Local man turns healthy snack into healthy business

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YACOLT – When Nate McClellan was a kid, his mom would make a special snack of popped wheat.

“I loved it,” McClellan says. “And I remembered that when my own kids were young.”

The Fargher Lake resident and father of four made popped wheat for his own children and sent them to friends’ houses with bags of the stuff.

“My kids like it and their friends liked it, even the picky eaters,” McClellan says.

For many years, McClellan’s popped wheat, which he popped on the stovetop in a healthy oil, was just that – a family’s special snack.

But a few years ago, when McClellan was looking around for an entrepreneurial venture, he remembered the popularity of his popped wheat recipe.

He took the product to local health food stores and farmers’ markets, and many people liked it, but the product wasn’t selling as well as McClellan had hoped. The problem, it seemed, wasn’t with his idea, but with his grain of choice.

“Many people were starting to move away from wheat, either because they were suffering from Crohn’s disease or they were gluten intolerant,” McClellan says. “So I started looking around for gluten-free grains to pop.”

His first gluten-free product, Glorious Grains, a blend of 11 different gluten-free popped grains, hit the market six months after McClellan launched his healthy snack food business, Nature Nate’s LLC.

Customers appreciated the gluten-free snack and wanted more options, McClellan says. One day, while he was doing a demo at the Battle Ground farmers’ market, a Battle Ground teacher approached McClellan’s stand with an eye-opening request.

“He was sampling the Glorious Grains and turned to me and said, ‘I like the white one. Can you pop a batch of those for me?’” McClellan recalls. “So I did.”

“The white one” was a grain of popped sorghum, an ancient grain popular in India and Africa but used mostly for animal feed in the United States. On its website, the international Grains Foundation calls sorghum “an attractive alternative for wheat allergy sufferers” and says sorghum has a neutral taste that absorbs other flavors well, making it “well suited for food uses.” In places like India and Africa, the grain is a popular base for porridge, couscous, malted beverages and unleavened breads.

“It’s high in antioxidants and easy to digest,” McClellan says of sorghum. “And it has a lower glycemic index than wheat or corn.”

Once McClellan caught on to people’s preference for the popped sorghum, he moved his young company in a slightly new direction, marketing single popped grains like his popular Popped Sorghum with avocado oil and sea salt, and his new Organic Popped Sorghum, popped in healthy coconut oil with a hint of Himalayan sea salt.



The gluten-free, genetically modified organism (GMO)-free snacks hit the local market at just the right time.

“Healthy snacks, especially healthy gluten-free snacks are really popular right now. And the stores, like New Seasons, are emphasizing local,” McClellan says. “So I’m doing this at a good time.”

In just two years, McClellan has more than quadrupled his production and is now in 50 different markets throughout the Portland/Vancouver metro area, Seattle, San Francisco and Utah. His popped sorghum snacks are in every New Seasons Market, nine Markets of Choice, both Vancouver-based Chuck’s Produce markets, Bob’s Red Mill, and in a variety of other grocery stores and health food shops throughout the Pacific Northwest.

Of course, starting your own business isn’t all good times. McClellan says he’s waded through a few lean times over the past couple years and that being in the business of pitching a new snack product to grocery stores takes a very thick skin.

“It can be difficult to get into some of these places because they’re inundated by people wanting them to carry their products,” McClellan says. “But I keep calling … I may try four or five times before I get someone who says, ‘I like that idea.’”

McClellan keeps a gigantic whiteboard above his desk, with the names of markets he hopes to break into. There are a variety of big-name grocery stores, of course, and a few movie theater chains – McClellan would love to see an alternative to popcorn at the theater and thinks his new popped sorghum with clarified butter, or ghee, might be the perfect fit – and also a few universities.

Questioned about the schools, McClellan says that he’s trying to tap into the student market for healthy snacks and would love to offer reasonably priced, little one-ounce bags of popped sorghum or popped KAMUT®, an ancient wheat that is high in protein and easy to digest.

It’s obvious that McClellan’s brain is constantly churning. He is a bit of an inventor as well as an entrepreneur, so he’s been trying to develop an easier way of popping his ancient grains. Right now, he pops them in small batches, using healthy fats like coconut, avocado or olive oil, and then seasoning them. If he could build a more productive popper, he could ramp up production, get into more markets and, eventually, hire a few employees.

“That’s the goal,” McClellan says. “I’d say that I will probably be able to hire someone within the next 12 months, if sales keep going up like they have in the past.”

Customers love the gluten-free snacks, which are also free of any genetically modified organism (GMOs), and mostly organic. Currently, McClellan offers five flavors of popped sorghum, including Avocado & Sea Salt, Agave & Honey, Coconut Oil & Thai Red Curry, Extremely Cheezy and Rosemary & Garlic. He also has a line of Do It Yourself popping sorghum, which he sells by the pound for people interested in air or oil popping their own gluten-free snack; the original Glorious Grains blend; a popped KAMUT® product that features an ancient form of wheat that is high in protein and more digestible than modern wheat; as well as an Amish Organic Sorghum Syrup.

“I like to focus on healthy foods, healthy snacks,” McClellan says. “I know the benefits of eating a healthy diet. A few years ago, I suffered from restless leg syndrome and took medication for it. Then I started drinking green smoothies everyday and the restless leg syndrome went away! Now, I notice if I go a few days without eating healthy or of skipping my green smoothies, the restless leg come back. Food definitely makes a difference in our health.”

Locally, customers can find Nature Nate’s LLC products at Battleground Produce and Four C’s Four Corners in Battle Ground, or by visiting McClellan’s online site at www.naturenatesllc.com.