Reston Baker Builds Food Empire One Bag Of Granola At A Time

RESTON, VA — Dania Abimourched did not set out to be a granola entrepreneur. In fact, the Reston resident, whose family came to the area from Lebanon almost 30 years ago, wanted to be an artist.

"I actually don't like granola, so I've never really had store-bought granola," she said. "It just does not appeal to me. But then, when I started making it, I was like, this is something that I really enjoy. And that was the response from a lot of my customers, too."

A graduate of South Lakes High School, Abimourched studied art and photography in college and taught art in Fairfax County Public Schools.

It was after Abimourched had stopped teaching that granola first entered her life. The first of her two sons had food allergies, and she began baking granola at home so he'd have something to snack on. Later, when she went back to work, she wrapped up bags of granola as gifts for her co-workers. They came back for more and more — one even said she'd pay Abimourched to bake granola for her.

Inspired by the interest, Abimourched launched Dano's Granola in January 2019.

"Everything I use, I get specifically certified gluten-free oats, and I don't use any refined sugar in making the granola," Abimourched said. "I try to use the cleanest ingredients, just stick true to what I do at home and what I feed my kids."

She makes two different types of granola. The first is her original granola, and the second is made from coconut and seeds, with no nuts. Both are available plain or with chocolate chips.

"I just started a new product," she said. "I call it the breakfast cookie, but it's chewy, like an oatmeal cookie, and it's almost like an energy bar. It's packed with lots of protein things and not very sweet."

Last spring, Abimourched started selling her granola Saturdays at the Reston Farmer's Market in the Lake Anne Village Center to a great response. She also lined up two local distributors — Katie's Coffee in Great Falls and The Bike Lane in Reston — to sell her products.

Abimourched recently moved her operations to a combined bakery and retail space (4520 Daly Drive, Suite 100, Chantilly, VA 20151) — right next to Ono Brewery.

"Initially, I had gotten the space just to have more freedom with baking time and to be able to expand, more on where I can sell wholesale," she said. "But now I'm hoping to open four days a week. I bake most days; and then the days I'm not baking, I'm usually delivering to different wholesale places."

While Dano's Granola is still available at Katie's Coffee and The Bike Lane, Abimourched added Beloved Yoga Sanctuary in Reston, 100 Bowls of Soup in Herndon, Bard's Alley in Vienna, Ridgetop Coffee & Tea in Sterling, and LoKL Gourmet in McLean to her growing list of wholesalers.

Part of expanding her business is expanding people's perception of what you can do with granola. It's not just for snacking.

"At my house, when we make a green salad, we add it to salad or we've added it to soup," she said. "One of the wholesale places — 100 Bowls of Soup — that's one of the options on some of the soups they offered. They can add the granola on top. It's nutrient dense because it has sunflower seeds, hemp seeds, lots of things that minerals and vitamins that we don't always get. So it's a healthier option for a snack."

Aside from operating the retail space, finding new distributors and taking orders online, Abimourched plans to return to the Reston Farmers Market this spring to sell her granola.