Assertion certainty 4/5 debate potential 1/5

Trademark Conflict With Manna Bread Forced 2002 Rebrand to LÄRABAR

Lara Merriken · LÄRABAR: Lara Merriken · Mar 19, 2018 · at 25:06

Lara Merriken describes having to abandon the brand name 'Manabar' right before launch in summer 2002 due to trademark risks.

0:00 / 0:21exact quote · 21.0s
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“Well, the trademarking attorney called me at the 11th hour, and we were getting ready to launch. It was the year 2002, summer, and she said, I think there's gonna be a problem. And she said, there's actually manna bread, M-A-N-N-A. And I think it could be confusingly similar. And I think you're going to need to change the name.”

quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →

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What-if
Merriken: Placing LÄRABAR in the candy aisle would have killed the product
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Lara Merriken Oct 17, 2024 ▶ 29:06 Advice Line with Lara Merriken of LÄRABAR
Assertion Not checkable as stated
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“Within two, two weeks of being in Whole Foods, because one of my friends still worked there, he said, Lara, you have to go look at the movement chart upstairs, and I said, what? And he said, Larabar is the top five One through five selling products in the enti…”
Lara Merriken Oct 28, 2019 ▶ 35:42 LÄRABAR: Lara Merriken (2018)
Disclosure
Merriken worked at Whole Foods to gain ground-level retail industry knowledge
“For me, I realized that I knew very little about the actual business. I knew that I was kind of my own core consumer, but I also, I guess the way I would liken it is I wanted to put my fantasy into a reality check. And so by getting into the business at Whole …”
Lara Merriken Oct 17, 2024 ▶ 4:10 Advice Line with Lara Merriken of LÄRABAR
Assertion Not checkable as stated
A last-minute trademark dispute forced Merriken to rename MANABAR to LÄRABAR
“Well, the trademarking attorney called me at the 11th hour, and we were getting ready to launch. It was the year 2002, summer, and she said, I think there's gonna be a problem. And she said, there's actually mana bread, M-A-N-N-A. And I think it could be confu…”
Lara Merriken Oct 28, 2019 ▶ 26:07 LÄRABAR: Lara Merriken (2018)
Disclosure
Merriken raised LÄRABAR's seed funding from six yoga and Whole Foods friends
“So, I started talking to some other friends about it, friends in yoga class, friends I worked with at Whole Foods, and then all of a sudden, a whole new group of people came that were just thrilled, like, six, six people, and said, we'd love to invest.”
Lara Merriken Oct 28, 2019 ▶ 30:19 LÄRABAR: Lara Merriken (2018)
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Whole Foods regional buyer called LÄRABAR the most innovative product in years
“And then like an hour later, he's sitting there, and he goes, Lara, this is the most innovative product I've tried In years.”
Lara Merriken Oct 28, 2019 ▶ 32:28 LÄRABAR: Lara Merriken (2018)
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