by Rob @ attune foods

I love innovation and am always surprised to see what new ideas catch on and which ones do not.  More often than not, the key is timing.  The Newton was 10 years too early while the iphone was not.  The electric car might have been 100 years too early; maybe now is the time.

When ready-to-eat cereals were invented they were first consumed as a health food by patients who had visited the Battle Creek Sanitarium that was run by the Kellogg brothers.  In 1906 they created the Kellogg Company and began to sell their flakes more widely.  One of their former patients, Charles Post, liked the idea as well and at the turn of the century began selling his cereal – what we know today as grape nuts.  In 1908 Lafayette Coltrin added flax to the flakes he had been prescribed, and began selling his cereal – Uncle Sam (Lafayette had been told he had an uncanny resemblance to American icon).

All three of these innovators were addressing what today people call the “early adopter” consumer segment – people who are willing to try new products and provide feedback to the inventors.  As the cereal segment grew and the “early majority” learned how this convenient product was a better way to start their day (good value, more fiber, less meat) the cereal business evolved with new flavors and varieties to meet the tastes of the expanded consumer base.  Most companies moved away from their roots to broaden the product appeal, adding sugar, shapes and other “innovations”.

It is interesting that today, some really important innovations are taking us back to where we were years ago.  Electric cars first invented in 1830, may finally hit the road in bigger numbers.  When we invented the Attune Probiotic Chocolate bar, we thought we were at the forefront of the “functional food” revolution helping people improve their digestive health.  Now we see very clearly that some of the most important “functional foods” were invented over a hundred years ago.  How do we make these phenomenal “old foods” (Uncle Sam) new again?  That is our challenge.   We think people are ready, again, for Lafayette Coltrin’s invention and want to help today’s “early and late majority” understand how great these simple foods are.  Getting an electric car packaged in a form people can use is pretty tough.  Getting a healthy cereal packed in a form that people can embrace shouldn’t be more difficult!

Can we innovate by going back to the future? In food, this is a revolutionary idea and we are lucky to have Uncle Sam with us leading the way!

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