Beryl Stafford, founder of Bobo's Oat Bars, shares her journey from divorced single mom to building a $100+ million natural foods brand. At age 40, with no business experience and needing to support herself after her marriage collapsed, Beryl turned to what she knew best - baking. Her self-taught cooking skills, developed through cookbooks including The Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan and works by Paul Prudhomme, became the foundation for her entrepreneurial pivot.

The conversation covers Bobo's evolution from a four-ingredient recipe discovered by her daughter Alex (nicknamed Bobo) to a major player in the competitive snack bar market. Beryl discusses the challenges of scaling from selling dozen-bar batches wrapped in Saran wrap to coffee shops, to managing a 125,000 square-foot facility with 500 employees. The story highlights Boulder, Colorado's unique ecosystem as the 'Silicon Valley of natural foods,' where brands like Celestial Seasonings, Silk soy milk, and Justin's Nut Butters all originated.

From Louisiana to Boulder: The Accidental Entrepreneur

Beryl grew up in small-town Louisiana but fell in love with Boulder during a high school visit, attending University of Colorado in 1977 where friends made her a curiosity for her thick Southern accent.

After marriage and raising two daughters as a stay-at-home mom for over a decade, her divorce at age 40 forced her to figure out how to earn a living with outdated job skills.

She took a $7.45/hour job at Peppercorn gourmet cooking store while going through divorce proceedings, drawing on her self-taught cooking skills developed through cookbooks by Chef Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen and The Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking.

The Four-Ingredient Discovery That Started Everything

On a rainy afternoon, Beryl's 12-14 year old daughter Alex (nicknamed Bobo) found a four-ingredient recipe in a cookbook: oats, corn syrup, brown sugar, and butter.

"They were delicious. These bars were dripping in butter and corn syrup" - Beryl, describing the original recipe that Alex took to school and shared with friends who demanded more.

Friends in Boulder's natural food industry suggested making healthier versions and selling them, leading Beryl to experiment with succonat (less processed brown sugar), coconut oil, and brown rice syrup instead of corn syrup.

The iconic Bobo's logo was created in five minutes when Beryl's graphic designer friend drew the smiling girl with a Sharpie at her kitchen table, artwork still used today.

Scrappy Beginnings: Saran Wrap and Coffee Shop Sales

Beryl started by wrapping bars in Saran wrap with homemade labels, initially putting 'organic' on packaging without certification because "all my ingredients were organic."

Her first sale came when a friend forced her out of the car at a coffee shop: "Get out of the car. I'll see you in a little bit" - leading to a nervous pitch to an irritated barista during rush hour.

The barista reordered after two weeks, saying "I need some more of those. They sold out," leading to Beryl's first $14 month in revenue.

Early products had only a three-day shelf life with Saran wrap packaging, limiting distribution to local Boulder co-ops and coffee shops.

Scaling Challenges: From Kitchen to Commercial Production

Beryl took a $100,000 bank loan and second mortgage on her home to buy a $25,000 packaging machine and extend shelf life to six months.

She shared commercial kitchen space with Justin's Nut Butter through a joint LLC, splitting employees who "one day make nut butter and one day make oat bars."

"Believe it or not, I was buying it at Whole Foods full retail in the beginning. It was really expensive" - Beryl, describing her costly ingredient sourcing before discovering food distribution networks.

Boulder's Naturally Boulder Network provided crucial mentorship, though most advisors told her to stop baking and focus on sales - advice she rejected to maintain product quality control.

Whole Foods Breakthrough and National Distribution

The Boulder Whole Foods bakery manager said "we've been buying these and eating them from the co-op down the street. We've been wondering when you're going to walk in."

She immediately committed to 12 Colorado Whole Foods stores and weekend demos without knowing what freezer-safe packaging meant or how to execute demos.

At Expo West trade show, a UNFI East representative approached with paperwork saying "I'm running the Whole Foods the whole East Coast, and I need to get your bars in there," leading to national distribution.

Beryl became the demo person herself to save costs, discovering "once I'm behind that table, I'm safe" and getting good at trade shows through this experience.

Bringing in Professional Management and Investment

After 11 years of solo operation reaching $8 million in sales, Beryl was burning out from constant travel and trade shows when TJ McIntyre approached about becoming CEO.

"Don't sell it. You're too little. You're too young. You're too small. You need to grow" - TJ McIntyre, convincing Beryl to hire him as CEO instead of selling the company.

The partnership required creating formal company structure with shares, legal documents, and eventually raising $8 million in first investment round.

By 2017, they had doubled sales to $16 million, but Beryl found investor relationships challenging: "All of a sudden, there were some big boys at the table, and it was intimidating for me."

Modern Challenges: Competition and Costco Complexity

The snack bar market became intensely competitive with protein trends, keto, and numerous new brands, but Bobo's maintained focus on being "just an old-fashioned cookie that your grandmother could bake."

Costco partnership creates manufacturing volatility: "They will bring you in and then want the customer to miss you and then be excited when you're back," causing havoc for production planning.

The company now operates a 125,000 square-foot facility with 500 employees, doing an estimated $100+ million in annual sales while remaining vertically integrated.

"You and I and everybody can figure anything out, anything... It's not about being the smartest person in the room. It's about desire, focus, and time" - Beryl's key lesson from building the business.