Please & Thank You Granola Bars, locally produced in Plymouth, tackles more than just grumbly, empty stomachs. “I want to remind people the power of manners and respect,” says founder Brit Williams. To further spread this message of basic kindness, Williams has renamed her granola bars after different manners.
Before launching her etiquette-inspired product names, Williams’ first two bar flavors were named after the family member who inspired each flavor. This personal touch reflects her initial quest to create a tasty and nutritious snack for her family. “The first one was the Pardon Me, and that was specifically for [my husband],” Williams says.
It was, in fact, her husband who inspired the entire granola venture. After realizing the store-bought granola bars he was eating had little nutritional value and lots of additives, Williams set to work crafting a granola bar recipe he could eat instead. In her husband’s case, that meant chocolate and dried cranberries. The next flavor, Sharing Is Caring, Williams made for herself. “It is jam packed full of nutrients and goodness,” she says, adding that she prefers to leave chocolate out of her morning go-to bar.
At the same time Williams was experimenting and refining her bar recipes, she also was working full-time as an event planner. In short order, her bars were a success at those events too. “Fast-forward to April 2019; I was doing an event for a national health food grocery store, and the staff there were eating my granola bars and they were like, ‘Do you sell this?’” Williams says. When she asked if she should, their enthusiasm was enough to spur her on to the next step.
By June 2019, Williams sold her first granola bar and started doing business on Instagram. From there, Please & Thank You grew, first to getting its own website to Williams becoming licensed to sell in local farmers markets. “It worked out really great,” she says. “I built this foundation where I could get into a commercial kitchen, which I did January of the beginning of [2021].”
Please & Thank You Granola Bars now shares a commercial kitchen space with many other local Plymouth makers, including Nikkolette Krumheuer of Nikkolette’s Macaroons. “[Krumheuer] has a company called MSP Kitchenery, and there is a number of us local makers that share a kitchen space there; it’s a wonderful incubator for new businesses,” Williams says.
Now instead of filling all her free time with granola bar baking, Williams has a set schedule that helps her juggle a full-time event planning job, her budding entrepreneurial business and two young kids. “Every step along the way is a learning process,” Williams says. “You take one step, and you hope that it’s the right step, and then somebody at that next step will introduce you to where you need to go for the next step. It’s a fun process.”
At the same time her business was expanding, Williams expanded her assortment of bar flavors as well. “I was asked to create a nut-free bar, which was the hardest recipe I think to come up with,” she says. Williams embarked on the project of creating her own apple butter from scratch, resulting in the You’re Welcome granola bar, which is also nut-, dairy- and gluten-free.
For the time being, Williams says she’s sticking with the five flavors of granola bars she currently has, along with two flavors of granola and a homemade peanut butter, but she doesn’t rule out crafting new ones to meet customer requests in the future. “Right now, my biggest focus is getting us into new wrappers and new packaging,” Williams says. While her current packaging is compostable, it doesn’t allow for a long shelf life, which makes it more challenging to get her bars into retail spots like grocery stores.
If you’re looking to try out a Please & Thank You granola bar yourself, you can visit the Maple Grove indoor farmers market or buy from Williams directly at pleasethankyougranolabars.com.
Please & Thank You Granola Bar Cheesecake
- Using a mini cupcake pan, divide your Golden Rule granola bar into quarters. Mold each quarter into mini crusts. Press them around until each fits nicely in the bottom of the cupcake tin. Place your pan in the freezer for 15 minutes to set the crust as you make the filling.
- Make filling using your favorite cheesecake recipe. Scoop the filling into the cupcake tins, and level them off. Cover with foil and place in the fridge (not the freezer) to set for at least six hours or overnight, if preferred.
- Once you are ready to serve, remove from the tins, and sprinkle just a little bit of cinnamon over each mini cupcake.
Recipe from Brit Williams.
Please & Thank You Granola Bars
pleasethankyougranolabars.com
Please & Thank You Granola Bars
@pleasethankyougranolabars
