Custom Choice Cereal In Local Newspaper

Posted on February 28, 2011 by customchoicecereal

What a weekend and start into the new week this has been! I am excited that on Sunday, the Durham Herald-Sun featured an article about Custom Choice Cereal and our custom gluten-free cereal. For me as a small local entrepreneur, it is always a great feeling to be written about!

Author Keith Upchurch actually has celiac disease, which I thought was a very interesting coincidence. He had not previously heard of us and really liked our concept. This being said, the reason why he wrote his article was because of our recent partnership with gourmet retailer Dean & DeLuca in New York City.

But I don’t want to repeat everything from the article about Custom Choice Cereal. Instead, I encourage you to check it out! I’m just thrilled to have a newspaper write about my little gluten-free company and help at least one more person on a gluten-free diet enjoy a variety of tasty breakfast again!

Delectable. Wonderful. Gluten-free Cereal.

Posted on February 17, 2011 by customchoicecereal

Time has flown by during the past two days! I have been working from Bull City Forward, a local organization dedicated to support social enterprises in Durham, NC. The spirit of many passionate entrepreneurs working in the same office is awesome and super motivating!

Besides this, there has been some other pretty good stuff happening at Custom Choice Cereal this week. Obviously I am still stoked about our partnership with gourmet retailer Dean & DeLuca, bringing gluten-free cereal to their stores in New York City. But what always excites me most is the awesome feedback we get about our cereal, so I had to share another one with you.

Rita designed her own cereal and reviewed it on her blog One 2 Try and starts out by saying that “I wanted to create even more cereal, it was so much fun”. When her concoction arrived conveniently at her doorstep she thought that it “looked delectable. There are big cherries and lots of coconut flakes. It smells wonderful. I could not wait to taste my creation. The corn flakes are delicately crunchy while the cherries and blueberries add a nice chewiness to the cereal. The coconut adds even more crunch. The berries add the sweetness. This is really good. I am enjoying munching right from the bag. I had some with milk too and it was my perfect cereal taste sensation.”

You know what I thought when I read this review? Even if I tried I couldn’t come up with better feedback. So what are you waiting for? Design your perfect gluten-free breakfast and experience what Rita describes as “The fun comes in the creating exactly what you want in your cereal. It is your Custom Choice Cereal. Munch Munch Munch… it is so good!”

Custom gluten-free cereal in the Indy

Posted on January 6, 2011 by customchoicecereal

The cold and rainy weather here in good ol’ North Carolina combined with maybe not the smartest behavior during New Year’s put quite a few of us down with a cold these days. Besides letting you enjoy a great variety of tasty gluten-free breakfast cereal there is one thing that always gets me fired up: your feedback!

Joyce Clark Hicks, who recently designed a cereal for her daughter, just happens to be a food reporter for a local paper called the Independent Weekly. The Indy focuses on Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill, so writing about Custom Choice Cereal as a local food start-up with a focus on the gluten-free niche market made perfect sense.

Joyce liked the great variety besides dried fruits, nuts and seeds (“chocolate chips, anyone?”), the simple ordering process, and that her mix “arrived within two days of ordering”. She also points out that as a local you “can pick up your order and save on shipping”. Read the entire article about our custom gluten-free cereal start enjoying a tasty gluten-free life!

By the way, Joyce’s son is allergic to nuts and her daughter can’t have wheat, dairy, casein, whey, eggs or nuts. She sharing her experience of feeding her children through a wonderful monthly column called Feed With Care. Look for it in the first Indy of each month!

Custom Choice Cereal recognized among most promising startups

Posted on December 14, 2010 by customchoicecereal

In the middle of the busy holiday season, we at Custom Choice Cereal are excited to receive an early present. Our small Durham, NC, based custom gluten-free cereal company was recognized among the nation’s 50 most promising startups in the Kauffman Foundation’s Startup Open Competition.

“Global Entrepreneurship Week engaged millions of aspiring and inspiring entrepreneurs, helping them embrace imagination and ingenuity,” said Carl Schramm, president and CEO of the Kauffman Foundation. Participants in the competition were judged by experts from the Kauffman Foundation and Dymo Labeling on their concept, growth projections and knowledge of the markets.

With so many entrepreneurs around the nation working to realize their great ideas, we are truly grateful and honored to be selected as one of the nation’s most promising startups.

Taste is subjective…

Posted on November 24, 2010 by customchoicecereal

Another way to say it that you can’t argue about taste. It’s just one of the reasons for Custom Choice Cereal’s existence. Equally important, it is our mission to make living gluten-free an enjoyable and fun experience for everyone but especially those of you with celiac disease or gluten intolerance. We know how tough it can be finding a variety of tasty gluten-free breakfast options – but fortunately you don’t have to search any longer!

Sachi Fujimore published an article on NorthJersey.com about custom food businesses in the US on Monday. Besides our custom gluten-free cereal, she also mentions the following custom food companies:

Custom chocolate bars from Chocri
Energy bars from Element Bars
Ice cream and gelato from eCreamery
Pet food from Red Moon Pet Food

These are some great ideas and young businesses that we really like and support. Remember that Christmas is approaching fast and that surprising your foodie friends with their personal food makes for a super unique gift that will definitely be appreciated!

We are a NFCA gluten-free Hot Product!

