When I joined Great Harvest, a question people liked to ask one another was “what is the next cinnamon chip?” Cinnamon chip is our third best selling bread and just wonderful, especially when made into French Toast. But, it is a white flour bread.
In 2001, we were just getting into sandwiches in a big way and people were asking what is the next great product in terms of white flour. I came from a sandwich background so all of that seemed perfectly normal to me. It sent a signal to me that we were evolving and whole grains were not as important any longer.
Fast forward to today and I am going to reshape the question because whole grains are important. Not just to us and to our customers, but they should be a key part of every healthy diet. No longer will we ask what is the next cinnamon chip but what is the next Dakota? Dakota bread is our second biggest seller and a whole grain product, not to mention my favorite bread.
For so much of my time with Great Harvest it feels like bread has been under assault. First it was low carb. Atkins. Now the world has decided that going gluten free will solve all of our problems.
We couldn’t disagree more. We sell gluten and carbs for a living and are proud of it. We firmly believe that health is driven by a balanced and natural lifestyle and diet. We don’t believe you should eliminate entire food groups unless medically required. We believe whole grains should be a part of everyone’s diet. But, it should be a whole grain product not something that is just partially whole grain.
I think we are about to enter a golden age of whole grains in Great Harvest. In my last blog I wrote about focus and vision. Our focus is whole grains, so why do we ask what is our next great product in terms of white flour? No more. Our quest for our next great product will be in whole grains. What is the next Dakota? Watch us answer that question and tell us what you think.
Thanks for reading.
