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Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

Same old Crapola made in a new factory

Part of Ely’s economic resurgence

Keith Vandervort
Posted 8/10/16

ELY – Brian and Andrea Strom moved into their new Crapola factory in downtown Ely last week.

“We have been looking forward to this day since spring,” Andrea said last Thursday as they worked …

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Same old Crapola made in a new factory

Part of Ely’s economic resurgence

Posted

ELY – Brian and Andrea Strom moved into their new Crapola factory in downtown Ely last week.

“We have been looking forward to this day since spring,” Andrea said last Thursday as they worked feverishly to fill a large order of their granola product in their new kitchen. “We’re not quite settled in,” Brian added.

A year ago, the walls on the north end of the former James Drug building on 1st Avenue East came down to make room for the new home of Crapola.

The building was one of many vacant properties acquired by the John Ott family. The Crapola expansion is just one more indication of Ely’s economic resurgence.

Through a successful KickStarter online fundraising campaign last spring that raised about $40,000, the Stroms moved forward with their expansion plans.”We were really encouraged from all the support we received. We love the community and area. We are really excited to move in to the new place,” he said.

The couple started a business here nine years ago as a joke. They thought it would be fun to make a gourmet granola with a humorous name. They sold their first batches of Crapola at the Ely Farmers Market, and now they can hardly keep up with the large orders coming in from their distributors.

What is Crapola?  It’s a high-fiber breakfast cereal, which they named by playfully combining the words cranberry, apple, and granola.

On the heels of introducing their fourth variety of Crapola last year, “Kissy Poo” joined their original “Crapola,” “Number Two,” and their third flavor, formerly known as “Red, White and Blueberry,” was renamed “Colon-ial Times”), the Stroms outgrew their Camp Street facility.

The former James Drug store now houses a production facility, and a yet-to-be completed dining and retail area. Passers-by can watch the process through expansive windows.

“Today is a Number Two day,” Brian said as he heated syrup to add to the granola mixture. “We’re not quite up to speed on our workflow in here but we had our biggest order ever come in and we are under the gun to get it filled.”

“We didn’t want to have to hire someone else to make our granola,” Strom said in their online funding campaign introduction. “We prefer to continue making our products ourselves. Each batch is hand crafted in small batches, and with the best ingredients we can find.”

They moved their production and packaging equipment from the former facility and added a new oven, sinks, venting equipment. “We needed a larger oven, mixer, dishwasher, and more packaging machinery,” Brian said.

“It took us a bit longer to get over here, Andrea said. “The building needed a lot more work than we anticipated, but we wanted to do everything right the first time.”

“We have learned a lot along the way,” Brian said.  “We’re proud of our accomplishments, and excited for the future. We have grown our business, but it has also grown us.”

Crapola is sold in close to 200 stores throughout Minnesota and the Midwest.  Crapola is available locally at Zup’s Markets, Northland Market, The Front Porch Coffee and Tea Co., Piragis Northwoods Co. and Mealey’s Gifts.

CUTS

Old photo –

The James Drug store building at the corner of First Avenue and East Chapman Street in Ely could be the future home of Crapola. Photo courtesy of the Ely Winton Historical Society.

Portrait of Brian and Andrea –

Brian and Andre Strom founded Crapola nine years ago in Ely. Photo courtesy of Ann Brenny/Pure Photo Joy

Various photos of Andrea and Brian making Crapola in their new factory. Photos by K. Vandervort