Snap, Crackle, and Pride: Darien entrepreneur launches socially conscious cereal
When a Darien man decided the time had come to invent a new cereal, he had three key characteristics in mind. It had to be nutritious, tasty ”” and reflective of Black culture.
“The idea came to me at something like 3 a.m. last spring,” Nic King told the Business Journal. “I woke up with it and was wondering where it came from.”
“It” is Proud Puffs, a chocolate cereal whose pieces come in the shape of a black fist. But while for some that might bring up uncomfortable reminders of Tommie Smith and John Carlos giving the Black Power salute at the 1968 Summer Olympics, or the Black Panthers, King said it is instead meant to reflect the worldwide support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
“I Googled ”˜Black-owned cereal companies”™ after I got up that night,” the Stamford native recalled. “This was right after the unfortunate (May 25) George Floyd incident and the Minneapolis protests that had started right after.”
Finding no such cereal lines (“I thought I might have something here), King said he was midway to his kitchen when “out of nowhere, the Proud Puffs name popped into my head.
A spiritual man, King said he gives credit to God, because otherwise “I have no idea where these ideas came from.”
He quickly acquired the proudpuffcereal.com domain and began spreading the word on social media. Then came the next step: Creating a company name for his new endeavor.
“I chose ”˜Legacy”™ because I”™m a single dad who wants to give his son a better life than I had,” King said. “I”™m always thinking about legacy and family ”” it”™s part of creating Proud Puffs and its packaging.”
Boxes of Proud Puffs feature drawings “of my son, my sisters, nieces and nephews. It”™s a way of adding my family, which is my legacy. You might see a Wheaties box with a Black athlete on it, but in this case I wanted something where kids might say, ”˜Wow, that kind of looks like my family.”™”
A self-described “terrible cook,” King turned to a team of food scientists to develop the cereal itself. “The food and beverage industry was completely new to me,” he said. “So I gave them the layout and explained that it needed to be nutritious, but also taste good, so that kids would want to have it.”
Though he”™s guarding the cereal”™s ingredient list, King said it includes monk fruit for sweetening, real cocoa and is vegan-friendly.
“Everyone is trying to be a little more health-conscious these days,” he said. “And I didn”™t want to contribute to the sugar problem. Monk fruit is a natural sweetener and still makes it flavorful for children.
“One of the most important things I”™ve done,” he added, “was to turn my life around and establish a healthier lifestyle as an example for my son.”
King is launching a crowdfunding campaign on Feb. 1 to help pay for Proud Puffs”™ production by “a bigger manufacturing company. Hopefully by April/early May we”™ll have it in stores. I”™ve been talking with the grocery chains and independent stores ”” and if I have to sell it on the website by myself, that”™s what I”™ll do.”
That mindset also played a role in his decision to leave T-Mobile last June. “That was during the early stages of Covid and I got a lot of questions,” he said. “But I still thought it was the right time to leave corporate America, to bet on myself a little bit and to focus on being a single dad.”
King said he believes that decision helped clear his mind to come up with Proud Puffs ”” with a little help from the Almighty, of course.
“I”™d given myself the opportunity to stay still, instead of jumping up at 7 a.m. every day and hurrying off to work,” he said. “I was a little more relaxed and started to sleep better. And about a month and a half later, that”™s when the idea came to me.”
Ultimately, King said, his goal for the cereal remains consistent.
“This is not about building a customer base,” he said. “It”™s about helping to build a community.”