{"id":11499,"date":"2026-04-24T21:05:51","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T21:05:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/?p=11499"},"modified":"2026-04-24T21:05:51","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T21:05:51","slug":"they-built-their-cereal-brand-in-an-apartment-now-in-15k-stores","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/?p=11499","title":{"rendered":"They Built Their Cereal Brand in an Apartment. Now in 15K Stores"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\tOpinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.\t<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"tw:border-b tw:border-slate-200 tw:pb-4\">\n<h2 class=\"tw:mt-0 tw:mb-1 tw:text-2xl tw:font-heading\">Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul class=\"tw:font-normal tw:font-serif tw:text-base tw:marker:text-slate-400\">\n<li>Margaret and Ian Wishingrad launched Three Wishes Cereal from their one-bedroom apartment in 2019 after finding zero healthy cereal options for their baby.<\/li>\n<li>The grain-free, high-protein brand is now sold in more than 15,000 stores after they bootstrapped it with $250,000.<\/li>\n<li>The couple had to completely redefine their power dynamic to save both their business and their marriage.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>Margaret Wishingrad remembers standing in the cereal aisle of her grocery store, reading ingredient labels. It was sugar and grains for days. She had a baby boy who just started on solid foods, and there wasn\u2019t a single option she felt comfortable feeding him.<\/p>\n<p>She told her husband, Ian, who ran an ad agency building brands for other companies. Faster than you can say snap, crackle, pop, a lightning bolt struck. \u201cIt was like, Oh my God, there\u2019s no one doing cereal yet,\u201d Ian says. \u201cThat\u2019s a perfect big category, ready for disruption. I don\u2019t know how we\u2019ll do it, but that\u2019s the one.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That lightbulb moment became Three Wishes Cereal, a grain-free, high-protein breakfast brand the Wishingrads built from their one-bedroom apartment starting in 2019. Six years later, the brand is now sold in more than 15,000 grocery stores nationwide, including Whole Foods, Sprouts, Wegmans and select Costco locations.<\/p>\n<p>But the biggest challenge wasn\u2019t just cracking the cereal code. It was figuring out how to work together as married co-founders and parents of young kids without killing each other.<\/p>\n<p>The Wishingrads joined the <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/one-day-with-jon-bier\/id1605821690\" id=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/one-day-with-jon-bier\/id1605821690\">One Day with Jon Bier podcast<\/a> to talk to me about it. Here are some of the highlights.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Related: He Built a $100 Million Brand in Menswear \u2014 Now He\u2019s Taking On Baby Monitors After a Scary Wake-Up Call<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Getting Three Wishes off the ground took longer than either of them expected. Ian figured they\u2019d have a product \u201cin two minutes.\u201d Margaret had a more realistic perspective\u2014more like two years.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s how long it took just to develop the recipe in their tiny one-bedroom apartment in New York City. They tasted more than 100 versions, trying to nail what they called their \u201cthree wishes\u201d: high protein, low sugar and grain-free without tasting like cardboard. The couple bootstrapped the initial development with $250,000 of their own money.<\/p>\n<p>During this time, the work dynamic started getting messy. This wasn\u2019t their first rodeo\u2014they\u2019d worked together before at Ian\u2019s ad agency and the hierarchy was clear: he was the boss; she was number two.<\/p>\n<p>At Three Wishes, Margaret\u2019s operational skills and strategic thinking made her the natural leader. \u201cWe kind of started equal, but then I took off and really ran the business,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<p>At first, it was tough. \u201cHe wasn\u2019t prepared to be number two, so it took him a minute to get there, but I think now he\u2019s like, I trust her. She does a great job with building this brand. Go!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For Ian, an \u201calpha\u201d personality used to being in charge, this required genuine humility. \u201cWe\u2019ve had to really learn to stay in our lanes,\u201d he says, \u201cbecause if not, it could just get so messy.\u201d The lanes became clear over time. Ian handles creative and marketing as CMO. Margaret runs operations and strategy as CEO.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Related: The Truth About Being in Business With Your Spouse \u2014 How to Navigate Work and Life Together<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-entrepreneur-content-heading\">\n<div class=\"tw:mb-2 tw:border-t tw:border-slate-200 tw:pb-2 tw:pt-2 tw:relative\">\n<div class=\"tw:flex tw:items-center tw:justify-between\">\n<p>\n\t\t\t<!