Bay Area

A West Oakland Family Business Gains Popularity for their Homemade Granola

About three years ago, Chestnut Street Granola founders Tim Lohrentz and Rachel Russell offered party favors in the form of homemade granola at their wedding and received nothing but positive feedback from their guests. With this reaction sitting in the back of their minds on their honeymoon, a vision for a small business was sparked.

Published

4 years ago

November 5, 2021

Oakland Post

Chestnut St. Granola Co. representatives’ niece Emani, owner and taste tester Rachel Russell, son Quincy, niece MacKenzie with owner and chef Tim Lohrentz stand in the kitchen where the families’ line of granola treats are made and packaged. (Photo by Christy Price)

By Isabelle and Christy Price

What began as a cost-effective way to honor guests at their wedding has turned into a growing family business based out of a blue Victorian home in West Oakland known as Chestnut Street Granola.

With a focus on homemade granola and a range of flavors, this family sets up shop at the Hayward Farmers Market every Saturday and, in addition, offers online sales in hopes to reach a larger customer base.

“I mean, originally, I just made granola for years and years and I made granola just to eat so that was what was fun, was eating,” said Tim. “But I think the wedding, when we did the favors, it really changed my perspective to be something that other people could enjoy.”

Final product of Chestnut Street Granola Company’s hard work. Orange You Glad is a favorite among the children. (Photo by Christy Price)

Pre-pandemic, they began the process of obtaining a business license and proper permits. While this process was one of their biggest challenges and took the longest amount of time, they held out. Once the proper licensing and permits were obtained, they outsourced and cooked at a commercial kitchen. Since the pandemic erupted, this commercial kitchen shut down and Chestnut Street Granola was left to their own devices. Months passed and the business took a back seat as the family attempted to navigate the reality of living in a pandemic.

This past August, Tim and Rachel made the decision to obtain a CFO permit and run the business right out of their own home. Tim became head chef and Rachel handled marketing, packing, shipping and everything in between.

They also brought in both of their sons. Quincy is an expert in sales and Ben pulls is the photographer. Their nieces Emani and Mackenzie help with packaging, labeling, and customer service at the Hayward Farmers Market.

Emani shared her love of customer service. “It’s really nice. I like talking to everyone and telling them about the granola. It’s nice to see their reaction when they finally try the samples or something and then they’re like “Oh, wow” and then they compliment me.”

Since picking back up, their main focus is community building and sharing the love of fresh food with people.

Chestnut Street Granola currently offers four different flavors of granola that include; Everything is Everything, Orange You Glad, Dyin’ for Cayenne, and a seasonal flavor called Pumpkin Harvest. According to Tim, new flavor profiles are in the works and coming soon.

They offer two different sizes: a large 12 oz. bag priced at $10 and a travel size 2.5 oz. bag priced at $3. Forms of payment they take include debit and credit cards, cash, food stamps at the farmers market, and they are working on expanding into the Venmo platform.

Chestnut Street Granola can be found at the Hayward Farmers Market, 777 B Street, Hayward, 94541, every Saturday from 9:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. You can also place any online orders on their website for convenience. They can be contacted via email at Chestnutstreetgranola@gmail.com or by phone at 415-244-8949 for any inquiries.

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Oakland Post: Week of May 21 – 27, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of May 21 – 27, 2025

Published

3 days ago

May 25, 2025

Oakland Post

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Chevron Richmond Installs Baker Hughes Flare.IQ, Real-time Flare Monitoring, Control and Reduction System

While the sight of flaring can cause concern in the community, flares are essential safety systems that burn pollutants to prevent them from being released directly into the atmosphere. They activate during startup and shut-down of facility units or during upsets or equipment malfunctions. The typical flare stack is about 200 feet high so that vapors are well above street levels.

Published

1 week ago

May 19, 2025

Oakland Post

Image courtesy The Richmond Standard.

The Richmond Standard

Chevron Richmond recently installed flare.IQ, a real-time, automated system that will improve the facility’s flaring performance.

