Chef Cassandra Chen of CC Made, a maker of artisan Caramel Corn, Candy, and Sauces had the kind of challenging problem that every start up company wants to literally have: “Sweet Success!” With the limited hours at a small rental Commercial Kitchen (Marin County, CA) and the high demand for her handmade addictive treats, she was ready for a space that could handle CC Made’s growing business.

Across the Bay and over the bridge, the East Bay and Richmond Bridge that is, was Cafe Fanny. After 28 years, this popular Cafe owned by the legendary chef of Chez Panisse and pioneer in the Organic food movement, was getting ready to close. Cafe Fanny was named after Alice Waters’ mother and daughter with the Granola recipe coming from Alice Waters’ mother. Not wanting to shut down her beloved Granola Company, Alice Waters was looking for the right buyer to keep her Granola company alive and carry on her tradition of selling her Organic Cereal.

With its roots and reputation strongly planted as one of the oldest Organic Granola companies, Chef Cassandra Chen sent a simple email to Alice Waters wanting to use her commercial kitchen to handle the demand and to further expand CC Made. Alice Waters was willing to let Cassandra have her commercial kitchen but used Cafe Fanny as the final bargaining chip to close the deal. Cassandra shared the philosophy that “when Alice Waters asks you to buy a company, you buy the company.” CC Made not only got their own commercial kitchen but also adopted the beloved Cafe Fanny Granola Line.

In 2012, the legal documents were signed, Cassandra Chen had her own commercial kitchen for CC Made, and Cafe Fanny became a new member of her growing artisan family. The next step was to figure out how to best keep and gain the trust of all of Cafe Fanny’s loyal and devoted customers. She decided to keep the recipe the same, update the packaging, and add a few new flavors to the mix. Along with the original recipe, Cassandra still keeps to the same recipe, same staff, and now makes Flaxseed and CranCoconut flavors. Cafe Fanny can be ordered online, where Cassandra marvels at how large some of these individual orders can get. This has prompted her to sell the Granola in bulk as well as launching a single serving package targeting schools, hotels, and spas. Cafe Fanny Granola can be found at some Whole Foods, Molly Stones, Dean and DeLucas and even as far away as Tokyo and Korea.

Still overwhelmed by emotion and pride of owning Cafe Fanny Organic Granola, Cassandra strives to keep Cafe Fanny’s legacy alive by maintaining the organic nature and high quality ingredients of Alice Waters’ family recipe.

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