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Kelly Flatley, 28, and Brendan Synnott, 29
Bear Naked , Norwalk, Connecticut
Projected 2007 Sales: $50 million
Description: Manufacturer of all-natural granola products
It's All Natural: Childhood friends Kelly Flatley and Brendan Synnott were in between jobs in 2002 when Flatley, ever the health nut, began making all-natural granola in her kitchen and enlisted Synnott to help. "The whole food chain [has become] so processed and filled with artificial ingredients," says Synnott. "[To both of us], it just didn't make sense why you would want to put that in your body, if you are what you eat." Flatley and Synnott each invested $3,500 and moved back in with their parents as they began selling hand-wrapped bags of granola at street fairs.
Healthy Returns: Repeatedly pitching Bear Naked products to local grocer Stew Leonard's yielded no response. Finally, Flatley and Synnott upped the ante: At 7 o'clock one morning, they showed up in matching outfits, armed with granola, yogurt, milk and fruit "[to] bring the buyer breakfast in bed," explains Synnott, "which was so cheesy, but it worked." In fact, when their target buyer wasn't there, they spotted Stew Leonard Jr. walking by. "He [said,] 'Come on in.'" Today, Bear Naked is also sold at Costco, Kroger, Safeway, Target and Whole Foods, and four of its products are sold in Canada.
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