YouSaid · the spoken record

Beryl Stafford

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82
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2026-03-09
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2026-03-09
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  1. “So then I knew I had to extend my shelf life. This was crazy. And I finally ended up with my first packaging machine, the biggest piece of equipment that I bought for $25,000.”

    2026-03-09 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Bobo’s: Beryl Stafford. A Single Mom Turns a Baking Project into a $100M Business · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  2. “Yeah, and like hourly or daily. And so I came in one day a week and used their oven. And I hired some of their people that worked for them, two girls, to help me. And until I did that for probably a year.”

    2026-03-09 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Bobo’s: Beryl Stafford. A Single Mom Turns a Baking Project into a $100M Business · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  3. “Rent space, and they were a sandwich delivery company. And they wanted somebody to come in a couple of days a week and use their ovens. Okay, them.”

    2026-03-09 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Bobo’s: Beryl Stafford. A Single Mom Turns a Baking Project into a $100M Business · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  4. “Yes, and I knew that from the beginning the health department wouldn't like that. So I found a shared kitchen. They were looking for more cooks or people starting.”

    2026-03-09 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Bobo’s: Beryl Stafford. A Single Mom Turns a Baking Project into a $100M Business · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  5. “What are these stupid bars doing in my country club? That came back to me, and I thought Well, success is a good pushback.”

    2026-03-09 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Bobo’s: Beryl Stafford. A Single Mom Turns a Baking Project into a $100M Business · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  6. “Oh, yeah, how's the cookie business? Kind of in a condescending way. Yeah, those things hurt at the same time. You're going through some self-doubt.”

    2026-03-09 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Bobo’s: Beryl Stafford. A Single Mom Turns a Baking Project into a $100M Business · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  7. “Yes, I can't believe you said that because, yes. And it was such a stupid fear, but I was afraid of people seeing me because it was a new me. I was a stay at home mom tennis player who had a social life, and now this was the new me. And I mean, I was put in such a tough situation that it was sink or swim. I mean, I was trying to survive. In the beginning, that's not what I was thinking. I didn't think it was going to make a living for me. But I thought maybe, what if it did? And what if I just made a little bit of money and lived on that? I would be okay with that, you know. Because I thought it was so fun and so unusual to be able to bake something and people are going to buy these, you know, wow. That was just so remarkable to me. It was a miracle that somebody would actually take them home and eat them, feed them to their family. It was like play in store.”

    2026-03-09 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Bobo’s: Beryl Stafford. A Single Mom Turns a Baking Project into a $100M Business · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  8. “Here's a question for you. Boulder's, I mean, it's not a tiny town, but it's compared to Los Angeles or New York, it's a small town. And probably it's not uncommon to run into people you know a few times a week, right, randomly in Boulder. And you knew people, you'd been there since you went to college. Was any part of you like Nervous or worried that somebody would see you, and they'd be like, Beryl? Oh my god, are you? What are you doing? What are you selling?”

    2026-03-09 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Bobo’s: Beryl Stafford. A Single Mom Turns a Baking Project into a $100M Business · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  9. “I had gotten into a little co-op in Boulder that opened and wasn't around for very long, but they were the perfect store for me. Very granola-ish, and they didn't mind that I was wrapped in saran wrap with a three-day shelf life. And they sold very well there. And then I had a call from some random coffee shop and I got in there. And then there was another little local grocery store called Luckies that actually is now owned by Kroger and has grown. But same thing. I just went in the back door with a couple and ran out as fast as I could”

    2026-03-09 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Bobo’s: Beryl Stafford. A Single Mom Turns a Baking Project into a $100M Business · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  10. “And he was irritated and ran out, and then I had the courage to go back in in two weeks. And he said, I need some more of those. They sold out. And then he reordered in about a month maybe. And I was shocked. And I just went back and made more. And that was 12 bars. And he said, we do get a lot of vegans in here now. So great. I don't have any vegan options. And so I brought him more and gradually I made $14 one month. I'll never forget. And I thought, okay, this might work. 14 could be $14,000.”

