#59 Welcome to the Oat Haus! Celebrity Collaboration, Sprouts Launch, and Mental Health with Ali Bonar

Today's guest you may recognize for a number of reasons but specifically from the cover of the Startup CPG Spotlight magazine! Ali Bonar, Co-Founder, CEO, and Chief Vibes Officer of Oat Haus and other members of the Oat Haus team were featured in last winter's magazine edition, so today we get to hear the latest news podcast style! Oat Haus makes the world's first oat-based spread: Granola Butter. Born out of Ali's eating disorder recovery, the mission behind the brand is to bring fun & play to food! Ali and her two other co-founders were on Shark Tank Season 13 in October of 2021, so make sure to check out that episode of the show (and if you love Shark Tank, make sure to listen to our recent interview with Alexiou Gibson (#57) where we do a deep dive on Shark Tank and that experience). It's going to come through in this conversation how much I love the Oat Haus granola butter products, but since we recorded, I did also get my brownie batter pre-release order and it. is. decadent. Somehow it's like eating brownie batter out of the bowl but without the stomachache or the top allergens. It's not going to last long in our "haus."

Listen in to hear from Ali:
- More about Oat Haus' founding story
- The behind the scenes of their recent flavor hype drop and how they started collaborating with Jameela Jamil
- Oat Haus' first marketing and sales hires
- How they secured a national Sprouts launch and how they've supported that launch with influencer marketing
- The realities of mental health as a founder
- Riding the up and downs of publicity like Shark Tank
- And more!

Content warning: episode mentions eating disorders and sexual assault.

Episode Links:

• Oat Haus website & IG @oat.haus
• Ali's LinkedIn & IG @alibonar
• Ali's podcast "Alicast"
• Startup CPG magazine issue featuring Oat Haus
• Join the #founder_health_and_wellness channel in the Startup CPG Slack
• Interviews with Ali on The Shine Online podcast and the Dare to Self Care podcast
• Lauren Leavell Fitness mentioned by Jessi

Show Links:

• Join the Startup CPG Slack community (8K+ members and growing!)
• Follow @startupcpg
• Visit host Jessi's Linkedin or website
• Questions or comments about the episode? Email Jessi at jessi@startupcpg.com