Morgan Clayton says Joleen Ford hesitated to turn her granola making skills into a business because she feared turning her hobby into a business would take the joy out of it
JENNY BLOCK | Contributing Writer
JennyEBlock@iCloud.com
Not all granola is created equal. And Morgan Clayton and Joleen Ford, right here in Dallas, are proving just that with Granola With Love, which officially came to be in 2023. “But the granola itself — and the love behind it — had been around for years before there was ever a name, packaging or business attached to it,” Morgan said.
The two founded Granola With Love because they weren’t loving the granola they were finding at grocery stores. Joleen often jokes that it was little more than “sweetened cardboard dressed up in nice packaging.” She knew they could do better.
So, after a mess of recipe tweaks, trials and tastings, Joleen landed on what eventually became Granola With Love’s Original Mix. But back then she just made it for friends and family.
They were always telling her, “You should sell this.” But Joleen was not thrilled at the thought of turning her hobby into a hustle. The kitchen was her happy place, as is feeding the people she loves.
“I think she was understandably protective of that and didn’t want turning it into a business to somehow take the joy out of it,” Morgan said.
But at some point, Joleen stopped seeing a possible business as a thief of joy and instead began looking at it as an opportunity to share the love. That’s why she decided to create a business out of what brought her so much joy and why she asked Morgan to partner with her in her pursuit.
“By that point, she had been making it — and I had been happily eating it — for years,”
Morgan said. “So, saying yes was pretty easy.”
We asked Morgan to tell us more about the glory of great granola.
Dallas Voice: What made you think it would work? Morgan Clayton: Honestly, the people eating it. Long before we had sales data, retail accounts or any of the things you typically use to measure whether a business has potential, we had people asking Joleen for more and encouraging her to sell it. And not just people who already loved granola. Some of the strongest reactions have come from people who tell us they normally don’t even like granola.
Once we launched and strangers began buying it, coming back for it and telling other people about it, that gave us even more confidence that we had created something worth building around.
What makes Granola With Love special? Of course, I’m biased, but I think you can actually taste the care that goes into it. We make our granola in small batches and bake it low and slow. We use gluten-free oats, no seed oils, no dairy and no preservatives.
But beyond the ingredient list, we are incredibly particular about taste and texture. We wanted granola that had a satisfying crunch without feeling like you were working your jaw to eat it — or discovering pieces of it in your teeth an hour later! There’s a tremendous amount of intention behind something that, on the surface, seems very simple. And I think people experience that when they taste it.
Why do you think people love granola in general so much? Granola is wonderfully uncomplicated. You can eat it straight from the bag, put it over yogurt, pour milk over it, add it to an açaí or smoothie bowl or even incorporate it into sweet and savory dishes.
There’s also something nostalgic and comforting about it. It can feel wholesome and familiar while still being a treat. And I think people appreciate foods that can move easily through their day. Granola can be breakfast at 8 a.m., a snack at 3 p.m. or something you’re eating straight from the bag at 10 o’clock at night. We don’t judge!
What would you say to people about trying Granola With Love, especially those who don’t consider themselves “granola people”? They’re actually some of our favorite people to give it to. I think sometimes people have decided they don’t like granola because they’ve only experienced granola that’s too hard, too dry, too sweet or just a little boring.
So, my invitation is simple: Give us one bite. You don’t have to become a “granola person.”
You might just become a Granola With Love person.
Anything else you’d like to share? I want people to understand that “With Love” is much more than part of our name. It’s really a way of being for us.
“With” is a preposition, and prepositions are about relationship and connection. For us, that little word does a lot of work. It connects the granola to the love, certainly, but it also reminds us to take the love with us into everything we do. That means love should be present in how we think about the product, how we select our ingredients, how we make every batch, how we seal every bag, how we work with one another and how we interact with the people who choose to support us.
It isn’t something we want to add at the end. It’s something we want carried all the way through.
And I think that goes beyond the business for Joleen and me. As two Black women, we want to move through the world as beacons of light and love. That’s who we strive to be as people, and Granola With Love gives us another way to live that out. Our hope is that if we carry love into every thought, every decision and every touchpoint, somehow it makes its way to the other side. Whether someone meets us face-to-face at a farmers’ market or opens a box that arrived on their doorstep, we want them to feel that somebody cared about what was placed in their hands.
So yes, we make granola. And we want it to be really, really good granola. But “With Love” is the bigger mission. We want the love to be seen. We want it to be felt. And ultimately, we want it to be passed along.