    2026-03-09 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Bobo’s: Beryl Stafford. A Single Mom Turns a Baking Project into a $100M Business · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  11. “And so I wrap up a few. I had four flavors original chocolate, cranberry, and coconut And she said, Okay, I'm going to take you to the coffee shop and I'm going to make the block. You get out and you go to the briefs and ask if he wants to sell them. And I said, no, I'm scared. What do I say? And she said, get out of the car. I'll see you in a little bit. And so I walk in there. And this was, you know, 20 years ago, there was a long line. The barista standing there. Hardly can keep up with making lattes. And I'm standing there looking at him, and I don't want to stand in that line. And so I just walk over and put it down on his little shelf. And he's looking at me like I'm insane. And he goes, what is this? And I go, I just want to see if you'll sell these. They're vegan. And I had a little cell sheet and I dropped them off and I ran out. And he said, well, wait, hold, hold, hold on. What do I sell these for? And of course, I hadn't thought about that. I thought he would know. And I just made something up, $250 or $2.”

    2026-03-09 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Bobo’s: Beryl Stafford. A Single Mom Turns a Baking Project into a $100M Business · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  12. “She wasn't working. And she said, No, this will be cute. We'll draw a little girl and make the writing kind of fun, homemade looking. And we'll go to the brewing market, which is right down the street, coffee shop And I'm very shy, and I'm like, I don't know how to do that, and I don't have experience in sales or the food business. And she said, so what? Let's just try it. It'll be fun. And so I wrapped them in saran wrap and I go to the printer. I get labels printed with her artwork with no nutritionals. And I put the word organic on it, not knowing that I couldn't.”

    2026-03-09 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Bobo’s: Beryl Stafford. A Single Mom Turns a Baking Project into a $100M Business · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  13. “Farmer's market on it or a lot of time. And also my kids thought I was insane. They were becoming teenagers and they were like weirded out by it that I would do that. But I didn't care. And so I wrapped them in saran wrap without a label for a few days and brought them around to my neighbors and changed flavors. And I kept working on the ingredients. And then my girlfriend came over one day in my round kitchen table and we sat down and she said, you know what? Let's draw you a label and we'll call it Bobo's oat bars. I think that's a great idea. Go to your kitchen drawer and get me a sharpie. And she right there drew on a piece of paper the girl that's on the bar to this day. I mean in five minutes and she was trained in graphic design, but she was also a stay-at-home mom.”

    2026-03-09 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Bobo’s: Beryl Stafford. A Single Mom Turns a Baking Project into a $100M Business · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  14. “Cuts it in four corners, you know, four straight corners. And they were great. And I didn't have any other options. You know, I didn't have anything else to do, really. And so it just kind of became this idea, and her nickname was Bobo that's so catchy. And so I thought Vovo's oat bar. Well, that's kind of cute. And I didn't think anything of it more than it'll be some kind of hobby or this will be.”

    2026-03-09 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Bobo’s: Beryl Stafford. A Single Mom Turns a Baking Project into a $100M Business · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  15. “That you made. They were unusual because they were fresh baked. And for a bar that you might sell in a retail store, there aren't that many fresh baked, but a lot of them were guillotine-pressed.”

    2026-03-09 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Bobo’s: Beryl Stafford. A Single Mom Turns a Baking Project into a $100M Business · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  16. “I would say after a few Because this was a thing that she was doing, making these. I mean, that didn't last that long, you know how kids are. She just. That phase was going to peter out quickly. And so that's when Lara Bar had just come around and cliff bar was here. But we're all kind of new, you know, and vegan was new. And they said, you know, go to Whole Foods and see what the bars are like. It's growing. It's becoming a bigger category. And also with the backdrop of me not knowing what the hell I was going to do with my life, maybe you should make these and sell them is what I was hearing.”

