When searching the grocery aisles for healthy granola provided zero success, an inventive student decided to create her own product.

Neha Yadavalli, a junior, started making granola just a few months ago to help her mother with her allergy issues. She saw potential in her skill and decided to make a business out of it, Gulp Gulp Granola.

Yadavalli was disappointed in the very small number of options that she found at stores. After seeing this, she got creative.

“A lot of the cereals that you find have a lot of gluten, saturated fats, and all that, so I kind of wanted to start a business that created granola that was clean to eat,” Yadavalli said.

Yadavalli uses her talents both inside and outside of school. She takes numerous advanced classes at RHS, putting a lot of effort into her schoolwork and business. Saumya Mahajan, a junior, has worked with Yadavalli in classes, and she observes Yadavalli’s creativity at school.

“I think that it’s really interesting to see how she combines [creativity] with her schoolwork. I know last year we had a project for [European History] where most people just made slide presentations or videos, and she made a whole Hot One’s skit about European History,” Mahajan said.

 Among numerous advanced classes, Yadavalli takes AP Microeconomics, a business course. This class ties in well with what she is doing with Gulp Gulp Granola. The teacher, Rachel Walgate, notices Yadavalli using the class to help grow her business.

“I feel like she is actively thinking about what I’m teaching and how it could apply to her making granola and how she’s aware of the things like bringing down costs and how that can apply to her,” Walgate said.

Yadavalli reflects on how her classes have helped her learn more about being successful with granola. She applies the things she learns from Walgate in Microeconomics. She also learns more about business through the real-life experience of running one.

“The business experience really helped me understand the relationship between supply and demand. And I really, at first, I didn’t really think that economics was a big interest for me before I started my business. But then after, I mean, you really just see it in every aspect of your life, which I think is pretty cool,” Yadavalli said.

A critical aspect of success in business is advertising, the key to increasing awareness about a product. Yadavalli has come up with several methods of advertising, using school as an opportunity to spread the word about her business.

“She’s brought samples to our teachers and everything. And then it gets everyone asking, ‘oh, what is that?’ and then it’s a really good way for her to advertise her brand,” Mahajan said.

Yadavalli also uses technology for advertising. Technology is one of the easiest and most efficient ways to reach a broader audience for a business. She boosts her website on search engines in order to maximize advertisement.

“We use . . . Search Engine Optimization. So when you search a key term, you should find our website,” Yadavalli said.

Yadavalli also includes charities in her profits. She ties certain flavors to specific  charities and donates a percentage of profits from the flavor to the charity. This is a way to combine her desire to help charitable organizations with her business.

“With certain flavors you get you donate the funds to certain organizations, like for example, our blueberry lemon granola. Some of the donations of the proceeds go to Ukraine,” Yadavalli said.

Yadavalli utilizes her creativity in Gulp Gulp Granola. She has an innovative personality and creates new seasonal flavors that are not typically found in the aisles of a grocery store.

“I’ve learned that it’s really nice running your own business, because you get to be as creative as you want, and really just think outside of the box for your flavors. How easy is it to go into a grocery store and find a fruity pebble granola?” Yadavalli said.

Carrying her creativity throughout all of her extracurricular activities, Yadavalli excels at many things. She has a broad spectrum of talents ranging from clubs and instruments, to running websites.

“Well, I play a couple of instruments, which I like. I’m in a couple of clubs at Revere. But I also do have this online newspaper for [high schoolers.] . . . We have over 75 high schoolers who are in the network currently. That’s something that I spend a lot of my time on,” Yadavalli said.

Yadavalli hopes to continue growing her business but prioritizes her schoolwork first and foremost. She uses her innovative spirit to appeal to customers through unique flavors and marketing. It is apparent through Gulp Gulp Granola, her website, and her overall effort in school activities that her creativity drives her thinking.

This story was originally published on Lantern on November 21, 2023.