Our Vision
Number one: We're trying to eat more protein and more fiber and less added sugar. Particularly at breakfast. Or afternoon low-blood-sugar snacktime. Or when craving a lil' sweet something after dinner. Come to think of it, all the time.
Number two: We try to eat real food. Not, um, protein doritos. Or fake meat. Or breakfast meat. (No offense. Everything in moderation!)
But, how? Protein + real food + plants = tofu. But we can't just eat tofu.
One day as we were lamenting the State of the Options in the Grocery Store, a small voice behind us cleared its throat. It was, of course, the voice of Beans. A.k.a. pulses, a.k.a. legumes. Or as Jeff Bezos calls them, "Nature's Original Plant Protein." (He doesn't call them that.)
Beans! High in protein and fiber. Incredibly diverse in kind (chickpeas, black beans, lentils, soy beans, etc.). A staple of humanity for ten thousand years.
But somehow, in an era of convenience, forgotten.
So we made it our mission to make this humble yet incredible source of nutrition interesting and accessible once more.
We created an extra-crunchy granola -- the granola your granola should be -- with an incredible nutritional profile, thanks to the organic real-food ingredients that make it up. First among them: chickpeas. Or as J.B. calls the chickpea, "the Gateway Bean". (He still doesn't. Attn: Amazon, please don't come after us. We can't afford a good lawyer to defend our bad jokes.)
Beside our granola's praiseworthy ingredient list there should be an ingredient Not-list for what's not in it: namely, protein powder, fiber powder, or a mountain of refined added sugar.
Honestly, you can pretty much ignore the chickpea thing if you want. Moonbeans granola does granola things. It goes on your yogurt, or in your desk drawer, or next to your cookie stash. It's crunchy and a lil' sweet, and it will keep you fueled, energized, and satisfied.
Three more things.
One: Are you still reading this? You must care about buying from a company that likes climbing up on their soapbox. Can you tell we are the marketing department (and the manufacturing department and the fretting about the numbers department?)
Two: Post-script on the bean thing: they are basically the climate food. We partner with more than 100 other companies and non-profits globally as part of the Beans Is How campaign, a project under U.N. Sustainable Development Goal No. 2, which is basically about how to feed everyone and have a planet, too.
Three: About us: we are married. Married to the grind! But, actually, also married to each other, with three kids. So we have at least three reasons to care deeply about good food and a good future.
Sorry -- we're chatterboxes when we care about something. If you believe what we believe, let's talk about it.
Lili and Tully (+3)
Timeline
In 2022 Moonbeans launched out of our own kitchen. We told friends the guest room was unavailable, swapped the air mattress for a 17-cubic-foot fridge/freezer, and bought some truly giant cookware. In May of 2022, we got married.
In 2023, we started selling online and at farmers markets in Chicago. We launched our Bean Club subscription service.
In 2024, we moved into our commercial kitchen space at The Hatchery in Chicago's Garfield Park neighborhood. Our daughter was born. We upgraded our branding to let our simple foods shine.
In 2025, we launched our granola and started shipping nationwide. We joined Target's Forward Founders accelerator program.
In 2026, we've been growing! We've shipped to more states and found our way to shelves in a variety of specialty stores in the greater Chicago region.