    2026-03-09 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Bobo’s: Beryl Stafford. A Single Mom Turns a Baking Project into a $100M Business · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  17. “Yeah. Well, what I picked was Sukhanat. It's a less processed brown sugar than brown sugar. And so I picked that. And now we use coconut oil, but coconut oil was one of the first oils that I used. And instead of corn syrup, I used brown rice syrup. It wasn't so easy that I just, aha, this is what we'll do and bought those ingredients. We tried different ingredients for many months”

    2026-03-09 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Bobo’s: Beryl Stafford. A Single Mom Turns a Baking Project into a $100M Business · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  18. “Well, it is genetically modified. So that's the problem, and it's got a great shelf life, and it gives you a great mouthfeel, but it's. Know bad for you say the experts”

    2026-03-09 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Bobo’s: Beryl Stafford. A Single Mom Turns a Baking Project into a $100M Business · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  19. “15 And they were really good, and she was taking them to school and sharing them with her friends. And then she said, mom, I got to make some more. People love these. And I said, okay, let's keep making them. And I had some friends in the natural food industry that were saying, you got to make these healthier and sell them.”

    2026-03-09 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Bobo’s: Beryl Stafford. A Single Mom Turns a Baking Project into a $100M Business · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  20. “Alex, but when she was born, Alexandra seemed like too big of a name for a baby. And so just as a little nickname, we called her Bobo for no reason, just cute name. So the recipe she found had four ingredients, and I happen to have them all in my cupboard, and I said, great, you know, do it. And they were delicious.”

    2026-03-09 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Bobo’s: Beryl Stafford. A Single Mom Turns a Baking Project into a $100M Business · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  21. “Yeah, she loves to cook. She's a great cook. And we entertained a lot. And as a matter of fact, I worked for a caterer a little bit to see what that was like and learn the ropes. It was very hard. It didn't really work with raising kids. I thought. And I quickly decided that wasn't for me. It's too hard.”

    2026-03-09 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Bobo’s: Beryl Stafford. A Single Mom Turns a Baking Project into a $100M Business · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  22. “So, I had been a cook all my life, and as a matter of fact, I did a little catering on the side just for some extra income out of my kitchen. For friends, and I always love to cook. So I thought, well, this will be perfect for me.”

    2026-03-09 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Bobo’s: Beryl Stafford. A Single Mom Turns a Baking Project into a $100M Business · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  23. “And also, I mean, I look at somebody who's 40 now as somebody into my 50s and I think, oh, they're young. But when you're 40 and you hadn't worked for, you know, at that point in an office for 10 years, you were probably thinking, How am I going to do that? How am I going to start a career again”

    2026-03-09 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Bobo’s: Beryl Stafford. A Single Mom Turns a Baking Project into a $100M Business · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  24. “We split 50 50. He insisted on that. You know, I knew that my life was going to be a lot harder, but when you're all of a sudden a single divorce mom, you have to figure out how you're going to support yourself. And I didn't want to go back to a law firm and put on a pair of pantyhose and go work for someone else, but I didn't know what to do. I did get a job making $7.45 an hour at this kind of gourmet cooking store called peppercorn here in Boulder. And it was just kind of biding my time because my lawyer said, you have got to get a job while you're going through this divorce. And so it just took me a while to figure out what I was going to be. And I was getting advice from people going to tech. Learn how to write software and yuck. I had no interest in that.”

    2026-03-09 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Bobo’s: Beryl Stafford. A Single Mom Turns a Baking Project into a $100M Business · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  25. “It was probably the worst time in my life. And like you said, it went on for so long. And I don't remember. I probably blocked it out. Maybe two years, but maybe just a year, but it was an awful period in my life. The kind of feeling where your heart physically hurts I remember feeling that.”

    2026-03-09 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Bobo’s: Beryl Stafford. A Single Mom Turns a Baking Project into a $100M Business · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  26. “Yeah, it was a lot of that driving them around, being involved in their activities and then, you know, my friends became the parents of their friends. That was okay for me because I didn't know what I was going to do. And then when I wasn't married, when I became I still didn't know what I was going to do.”