The technology, developed by Panametrics, a Baker Hughes business, uses sensors to monitor, reduce and control flaring in real time. It collects and assesses data on refinery processes, such as temperature, pressure, gas flow and gas composition, and adjusts accordingly to ensure flares burn more efficiently and cleanly, leading to fewer emissions.

“The cleaner the flare, the brighter the flame can look,” said Duy Nguyen, a Chevron Richmond flaring specialist. “If you see a brighter flame than usual on a flare, that actually means flare.IQ is operating as intended.”

“A key element in Baker Hughes’ emissions abatement portfolio, flare.IQ has a proven track record in optimizing flare operations and significantly reducing emissions,” said Colin Hehir, vice president of Panametrics, a Baker Hughes business. “By partnering with Chevron Richmond, one of the first operators in North America to adopt flare.IQ, we are looking forward to enhancing the plant’s flaring operations.”

The installation of flare.IQ is part of a broader and ongoing effort by Chevron Richmond to improve flare performance, particularly in response to increased events after the new, more efficient hydrogen plant was brought online in 2019.

Since then, the company has invested $25 million — and counting — into flare minimization. As part of the effort, a multidisciplinary refinery team was formed to find and implement ways to improve operational reliability and ultimately reduce flaring. Operators and other employees involved in management of flares and flare gas recovery systems undergo new training.

“It is important to me that the community knows we are working hard to lower emissions and improve our flaring performance,” Nguyen said.

Also evolving is the process by which community members are notified of flaring incidents. The Community Warning System (CWS), operated by Contra Costa County is an “all-hazard” public warning system.

Residents can opt-in to receive alerts via text, e-mail and landline. The CWS was recently expanded to enable residents to receive notifications for “Level 1” incidents, which are considered informational as they do not require any community action.

For more information related to these topics, check out the resources included on the Chevron Richmond, CAER and Contra Costa Health websites. Residents are also encouraged to follow @chevronrichmond and @RFDCAOnline on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter), where additional information may be posted during an incident.

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Oakland Hosts Town Hall Addressing Lead Hazards in City Housing

According to the city, there are 22,000 households in need of services for lead issues, most in predominantly low-income or Black and Latino neighborhoods, but only 550 to 600 homes are addressed every year. The city is hoping to use part of the multimillion-dollar settlement to increase the number of households served each year.

Published

1 week ago

May 18, 2025

Oakland Post

iStock.

By Magaly Muñoz

The City of Oakland’s Housing and Community Development Department hosted a town hall in the Fruitvale to discuss the efforts being undertaken to remove lead primarily found in housing in East and West Oakland.

In 2021, the city was awarded $14 million out of a $24 million legal settlement from a lawsuit against paint distributors for selling lead-based paint that has affected hundreds of families in Oakland and Alameda County. The funding is intended to be used for lead poisoning reduction and prevention services in paint only, not water or other sources as has been found recently in schools across the city.

The settlement can be used for developing or enhancing programs that abate lead-based paint, providing services to individuals, particularly exposed children, educating the public about hazards caused by lead paint, and covering attorney’s fees incurred in pursuing litigation.

Most of the homes affected were built prior to 1978, and 12,000 of these homes are considered to be at high risk for lead poisoning.

City councilmember Noel Gallo, who represents a few of the lead-affected Census tracts, said the majority of the poisoned kids and families are coming directly from neighborhoods like the Fruitvale.

“When you look at the [kids being admitted] at the children’s hospital, they’re coming from this community,” Gallo said at the town hall.

In order to eventually rid the highest impacted homes of lead poisoning, the city intends to create programs and activities such as lead-based paint inspections and assessments, full abatement designed to permanently eliminate lead-based paint, or partial abatement for repairs, painting, and specialized cleaning meant for temporary reduction of hazards.

In feedback for what the city could implement in their programming, residents in attendance of the event said they want more accessibility to resources, like blood testing, and information from officials about lead poisoning symptoms, hotlines for assistance, and updates on the reduction of lead in their communities.

Attendees also asked how they’d know where they are on the prioritization list and what would be done to address lead in the water found at several school sites in Oakland last year.

City staff said there will be a follow-up event to gather more community input for programming in August, with finalizations happening in the fall and a pilot launch in early 2026.