Nature Valley is an American snack-food brand best known for its granola bars, cereal bars, granola, and other portable snacks. Owned by General Mills, the brand is positioned around outdoor activity, nature, convenience, and wholesome snacking.[1] Nature Valley describes itself as the creator of the original granola bar and has built much of its identity around encouraging people to spend more time outdoors.[1]

Nature Valley is part of the extensive portfolio of consumer food brands under General Mills, which also includes Cheerios, Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, Old El Paso, and Blue Buffalo. General Mills currently markets more than 100 brands across over 100 countries.[2]

Origins: 1973

General Mills introduced Nature Valley in 1973. Its inaugural product was Nature Valley Granola cereal, developed as the company’s early entry into the natural-food and granola category.[1]

The company soon identified a limitation with the cereal format: although suitable for breakfast or snacking at home, it was not particularly convenient for outdoor consumption. This observation led directly to the development of a portable granola product.

The first granola bar: 1975

In 1975, Nature Valley introduced its first crunchy granola bars. General Mills describes these as the first granola bars produced by a major food company.[2] The original varieties included Honey ‘N Oats, Cinnamon, and Coconut.[2]

This product became the foundation of Nature Valley’s modern identity. The original concept was relatively simple: take granola made primarily from grains such as oats, combine it with ingredients such as honey, and package it in a portable bar that could be eaten while traveling, hiking, working, or participating in other activities.

Following the launch of the original granola bar, Nature Valley expanded into numerous varieties and formats. Major product categories developed over the years include:

• Crunchy Granola Bars
• Chewy Granola Bars
• Protein Bars
• Nut Bars
• Sweet & Salty Nut Bars
• Savory snacks
• Granola
• Granola-based snacks
• Gluten-free products

The brand’s original crunchy bar remains central to its identity. Nature Valley states that its products today span bars, snacks, and granola, rather than being limited to traditional granola bars.[1]

Expansion during the 1970s and 1980s

Nature Valley continued adding flavors after its initial launch. General Mills’ history of the brand records Peanut as an addition in 1976 and Roasted Almond in 1978. Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip varieties followed in the 1980s, while variety packs were introduced later in the decade.

This expansion helped transform the granola bar from a relatively niche product into a mainstream packaged snack.

Nature Valley’s branding is closely connected with the outdoors. Rather than positioning itself solely as a food product, the brand has historically associated its products with:

• Hiking
• Camping
• Road trips
• National parks
• Adventure
• Exercise and active lifestyles
• Spending time outdoors
• Exploration and travel

This positioning is reflected in the brand’s visual identity, which frequently uses green and yellow colors, landscapes, mountains, forests, trails, and other imagery associated with nature.

Nature Valley’s current brand philosophy centers on helping people connect with nature through convenient snacks.[1]

“We Are Better Outside”

A major component of Nature Valley’s modern marketing is the idea that people benefit from spending time outdoors. The brand’s official website emphasizes the concept that individuals should spend more time in nature and less time in front of screens. Consequently, marketing efforts extend beyond simply selling granola bars; the product is presented as portable food associated with outdoor experiences.[2]

This approach gives Nature Valley a distinctive position within the snack market. Advertising often associates the bar with imagined experiences such as hiking through a forest, visiting a national park, or taking a road trip, rather than focusing exclusively on hunger or taste.

Crunchy Granola Bars

The Crunchy Granola Bar is arguably Nature Valley’s signature product. Classic varieties are built around oats and are known for their firm, crunchy texture. One of the best-known versions is Oats ‘n Honey. This product represents the original idea behind the Nature Valley brand: a simple, portable oat-based snack associated with outdoor activities.

Chewy bars

Nature Valley subsequently expanded beyond crunchy products with chewy granola bars. These products target consumers who prefer a softer texture while retaining the brand’s association with oats and convenient snacking.

Nut and Sweet & Salty products

The brand has also developed products emphasizing nuts, including varieties featuring ingredients such as peanuts, almonds, and nut butters. The Sweet & Salty Nut range combines contrasting flavor profiles and textures, broadening the brand’s appeal beyond the traditional crunchy oat-and-honey concept.

Protein products

As consumer interest in protein-rich snacks increased, Nature Valley expanded into protein bars and protein-oriented snacks. The current product portfolio includes protein products alongside traditional granola offerings.

Savory products

Nature Valley has experimented outside the traditionally sweet granola-bar category. In 2023, General Mills introduced Nature Valley Savory Nut Crunch Bars, with flavors including Everything Bagel, White Cheddar, and Smoky BBQ. This launch represented a significant departure from the brand’s traditional sweet granola products.

Nature Valley generally emphasizes ingredients such as whole-grain oats, peanuts, almonds, and nut butters, depending on the specific product. General Mills describes the brand’s snacks as containing ingredients intended to help “fuel” consumers throughout their day. The company’s Nature Valley brand page also highlights the absence of artificial flavors, artificial colors, and high-fructose corn syrup in its stated product philosophy, although nutritional and ingredient profiles vary between individual products.

