MU students start healthy business
Adamski and Newsome sell their bars at Café Fresco in Brady Commons.
Oct. 13, 2008
Herbal Oats granola bars sit near the checkout counter at Brady Food Court on Thursday. The nutrient-rich snacks are made and marketed by seniors Steven Adamski and Sarah Newsome.
(Click graphic to enlarge)
Steven Adamski and Sarah Newsome are in their last year at MU, but they aren't going to wait until after graduation to get their dreams off of the ground.
They had a vision of helping people through food and herbs, and they felt so passionately about it that they started their business, Herbal Oats, last semester.
Utilizing the knowledge they gained from their food science and nutrition majors, they developed the concept for a granola bar infused with herbs. They eventually created four flavors - Energy, Immunity, Focus and Strength. Their goal was to create a more natural way for people to get the necessary nutrients for their body than using supplements, they said. The herbs are a bonus, giving each flavor an added boost of benefits.
"People go to GNC and they buy pills that are high in antioxidants, but instead of taking that pill you could just eat more fruit, like blueberries," Adamski said.
Adamski and Newsome said they see advantages to being business owners while still being a part of a college community.
"We really felt passionate about helping people through food, and we wanted to get this thing started as soon as we can, just so that we can start helping more people," Adamski said. "At the university, we have more opportunities than we will possibly ever have in our whole entire lives."
The two take advantage of the limited resources that they have, making all of their bars, wrappers and display boxes by hand.
"We deliver and distribute on our bikes, or just walk with the big plastic container," Adamski said.
They sell their bars at several locations on campus, including Café Fresco in Brady Commons, where Newsome works.
"She's really proud of (Herbal Oats) and I think it's really awesome that we can do something to help her get her business off the ground," Café Fresco employee Katie Armstrong said.
Newsome and Adamski both agreed their biggest obstacle in starting their business has been time management.
"Being full-time students and trying to run a business, it's kind of hard just trying to decipher when to devote your time to what," Newsome said. "We can expand, it's not that we're not able to, it's that we have to be really careful and we can't just decide to, because we're in classes."
Their product is unique, Newsome and Adamski said, because of the inclusion of the herbs into the bars. Each of their flavors have herbs specialized to the bars' purposes. For example, the flavor Focus contains ginkgo biloba, and as the biodegradable packaging explains, ginkgo is traditionally used to enhance concentration and memory. In addition, Focus has a peach flavor.
More Oct. 13, 2008 News Stories
- Faculty Council suggests grievance policy remix — Ballots on the new process are due in one month.
- Robbery reported near the Quad — MU Police say there is no reason to believe the robbery is connected to previous attacks.
- MU students start healthy business — Adamski and Newsome sell their bars at Café Fresco in Brady Commons.
- Green Team collects recyclables on game day — The group collected 24 tons of recyclables last year.
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