Mary Waldner: Oh, you're welcome. Nice to be here.
Mike: Now, how did you come up with these crackers in the first place?
Waldner: I was looking for a product that I could eat when I went to parties and restaurants because I'm a celiac, so I can't eat anything with gluten. And a lot of the products out there -- that was 11 years ago -- had chemicals or refined products -- ingredients that I didn't want to eat. So I had the idea for this, and it turned into a cracker. I wasn't sure what it was going to be, but I really liked them so I just started making them and taking little bags of them with me everywhere I went, and that's how it got started.
Mike: Word got around and...
Waldner: Well, everyone started eating them and wanting more so I started making them more and more and more. I got a new oven so I could make enough for all my friends, and I got tired of making crackers, so I said to my husband, "I think we need to manufacture these so I can get out of the kitchen." And we started two years ago.
Mike: Wow. And now you're already in national distribution.
Waldner: That's right. Yes.
Mike: You're in health food stores everywhere, right?
Waldner: Everywhere. Right.
Mike: The box is easy to identify. Look for this box in health food stores. And the name -- you can't forget that.
Waldner: Right. My friends came up with this name. I've been a psychologist for the last 26 years. I actually just closed my practice last October, and my friends decided that my name should be on the product somehow. We were just kind of joking back and forth and one of them said, "Yeah, it should be like 'Mary's cracking up' or something." And then my other friend said, "Yeah, 'Mary's gone crackers,'" and it was like (gasp). That was the moment that the name was born.
Mike: Wonderful.
Waldner: Yes.
Mike: It's very viral, too. People remember the name.
Waldner: Yes, that's right. People laugh all the time, which is good.
Mike: What originally attracted me to this product is the fact that it's made with both brown rice and quinoa. These are two very healthful, very special ingredients, and you don't find them in a lot of crackers. How did you have the nutritional wisdom to know that those ingredients should be in your crackers?
Waldner: Well, I've been kind of a health nut my whole life. Not knowing what my health problems were based on, I learned a lot about nutrition, and I knew whole grains were good. I knew quinoa was particularly good because it's high in protein and fiber. It's hard, especially if you're eating a vegetarian diet -- which I'm not, but a lot of people do -- to get the balance of protein. So I liked that. I liked how it tasted. So that was the basis.
Mike: What if people can't find it locally? How can they order it online?
Waldner: They can go to MarysGoneCrackers.com and order it online or call our office, and we'll ship them out.
Mike: Wonderful. Thank you for sharing your story with us today.
Waldner: Thank you. Nice to meet you.