If you’re surprised that Tom Bannister ate granola last night at 10 p.m., then you don’t know him. The granola connoisseur and founder of Tom’s Perfect 10 has been crafting the ultimate granola recipe since 2020, when the advertising executive began spending more time in the kitchen with family during the pandemic. A self-proclaimed “granola purist,” Bannister began perfecting flavors and textures, like granola with ginger-infused Vermont maple syrup, which his wife, influencer Eva Chen, began posting on social media. Online feedback for the product was rampant, which gave Bannister confidence that other granola enthusiasts were out there waiting to taste perfection in the form of granola. As he began rolling the product out for public consumption, Bannister included a scorecard in each package, asking consumers to rate the creation in hopes of achieving a perfect 10. As he unveils his best granola flavors at Cloister Courtyard, Bannister talked with us to discuss what goes into crunchy perfection.
Tom's Perfect 10
The granola connoisseur and founder of Tom’s Perfect 10, Tom Bannister, has been crafting the ultimate granola recipe since 2020.
Where did your love of granola come from?
“I have this big passion for granola. It’s something that would satisfy me at any point, maybe after a run or an exercise. Oftentimes, I get a granola when I’m traveling and at a hotel. Looking at the grocery store and even local markets, there weren’t spaces for really specialized granola, like for coffee and wines. So I decided to go full throttle into creating one.”
How did your kids become a part of Tom’s Perfect 10?
“This whole thing happened when I had just become a dad, and I was at home a little bit more during the pandemic. My children would become my little assistants, and it was oddly like a creative outlet for me. I could create flavors without inhibitions, like Black Forest- or Banoffee pie-flavored granola.”
How influential was social media in the creation?
“It started with me having strong opinions about granola and going into the nuances of why this flavor worked. My wife started filming and putting it on Instagram. I would
get stopped in the middle of the street in supermarkets about these clips. I definitely thought, ‘Isn’t it funny to treat granola in this way?’ But there was a nerve that we
hit with the public.”
How did you create such a culinary hit, despite not having a culinary background?
“When you’re a novice at something, you don’t know the rules, and that allows you to be more creative and perhaps do stuff that others wouldn’t try. The actual process of making granola isn’t that hard, but the flavor development is more difficult. If you talked to my friends and parents, they would tell you about their shock to hear that I’m making food. I couldn’t have done it without that feedback loop, and all of those insights from people, and all of those DMs that I got—I’m talking about thousands of DMs.”
What goes into the making of a “perfect 10” granola?
“You want at least three tastes that offer multiple layers of flavors. There’s also the texture, which can add depth to the granola. And lastly, and this one is controversial among granola fans, keeping the cluster.”
What’s an unusual granola pairing that we should try?
“Try our granola with some sparkling wine. … It was such a highlight of the week: granola and Champagne. That fizzy sharpness of Champagne just pairs so nicely with granola. Imagine you’re on the veranda at The Boca Raton, watching the boats dock during the day, and you have your Champagne, slightly chilled, and looking out at the lake or the ocean. It’s that moment of relaxation: peace with a touch of decadence.”