Anna Lee, ’28, launched her homemade granola at Café 77 in early February and sold out in about four days.

Lee, who founded the granola brand Dad’s Breakfast, said she couldn’t imagine working a nine-to-five when she was growing up.

“I wanted to be my own boss,” Lee said. “With running your own business, you become your own boss. You can do something you’re actually passionate about, while also having time flexibility.”

Lee said she fell in love with baking in fourth grade. Baking desserts like fruit tarts and cupcakes was a way to show her love for family and friends, she said.

“I don’t know where it stemmed from, but I always loved making things, not just food,” Lee said. “I loved doing things with my hands.”

Lee said her granola business started with the desire to help lower her dad’s high blood pressure.

“I had seen a whole bunch of homemade granola recipes on Instagram at that time,” she said. “I started making it, and my dad literally eats it for breakfast every single day, even now.”

Each time Lee comes home for break, she makes a large batch of granola and freezes it, she said.

“I was calling him the other day and was like, ‘Dad, do you still have granola left?’” Lee said. “He said, ‘I think I’ll have the perfect amount until you come back home.’”

Lee said she wanted her business’s name to be personal and special. She decided on Dad’s Breakfast because it combined her love for her dad and baking.

Lee said what differentiates Dad’s Breakfast is the air-sealed, single-serving granola packs.

“The main reasoning behind this was to prevent the nuts from going rancid,” Lee said. 

But then people started telling her the single-serve packaging was also convenient. She said customers put the individual packs in their bags on the way to work or in their daughter’s lunch box, for example.

Lee said she encountered multiple rejections while launching Dad’s Breakfast. She applied to the Connolly Entrepreneurship Society in her freshman year and was rejected. Her application for the Johnson Opportunity Grant also got rejected last January, she said.

“At this point, I was like, ‘I’m not taking no for an answer,’” Lee said. “I knew coming into Washington and Lee, entrepreneurship was something I wanted to get involved in. Those nos were so hard to take.”

Lee said she talked to Jayson Margalus, a professor of entrepreneurship and leadership, who admitted her into the Connolly Entrepreneurship Society and introduced her to alumni. Lee then reapplied for the next funding round for the Johnson Opportunity Grant in March and succeeded. She also won first place at a video pitch contest hosted by the Connolly Center for Entrepreneurship and secured $1,500 in funding.

Lee said the Connolly Society is a great place to meet like-minded students who are passionate about running their own business and receiving feedback on ideas. 

Lee said she was originally only going to sell her granola at summer farmers markets, but Margalus encouraged her to bring it to Coop.

“I didn’t know whether they would let me do this or not, but I contacted the director of dining services, Alvin Wheeler,” Lee said. “He was all for the idea from the beginning. I think he was excited.”

Lee said she secured multiple permits and partnered with Campus Kitchen to use their commercial kitchen. In early February, Dad’s Breakfast launched at Coop.

“Everyone’s so supportive,” Lee said. “I’ve been getting text messages from people saying ‘I just got it’ and ‘This is so cool!’” She said students have also been complimenting the unique flavors, date coconut and cherry cacao.

Moving forward, Lee said she wants to launch a website for remote orders and continue Dad’s Breakfast on the side after college.

“Although I’m not exactly sure what I want to do straight after graduation,” Lee said, “I’m not really scared or nervous. I think it’s more exciting.”

For students aspiring to start their own businesses, Lee’s advice is simple: just do it.

“Getting from zero to one is always the hardest, but getting from one to 10 is so much easier,” Lee said. “You’ve got to be impatient about it, and you just have to kind of make it happen. No one’s going to do it for you.”