Posted on November 4, 2010 by customchoicecereal

I started today with a delicious bowl full of gluten-free organic corn flakes, organic chocolate chips, and macadamia nuts. I am so glad we added the chocolate chips that I absolutely had to throw them into my own gluten-free cereal mix! It completely made me forget the nasty rainy Fall day here in Durham, NC

But who would have thought that the day would get even better? The great people at the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness (NFCA) published their November newsletter with tons of useful information on celiac disease and living gluten-free. If you haven’t heard about this outstanding organization you definitely need to check out their website!

Besides all the news and information they provide, I always especially enjoy their section on “Hot Products” in the gluten-free market. The November newsletter features our build-your-own perfect gluten-free breakfast cereal or granola! Tom and I are so thrilled about what they wrote about us that we have to quote parts of what the NFCA wrote about us here:

“Custom Choice Cereal lets you create your own cereal (you even get to name it), with three gluten-free options for the base and up to 11 ingredients for mix-ins. For example, the sample Launch Day pack included banana chips and shaved coconut for a tropical twist. The cereal comes in a resealable pouch and is shipped to your door. All you have to do is open the pack, pour in your hand and munch away.”

So true! Which brings me to the biggest question now (but I guess we will find out soon): what ingredients do you add to create your perfect gluten-free cereal?

Custom Choice Cereal in Korean news

Posted on October 18, 2010 by customchoicecereal

I hope you had a wonderful weekend and as exciting a start into the new week as I did here at Custom Choice Cereal!

I always say that it’s the little things and gestures in life that make a difference, and therefore I am thrilled to share a “little thing” that is the cause of my joy this Monday morning: our customizable gluten-free cereal concept made the news in South Korea!

The only challenge is that none of us at Custom Choice Cereal can read South Korean. If anyone of you can it’d be absolutely great if you would let us know what exactly the article says. It’d be ideal if the Korean-speaker among you left us a comment here for everyone to read but you can of course always contact us directly.

Be assured that we’ll be eternally grateful

Gluten-free dining options in Asheville

Posted on September 22, 2010 by customchoicecereal

We at Custom Choice Cereal are based in Durham, North Carolina, but have a special relationship to Asheville because Hajo went there for High School, still has a few very good friends there, and loves to go hiking in the mountains.

That’s why we were excited to see an article in yesterday’s Asheville Mountain XPress listing the over 25 restaurants with gluten-free dining options in the city and surrounding area. Asheville is always worth a trip but maybe now you are even more inclined to visit this beautiful place?

Here comes the best part: Melody Grace Miller refers to Hajo and Custom Choice Cereal in her article, describing our beloved little venture as a

“company that lets the customer create their own custom-blend of cereal by choosing from a selection of gluten-free ingredients.”

It is important to add that we aim to enable everyone a tasty and normal life regardless of dietary (gluten) restrictions. Your taste buds and safety are Custom Choice Cereal’s highest priorities; that’s why we only select the highest quality ingredients and maintain a dedicated gluten-free facility!

Custom (gluten-free) foods in the press

Posted on September 9, 2010 by customchoicecereal

Just yesterday I posted about another blogger giving our gluten-free cereal a stellar review and how that made my day. Today is even better!

About a month ago I talked to Carole Sharwarko from the Southtown Star in Tinley Park, IL, because she was interested in Custom Choice Cereal’s create-your-own gluten-free cereal concept. The result of this conversation has been published today in an article on custom food websites letting you have it your way. Carole writes that

“Though Custom Choice Cereal owner Hajo Engelke said anyone would enjoy a custom cereal, people with gluten sensitivity or celiac disease make up his primary customer base. It’s what gave him the idea in the first place.”

I am pretty thrilled that Carole accurately described who needs a gluten-free diet though many others can benefit from it. Even a CNN health expert described celiac disease as a gluten allergy yesterday and provoked an outcry in the comment section. Being German I am particular when it comes to getting the facts right

Here is a shout-out to some other great make-your-own food websites that Carole mentions in her article besides our custom gluten-free cereal: Chocri (custom chocolate bars), Slant Shank Jerky (custom beef jerky), eCreamery (custom ice cream), and RedMoonPetFood (no explanation needed). Check them out!

Custom Choice Cereal and 31Projects

Posted on September 3, 2010 by customchoicecereal

I must admit that living in North Carolina I sometimes miss the busy streets of a bigger city. But then again there are only very few places I’ve been where the people are as friendly as they are here. They clearly looooove their BBQ, are passionate about their beautiful State (for good reasons!), and have a pretty strong entrepreneurial spirit.

This passion for entrepreneurship was the main reason for me to launch Custom Choice Cereal in the Triangle instead of one of the bigger cities. At the same time, there are many great ideas coming to life here, and the entrepreneurial community is really well interconnected. Once you’re fellow entrepreneurs even the rivalries between Duke, UNC, and NC State fade to the background

Here is proof: Jon Reifschneider, founder of 31Projects, went to Duke, while I graduated from UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School. His idea is to let companies and students get to know each other risk-free through short-term projects and competitions. Students get real-life experience while the companies can crowdsource the best talent – a classic “win-win” situation.

Jon’s venture was covered on ere.net with Custom Choice Cereal mentioned as an example of how it will work. I am pretty excited to have Custom Choice Cereal be a part of the launch next week with a competition for a viral marketing plan.

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