    2026-03-09 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Bobo’s: Beryl Stafford. A Single Mom Turns a Baking Project into a $100M Business · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  27. “Yeah. All right. So when you graduated, right, I guess you did a few different jobs. Like, I think for a few years you were paralegal. And also you met a guy in Boulder. And I think when you were in your late 20s, maybe, and you got married. And I think within a couple years, you guys start a family, two girls. Yeah. And from what I understand, you decide you really want to be full time at home with the girls.”

    2026-03-09 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Bobo’s: Beryl Stafford. A Single Mom Turns a Baking Project into a $100M Business · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  28. “I was a hick from Louisiana. And we had this thing on campus called, it was a pizza place called My Pie, but I called it my pie. And my friends would say, say it, say it. This is hysterical. And so when you're 18, you quickly change because you want to fit in. Think that's why I changed my accent so fast. It kind of sound like a Yankee now, but when I go back home, it kind of comes back. You know, the little southern drawl, but uh, I know everybody says that to me. You don't sound like a southerner.”

    2026-03-09 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Bobo’s: Beryl Stafford. A Single Mom Turns a Baking Project into a $100M Business · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  29. “Yeah, it was kind of considered in the woods. There's a lot of lumber business there, and it was a very kind of beautiful small southern town with big oak trees. Not a lot of crime. We never locked our door. And then I graduated from high school and decided I didn't want to follow the path of my brothers and sisters and my uncles and aunts and parents and go to Tulane or LSU. I wanted to go somewhere else outside of Louisiana. And my aunt lived here in Boulder. And I came out here when I was in high school with a girlfriend and thought I had died and gone to heaven. I want to come back here. And I applied and my parents said, great, you know, one less person to worry about in Louisiana.”

    2026-03-09 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Bobo’s: Beryl Stafford. A Single Mom Turns a Baking Project into a $100M Business · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  30. “And try to get local coffee shops to sell them. This was back in 2003, and I should mention, barrels great good fortune was that she lived and still lives in Boulder, Colorado. And if you know anything about Boulder's economy, you'll know that it's kind of like the Silicon Valley of natural foods, celestial seasonings, white wave, which makes silk soy milk, easy sparkling water, and Justin's nut butters all started in Boulder. And Beryl Stafford, who knew nothing about the food business or business at all, was able to tap into her community to figure out how to grow her little snack bar brand, which she called Bobo's Oat Bars. Bobos grew slowly for its first decade, but eventually was able to scale. Today, the brand is estimated to do around one hundred million dollars.”

    2026-03-09 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Bobo’s: Beryl Stafford. A Single Mom Turns a Baking Project into a $100M Business · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  31. “Business idea almost always starts with solving a problem, right? But starting a business for most people is also about necessity, about needing to earn a living to do something with your life. And that can be really hard, especially if life throws you a curveball early in middle age. That's what happened to Beryl Stafford. In her early forties, her marriage collapsed, and she had to figure out how to earn a living. For more than a decade, she'd been out of the workforce, focused mainly on raising her two daughters. So when her marriage ended, Beryl felt like any skill she had as a mom weren't translating to the job market. So out of desperation, she started a small business. She did what she was good at, and in Beryl's case, that was baking. She baked homemade oat bars made with fruit and coconut and sometimes a bit of chocolate. She'd wrap them and cellophane.”

    2026-03-09 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Bobo’s: Beryl Stafford. A Single Mom Turns a Baking Project into a $100M Business · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  32. “My family thought that I was cuckoo to do this. I remember having lunch with my sister once in Boulder and she said, well, what you're going to do this? You're going to delve into this and actually make it work? And I said, yeah, what do you think? And she said, well, how many of those can a person eat? And I thought to myself how crazy of a question is that she doesn't really get it. And I said, How many people are in the country”

    2026-03-09 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Bobo’s: Beryl Stafford. A Single Mom Turns a Baking Project into a $100M Business · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT