Ely's Crapola granola business rebrands, prepares to move bakery

The creators of Crapola granola in Ely are undergoing big changes this year. Brian and Andrea Strom, who started making the cranberry-apple granola mix 14 years ago, have officially rebranded their business as Brainstorm Bakery, and will soon move their operation a few blocks over.

“Although we’ve been working on this for two years, we officially made the name change in July,” Brian Strom said. “It was all supposed to coincide — the new building and the new packaging was supposed to happen together — but nothing goes according to plan.”

The Brainstorm Bakery, which will be at 402 E. Sheridan St., was anticipated to open last spring. But because of construction and supply delays, the Stroms just started the moving process this week. Andrea Strom said they anticipate opening at their new location in October. Until then, they are still operating at their current Crapola World Headquarters at 16 N. First Ave. in Ely.

Brian Strom said the business has been operating as Brainstorm Bakery for their wholesale operations for about a decade now, and they decided to make the name more prominent in their packaging and storefront as they continue to expand their product offerings. The name "Brainstorm" is a play on "Brian" and "Strom."

What started as one flavor of granola has grown to four year-round offerings, plus they bake cookies, scones, muffins, tarts and bread with their granola. They began expanding these baked goods, plus selling coffee and yogurt parfaits, when they moved to their current space five years ago. They also make some seasonal granola mixes. As they look toward the future, Strom said they’re considering other products, like granola bars or hot cereals.

“Crapola became less and less appropriate as an overall brand for all of these things,” Brian Strom said.

While, like many businesses, the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered their storefront for a time, Strom said wholesale and online business set records for the granola company, which has a presence in a couple hundred grocery stores across the Midwest. The Stroms' biggest struggle has been finding workers, so Brian and Andrea were frequently juggling baking and helping their two children with distance learning over the last school year.

Their current facility doesn’t have the equipment to make some potential products, like granola bars in large batches, but their new building will be larger and could potentially fit that equipment. The building on Sheridan Street was formerly the Plum Bun Bakery, which closed in April 2020. The Stroms gutted the building and have been repurposing it to fit their needs. Strom said they also purchased the lot next door for future growth like a warehouse, and to use for outdoor seating.

“We’re just setting the foundation for expansion into new packaged goods under the Brainstorm Bakery brand, and yet allowing for other extemporaneous changes to our bakery case,” he said. “So that will allow for us to be creative and on a daily basis, we can come up with something new here, but further solidify our brand and products for retail. It’s been a long road — a long time coming.”