Foods has been Tetrud’s mom, Dr. Karen Butterfield.

“She crafted that recipe and shared it with me,” Tetrud said. “She has always been inquisitive, and it has been nice to have her asking questions, being a sounding board and having that support.”