User:EllenZoe/sandbox/Three Wishes Cereal

Three Wishes Cereal is an American food company that produces a high protein, low sugar and grain-free cereal available in four flavors: cinnamon, honey, chocolate and unflavored. The cereals’ two primary ingredients are chickpea and pea protein. Three Wishes Cereal is available for purchase in 700 stores in the United States.

History
Ian Wishingrad was founder of BigEyedWish, an advertising company that created campaigns for AT&T, Diageo, Nestlé, Macy’s and Terra Origin, and his wife Margaret worked at the firm in operations. After their infant son, Ellis, developed a taste for cereal, the couple did not like that the commercially available brands had high sugar content, so they conceived an idea for a product that was low-sugar. Their intention was to create cereal that was "cleaner and more nutritionally-dense".

The Wishingrad’s partnered with food scientists and contract manufacturers to develop the new recipe and after two years of development, they launched Three Wishes Cereal in October 2019. The Three Wishes name represented the couple and their son - the three Wishingrads.

Initial funding came from investors including Rxbar founders Peter Rahal and Jared Smith, as well as the former president of Post Cereal Stephen Van Tassel.

The original flavors of Three Wish Cereal included cinnamon, honey and unsweetened, and the composition formula is 70% less sugar and as much as eight times the protein of popular commercial brands of cereal. In addition, these cereals are gluten-free and do not contain any wheat, dairy, soy, oats, corn, rice and peanuts.

In May 2020, the Wishingrad’s added a chocolate flavor to the Three Wishes cereal line. However, they faced the challenge of the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions preventing expansion to their market. With in-store sampling no longer an option, the couple turned their Westchester, New York home driveway into a drive-through sampling station for the chocolate-flavored Three Wishes Cereal. Margaret wore a mask and gloves, and handed out pre-sealed samples to car drivers using long-handled tongs in accordance with the safety and health measures of the time.

The couple hired three actors from 1977's Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory to tape testimonials for the chocolate flavored cereal; Peter Ostrum, who played Charlie Bucket, Julia Dawn Cole who was Veruka Salt, and Paris Themmen, who played Mike Teavee, all appear in a short video that is shown on social media.

Distribution
Three Wishes Cereal is available in over 700 stores in the United States including Stew Leonard's, Wegmans, Sprouts, and Whole Foods, and more, as well for purchase on Amazon.