Rebel Crumbles are a youth-created healthy, delicious, apple-filled, whole grain-rich cake that is served in schools and stores throughout Philadelphia and beyond. Rebel Crumbles are a complete school breakfast, with 1/2 cup fruit and 32 grams of grain. Rebel Crumbles are produced in Philadelphia and have no preservatives. See the spec sheet here.

Here’s the story of how Rebel Crumbles were created.

BACKSTORY

In the fall of 2015, Rebel Ventures asked the Food Services Division of the School District of Philadelphia what it would take for a Rebel product (such as Rebel Bars) to be featured in school meals throughout Philadelphia.

The Food Services folks said that to qualify for the school breakfast program, we should create a product that has 1/2 cup of fruit and 32 grams of grain (half of which must be whole grain). With this mission in mind, we entered into the Philly SEED pitch competition and won $5000 to fund the development of this new product, designed specially for Food Services.

With our newly earned cash and emboldened purpose, we began recipe testing in our kitchen. This meant working extra on weekends to get the job done. Our first recipes included ingredients like sweet potatoes, applesauce, and bananas.

After each recipe we developed, our crew conducted taste tests. With more than 50 versions created, we ended up eating a lot of cake! As high school students our crew only represents one segment of our target audience. In order to also make sure the cakes are loved by younger students, we conducted extensive taste testing in local elementary schools. The kids were very enthusiastic participants.