Scarsdale entrepreneurs realizing cereal success with Three Wishes
Finding a good name for a new product can be challenging for even the most seasoned entrepreneur. But for the husband-and-wife team behind breakfast cereal Three Wishes, it was relatively easy.
“I don”™t know what we would have done if our name was ”˜Smith,”™” laughed Margaret Wishingrad, who with her husband Ian co-founded Three Wishes (the third is son Ellis).
“We spent two years in product development,” the Scarsdale resident said, “making sure the ingredients and the taste were just right. Then we got into the packaging, the naming and the branding ”“ which wasn”™t easy.”
Although they both have backgrounds in advertising and creative design, the Wishingrads kept running into trademark issues with every name they came up with. “It seemed like every single word or set of words was already taken,” she said.
Strolling through Central Park with their son one day ”“ “We felt like shoemakers without shoes,” she said ”“ they eventually hit upon “Three Wishes,” and to their great surprise found that it was available.
“It was like every star aligned,” she said. While the couple has since added a second child, the Three Wishes name will remain in place.
The cereal itself is being marketed as a “better-for-you” option, thanks to nutrient density derived from such ingredients as chickpeas, tapioca and pea protein.
“When Ellis was still young we kind of rediscovered cereal again,” Margaret Wishingrad recalled, “but then we found there aren”™t a lot of great alternative options out there in the market ”“ especially if you want something that”™s healthy but still tastes good so it appeals to children.”
Working with a food scientist, the Wishingrads developed flavors like cocoa, cinnamon and honey, which Margaret said plays into the nostalgia that today”™s wave of new parents have for when they were growing up.
“We talked to moms and grandparents about the things that had made them leave the (cereal) category,” she explained. “And that led us to basically flip the idea of what most people think of when they think of cereal. We”™re putting out something that”™s nutrient-dense and is grain-free, with a lot more protein and a lot less sugar.”
The appeal of the cereal”™s “O” shape, familiar to millions of consumers of other cereals, speaks for itself, Wishingrad said.
Three Wishes launched in 2019 ”“ just in time for Covid-19. But, she said, the pandemic “actually helped us. We both had experience on the agency side, where we learned so many lessons ”“ including the importance of being nimble, being able to pivot and to come up with creative ways to do things.”
The couple had already made inroads at various food-service trade shows with samples for grocery-store buyers. “Then when the pandemic hit, we were able to help customers and potential customers with a completely redesigned website, which we had up in six weeks, which they could order from and keep Three Wishes in stock on their shelves.”
Moves like those helped ensure the likes of Whole Foods keeping it on the shelves of its roughly 500 stores nationwide.
“Ian is one of the most incredible networkers I”™ve ever met,” she said, “which is important because cereal as a category takes up a lot of space in a grocery store ”“ you can have 40 feet of every color, but it”™s dominated by three or four players.
“We feel like we”™ve already left a significant mark,” Wishingrad added.
Indeed, the company has been favorably profiled by Forbes (“Cereal that”™s good ”“ and good for you”) and Fortune (“The next wave of cereal is here”).
And as a proud graduate of Syracuse University, Ian also landed the Orange”™s renowned shooting guard Buddy Boeheim as the first NCAA athlete to star in a TV commercial campaign. Again, a connection with an old Syracuse classmate led to the relationship. Boeheim ”“ son of fabled Orange coach Jim Boeheim ”“ is donating his fee to charity.
“Our goal is to get enough market share to branch out into other areas,” Margaret said. “But right now we”™re focused on becoming America”™s favorite breakfast cereal.”