Discover How Shirley’s Small Business Became a Thriving Goldmine: You Won’t Believe the Secrets!

The granola is handmade on baking sheets by the company’s workers. (Photo courtesy of Golden Girl Granola)

Golden Girl Granola is a woman-owned, family-owned business in Shirley that produces small-batch, artisanal granola that has become so popular that it can be found in several supermarket chains.

They make loose granola in 10-ounce bags and 2-ounce snack packs, along with chewy granola bars. It’s an all-natural, whole grain, non-GMO, dairy-free, cholesterol-free, casein-free, trans-fat-free, wheat-free, and free of artificial preservatives, colors, or flavors granola, made in a gluten-free, limited-nuts kitchen. Ingredients (and employees) are sourced locally whenever possible and are also sold locally (and online).

Each batch of granola is baked twice, hand-stirring all ingredients before, during and after baking to expose each ingredient to a low heat that brings out the natural roasted flavors. This long and tedious process allows it to be crisp and free flowing from the bag.

Current flavors are Bluesberry, Chocolate Decadence, Creative Cranberry, Forest Maple, Home Sweet Honey, Truly Tropical, Original, and (in season) Pumpkin Harvest.

Their baking facility is located in Phoenix Park, a well-preserved, historic building that used to be a Shaker broom factory fed by the mill pond across from it. They have been in space for 12 years.

“Shirley is a beautiful city and we have found the people here to be friendly and welcoming…Shirley is the only city where everyone says ‘hello’ when you pass people on the street, and that friendliness is also part of the Phoenix Park vibe. Shirley has become a second home to us,” said owner Deborah O’Kelly.

Golden Girl has five employees, several of whom live in Shirley.

“One accomplishment I am very proud of is seeing some of our younger employees from the past learn and develop enough self-confidence to go on to better and more important jobs. We miss them, but it’s like starting a family,” he said.

Family is how it all began for O’Kelly, as a child with her predecessors and as an adult with her descendants.

It was the excellent cooks in the O’Kelly family who taught him to be interested in food. “I think I started at the age of five when I snuck into the kitchen one morning to make eggs three different ways before someone got up to prove to my grandmother that I knew how to cook. However, I ate all the evidence,” she said.

Golden Girl Granola started in 2007 with donuts. Her daughter Catherine wanted to sell something at the Carlisle Farmers Market and people would buy them, but she had a short shelf life, so she decided she wanted to try something else. O’Kelly’s other daughter, Jacquie, came up with the idea of ​​making granola because it was healthier and more versatile.

“[Customers] he liked granola because it was a healthy alternative to commercial cereals. When they tasted our granola at our stand, their immediate reaction was to grab the bag to see how much salt and sugar was added to bring out the delicious flavors, and they were surprised to see how little was in our granola. ‘This really tastes good!’ they exclaimed,” he said.

The decision to turn it into a full-time business for O’Kelly was a slower process. There was such a high demand for granola that first summer that customers begged to be kept in stock all year long. O’Kelly did this while his daughters were in college and sold granola together at various farmers’ markets over the next two summers. Then some local stores began contacting them to stock their granola, identifying them by name, flavor names, and packaging colors.

“I realized that we had a product that people loved and a brand that they recognized and remembered. Those were two fundamental characteristics of successful products, so I decided to dedicate myself to building a business. I had always wanted to make and sell a food product, and this was my chance… I never had any intention of starting a business; it just happened,” he said.

Since then, Granola Girl has gone through several expansions to the business, its commercial kitchen, and manufacturing space.

Jacquie was also instrumental in creating the Golden Girl Granola logo.

She came up with the name for the brand that summer, naming it after her own blonde. Jacquie loved Pippi Longstocking when she was a child, so she drew a “Golden Girl” similar to the one they called “Gigi” after the trade initials of GG. Each flavor has Gigi in a different outfit and she is doing a different task, such as playing a musical instrument on the “Bluesberry” flavor packaging.

“Pippi was always getting into trouble, not because she was naughty, but because she was curious and unafraid, unaware of limits. That’s why Gigi’s foot on the package extends a little bit beyond the circle,” O’Kelly said.

“The girls are no longer directly involved, but they still feel part of the business,” she added. She is now in charge of O’Kelly with the support of her husband Terry.

“At first, we were thrilled to sell more than 10 bags at an open-air market. Now we ship on 13-foot pallets, so we must be doing something right,” said Terry O’Kelly.

Supermarkets that sell Golden Girl Granola are Whole Foods, Wegmans, Roche Bros, Big Y, Donelan’s, and Crosby’s in Connecticut, New Hampshire, Maine, eastern New York, and Wisconsin.

Golden Girl Granola is sold at small local retailers, including Rota Springs Farm in Sterling, Bolton Orchards, and Tully Farms in Dunstable.

Once they became popular in stores, O’Kelly began hearing from New England visitors who had tried their granola over the holidays and wanted it at home, so they began selling it online.

“Sales took off during the pandemic, as even local customers were reluctant to venture out,” he said, beginning his policy of offering free shipping. O’Kelly said shipping costs have increased in the years they’ve been operating online, but so has their sales volume, so they decided to continue offering free shipping to help grow the online business.

O’Kelly loves having this purpose in her life. He would like to continue to expand into regions beyond New England and eventually become a nationally recognized brand.

He said it’s a challenge to keep up with the demands of a changing market, fluctuating costs, new competitors and standing out on the shelves of the largest supermarket chains that sell thousands of products.

But there’s so much joy in the response they get from customers who take the time to write to them or who they meet in stores when tasting.

“The other day, a father asked his seven-year-old daughter to choose a flavor she would like for breakfast. Obediently, he selected a flavor probably based on Gigi’s picture on the package. When I suggested that if she drizzled granola over a bowl of ice cream, it would taste like an ice cream cone, her eyes lit up with such delight that I forgot she had been on her feet for three hours. That paid off all day,” O’Kelly said.

O’Kelly and her family like to give back, donating their time, energy, money, and granola to a variety of local causes and non-profit organizations.

“Our family is the most important thing to us, so events that support families and children get the most attention, particularly in conjunction with the arts,” he said.

Her husband Terry added: “WGBH is one of the groups we always support… The arts for children, particularly music, is one of the charities we can never say no to. Jacquie was a pianist and trombonist who graduated from Oberlin College and Oberlin Conservatory with degrees in psychology and trombone playing. Catherine was an oboist and remains a classical guitarist who teaches and plays locally. Our home was always filled with the wonderful smells of cooking and sounds of music.”

And dance, including O’Kelly’s recent addition of ballroom dancing as a hobby, which she practices four to five times a week.

To purchase or learn more, visit goldengirlgranola.com, where there are many granola recipes, including unusual options like pasta shells with prosciutto and crispy lemon topping or chorizo ​​meatballs with mole sauce. Golden Girl granola can also be found on social media everywhere @GoldenGirlGranola.