In the 25 years I've been coming to Sunset Foods, I've encountered lots of people promoting new food products. My heart goes out to them. Most new companies fail, and most one-person food companies fail extra fast — undercapitalized.
Usually they're at a table in some aisle deep within the store. But Ryan Schaul positioned himself standing right by the check-out lines. A bit inconvenient to step around, but points to him for getting in people's faces. You couldn't avoid him, not if you wanted to pay for your groceries.
Not that I need much encouragement. I am both a striver and a foodie, so when I meet someone who is pushing a new food product, my heart naturally goes out to them. I tried one of his Honey Bear Bites. Soft. Tasty. Not too sweet.
Nor cheap. At $9.99 for eight. But sweetened with honey and dried maple syrup. Ninety calories, it seemed the sort of thing I might eat if my blood sugar was trending low. I told him that I am a diabetic, and he steered me toward the bites that come with dark chocolate chips.
I asked him a few questions: what industry he was abandoning to sell the bites? (tech). Where were the bites made? (an industrial kitchen in Highland Park). It seemed ungracious to quiz the man and not buy something.
He's 43, a graduate of University of Wisconsin — Madison, with a JD from the University of Chicago Law School.
He also sells his own Sleeping Bear honey.
"The honey helps you sleep at night," he said. "I'm very passionate about health and wellness, and sleep is the keystone to being being healthy. That's why I started the company."
He only flubbed one question: where does the name "Sleeping Bear" come from? He said, in essence, that it's a name he came up with and doesn't mean anything in particular. I'd advise him to work on that reply.
I took a package home, and liked them. So much so I had to establish a personal rule — only one a day. Which I found difficult to enforce, and polished them off quickly Next time I was in Sunset, I bought another box. That tells you everything you need to know. Luxury you can afford.
He also sells his own Sleeping Bear honey.
"The honey helps you sleep at night," he said. "I'm very passionate about health and wellness, and sleep is the keystone to being being healthy. That's why I started the company."
He only flubbed one question: where does the name "Sleeping Bear" come from? He said, in essence, that it's a name he came up with and doesn't mean anything in particular. I'd advise him to work on that reply.
I took a package home, and liked them. So much so I had to establish a personal rule — only one a day. Which I found difficult to enforce, and polished them off quickly Next time I was in Sunset, I bought another box. That tells you everything you need to know. Luxury you can afford.
Eli's Plain Cheesecake = $1.05/oz. Dream Team Cheesecake = $1.23/oz. Add $15,95 shipping...
ReplyDeleteHoney Bear Bites = $1.24/oz. His website is very bare bones. Needs help. Shipping UPS ground.
Which would qualify as healthy under the government's new anti-junk food rules?
My understanding is that the governments new anti-junk food rules only benefit you if RFK Jr. has an economic stake in your company. otherwise it is a bad thing
DeleteToday's column started my day and year (spent yesterday recovering from Norovirus, so in essence today is my first day of the year) off to a great start. Thank you. Unfortunately (take it however you like), I live in Schaumburg, so unless Honey Bear Bites gets a space in Trader Joe's I won't have the joy of trying them anytime in the near future. I would, however, love to know more about the older Hoka-wearing woman in your photo. She's dripping with class, with her oh so trendy puffer coat and four cartons of (what I imagine to be very tasty) lunch or dinner and bag of celery in her cart. Don't see many like that in this neck of the woods. And not so much downtown anymore either. Good to know folks like her are still around.
ReplyDeleteIf it's the same woman in the second photo, you might be interested that her cart is loaded. There appears to be some Honey Bear snacks atop the other groceries.
DeleteBears like honey. Bears hibernate (which I recently learned is very different from sleeping, but close enough for purposes of naming a snack). So maybe Mr. Schaul could say he came up with the company name thinking about a hibernating bear contentedly dreaming of honey.
ReplyDeleteOr he could connect it to Sleeping Bear Dunes, one of the most famous and beautiful natural areas in America, just across the lake in Michigan, almost certainly the flub Mr. S referred to.
DeleteHe's a lawyer and making foods instead? didn't know honey makes you sleep and not sure about that
ReplyDeletelooks like a nice grocery store with plenty of elderly shoppers
ReplyDeleteSleeping Bear. The name of a street in Timber Ridge, the Skokie subdivision where I grew up. Maybe Ryan can hook his honey name into that somehow.
ReplyDeleteSleeping Bear Rd. Along with Sugar Loaf Lane, Four Winds Way, White Cloud Drive, Tamaroa Terrace, and Pottawattami Drive. Yes, they spelled it with four Ts. Typical street names for a typica upscale Fifties subdivision in the Midwest. Very, very Skokie. People of a certain age know what that means.
DeleteThere was no ridge. The land was as flat as a pool table. But it was a large and heavily timbered tract, almost a quarter of a square mile. The tall trees were fairly close together. The substantial homes that replaced the trees between 1956 and 1963 are also close together. They sell for well over a half-million dollars. Which I guess is not all that much anymore.
Grew up nearby, south of Dempster and east of Crawford. The woods that still remained by the late Fifties were dark and creepy, and kids were warned against playing in them. Too many Chicago-area children had been sexually assaulted and murdered in previous years.
Clearly recall walking into those woods at twelve, and encountering a scary-looking man, and thinking my number was up. Turned out to be just a hired thug with a badge and a gun, whose job was to keep kids like me off the property. Soon after, the last of the trees came down and more homes went up. A friend of mine dated someone who lived there. The last of the tall timber has been gone for over sixty years.
I hope he gets a boost from this. Love it when you feature strivers and entrepreneurs. He looks like a HoneyBear
ReplyDeleteIn the 70’s, the Chicago Bears had cheerleaders called the Honey Bears. That’s what I thought of when I saw the title of the post.
ReplyDeleteI thought the cheerleaders too. I thought how cool NS got to hang with the Honey Bears back in the day (A job or a free pass to do really cool stuff, I think both) After the Bears won the Super Bowl they got rid of the cheerleaders. Haven't won one since.
DeleteI'm hooked on Bobo's Stuffed Apple Pie Bites. 5 for $3.99.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the name came from the Sleeping Bear Dunes in Michigan.
ReplyDeleteThere's also Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in Michigan.
ReplyDelete