It is important to note that not every Nature Valley product has identical nutritional characteristics, as the brand encompasses a broad range of items.

Nature Valley has made outdoor recreation one of its major marketing platforms. Advertising frequently presents the snack as an accompaniment to activities such as hiking, traveling, and exploring.

This strategy differentiates Nature Valley from many other snack brands. Instead of focusing exclusively on hunger or taste, marketing attempts to sell a broader lifestyle defined by the equation: Nature Valley = snack + outdoors + adventure + nature. This association has been maintained for decades.

Nature Valley’s connection with the outdoors has translated into partnerships with conservation organizations. The brand has partnered with the National Park Foundation, supporting projects related to national parks, conservation, and outdoor access. Nature Valley states that this partnership has contributed more than $35 million toward conservation projects, youth education, and trail restoration.

The brand has also worked with organizations including the National Parks Conservation Association and Wilderness Inquiry. According to Nature Valley, its Wilderness Inquiry partnership has helped connect more than 32,000 young people with outdoor educational experiences.

Trail restoration

One of Nature Valley’s most notable environmental initiatives involves national park trails. The brand has promoted a goal of increasing access to thousands of miles of trails, connecting its commercial identity directly with outdoor recreation and conservation. This reinforces the central promise of the brand: Nature Valley aims to associate itself with activities that allow consumers to experience nature, rather than merely using images of nature in advertising.

Sustainability has become another component of Nature Valley’s brand strategy. For example, the company has worked on recyclable packaging. General Mills reported that Nature Valley became the first brand to introduce store-drop-off recyclable wrappers for its Crunchy Granola Bars in 2021, while continuing to work toward broader packaging improvements.

The brand has also supported regenerative agriculture initiatives involving oat farmers. Nature Valley states it began providing financial support for regenerative agriculture practices in 2019 and continues to support farmers working toward those practices.

Nature Valley is owned by General Mills, the American multinational food company. General Mills traces its origins to 1866, when Cadwallader Washburn established a flour mill in Minneapolis. General Mills itself was formed in 1928 through a merger of milling companies. Over time, the company moved from flour milling into a broad portfolio of consumer food brands.

Nature Valley became one of General Mills’ important snack brands, particularly as the market for portable snack foods expanded.

Nature Valley is significant because it helped establish the granola bar as a mainstream packaged-food category. Before granola bars became a familiar supermarket product, granola was primarily associated with cereal, health food, and homemade snacks. Nature Valley’s decision to turn granola into a portable bar helped bring the format into mainstream grocery and convenience retail.

General Mills identifies the 1975 Nature Valley product as the first granola bar from a major food company.[2] The format subsequently became extremely widespread, with numerous competing brands entering the granola, cereal-bar, protein-bar, and snack-bar markets.

Nature Valley marked 50 years of its crunchy granola bar in 2025. In 2026, General Mills continued celebrating the milestone with a “50 Years of Crunch” campaign. The company described Nature Valley as having grown from its original 1973 granola cereal into a global family of bars, snacks, and granola.[2]

The anniversary campaign returned heavily to the brand’s outdoor roots, featuring imagery inspired by American national parks.

As of 2026, Nature Valley remains one of General Mills’ major snack brands. Its portfolio has evolved substantially from the original granola cereal and crunchy granola bar. The modern brand can broadly be described through three major pillars:

1. Snacking — convenient products designed for eating at home or on the go.
2. Nature and outdoors — a long-standing association with hiking, parks, adventure, and exploration.
3. Product innovation — expansion from traditional crunchy granola bars into chewy, protein, nut, savory, and granola-based products.

General Mills reported in July 2026 that nearly 10 million Nature Valley Crunchy Granola Bars are consumed every day around the world, illustrating the scale the original product has achieved.[2]

Nature Valley occupies a space between mainstream packaged snacking and outdoor lifestyle branding. Its competitive proposition can be summarized as: Portable + oat/granola-based + convenient + associated with nature and adventure.

This positioning allows Nature Valley to compete in several overlapping markets, including:

• Granola bars
• Cereal bars
• Snack bars
• Protein snacks
• Nut-based snacks
• On-the-go breakfast
• Outdoor and travel snacks

Nature Valley’s most important contribution to the food industry is arguably its role in popularizing the commercial granola bar. What began in 1973 as a granola cereal evolved into a major snack brand after the introduction of the granola bar in 1975.[1] Over the following five decades, Nature Valley expanded its products while maintaining a remarkably consistent association with nature, outdoor activity, and adventure.[1]

Today, the yellow-and-green Nature Valley packaging and crunchy oat bars are recognizable symbols of the broader granola-bar category, while the brand continues to use outdoor experiences and environmental initiatives as central elements of its identity.

1. About Us | Company History & Partners | Nature Valley
2. Nature Valley – Brands – Food we make – General Mills