-- Heading --><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"tw:my-0 tw:flex tw:text-slate-800 tw:font-bold tw:leading-none tw:font-heading\">\t\t\t\t<span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<strong>They learned to mix marriage and business<\/strong><br \/><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>It hasn\u2019t always been smooth sailing. The marriage nearly didn\u2019t survive the early years of Three Wishes. About two years into building the company, they hit what Ian calls \u201ctough marital times.\u201d Margaret withdrew. Ian pushed. They tried salsa dancing lessons to reconnect, but it didn\u2019t work.<\/p>\n<p>The dance instructor told them: \u201cI\u2019ve never had this before: two alphas both trying to lead.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>What saved them was the same thing that saved the business: defining roles, respecting boundaries and accepting that they bring different strengths to the table. \u201cIan paints with words, and I paint with pictures,\u201d Margaret says.<\/p>\n<p>Their advice to other married co-founders? Lean into your lane and stay there. Accept the awkwardness of working out power dynamics in real time. And remember that it\u2019s all right to disagree, if you also bring solutions to the table.<\/p>\n<p>Early on, Ian recalls Margaret \u201cassassinating\u201d a lot of his ideas. He didn\u2019t mind her criticism, but he told her, \u201cYou can\u2019t just crap on my ideas, you have to bring solves.\u201d After she did that, she says she \u201cearned a seat at the table.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Related: I Went Into Business With My Husband and Quadrupled Our Revenue. Here Are 4 Lessons I Learned So You Don\u2019t Have To.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Standing in that cereal aisle six years ago, Margaret couldn\u2019t have predicted she\u2019d build a successful brand carried in 15,000 stores. Now when she picks up a box of Three Wishes cereal off the shelf, she sees her photograph on the back.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s such a surreal thing \u2013\u00a0 it\u2019s like a fever dream. It\u2019s not real, and somehow it worked out, and I really don\u2019t even get how it all happened.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"tw:border-b tw:border-slate-200 tw:pb-4\">\n<h2 class=\"tw:mt-0 tw:mb-1 tw:text-2xl tw:font-heading\">Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul class=\"tw:font-normal tw:font-serif tw:text-base tw:marker:text-slate-400\">\n<li>Margaret and Ian Wishingrad launched Three Wishes Cereal from their one-bedroom apartment in 2019 after finding zero healthy cereal options for their baby.<\/li>\n<li>The grain-free, high-protein brand is now sold in more than 15,000 stores after they bootstrapped it with $250,000.<\/li>\n<li>The couple had to completely redefine their power dynamic to save both their business and their marriage.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>Margaret Wishingrad remembers standing in the cereal aisle of her grocery store, reading ingredient labels. It was sugar and grains for days. She had a baby boy who just started on solid foods, and there wasn\u2019t a single option she felt comfortable feeding him.<\/p>\n<p>She told her husband, Ian, who ran an ad agency building brands for other companies. Faster than you can say snap, crackle, pop, a lightning bolt struck. \u201cIt was like, Oh my God, there\u2019s no one doing cereal yet,\u201d Ian says. \u201cThat\u2019s a perfect big category, ready for disruption. I don\u2019t know how we\u2019ll do it, but that\u2019s the one.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That lightbulb moment became Three Wishes Cereal, a grain-free, high-protein breakfast brand the Wishingrads built from their one-bedroom apartment starting in 2019. Six years later, the brand is now sold in more than 15,000 grocery stores nationwide, including Whole Foods, Sprouts, Wegmans and select Costco locations.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.entrepreneur.com\/business-news\/they-built-a-cereal-brand-in-their-cramped-apartment\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Key Takeaways Margaret and Ian Wishingrad launched Three Wishes Cereal from their one-bedroom apartment in 2019 after finding zero healthy cereal options for their baby. The grain-free, high-protein brand is now sold in more than 15,000 stores after they bootstrapped it with $250,000. The couple had to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11500,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-11499","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-green-brands"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11499\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}