In this interview series, HSWT presents startups that are part of the Food Startup Incubator Weihenstephan (FSIWS) . The series presents the companies, their product ideas and how they work.
Plant-based nutrition paired with unique taste? That’s exactly what “no sweets” makes possible. The startup produces purely plant-based, gluten-free snacks with natural sweetness and in organic quality. The founders, graphic designer Lena Egi and catering owner Miriam Brossok, both completed distance learning courses to become vegan nutritionists. In 2021, Brossok received a scholarship for the food start-up certificate course at FSIWS, in which she was able to develop her snacks with professional support and spend a year preparing for the start-up.
FSWIS: Your snacks are completely vegan and gluten-free: What is the vision behind them?
Miriam : We love snacks more than anything and are very interested in vegan and gluten-free nutrition. We both live purely plant-based lives out of conviction and Lena has both lactose and gluten intolerance. This makes the search for delicious snacks all the more difficult and the range in supermarkets and online retailers has unfortunately disappointed us many times. Either the vegan, gluten-free snacks contain good ingredients but taste really “healthy” or they contain a lot of sugar and unnecessary additives.
Lena : Do something good for yourself, have delicious snacks, clean ingredients with a focus on health, taste and the environment - we want to rethink sweets and make the exception the norm. After almost two years of recipe development and many rounds of tasting, we have now developed three varieties of our delicious “Snack Bites”: Peanut Cacao, Raspberry Coco and Hazelnut Brownie.
What are your sources of inspiration when making new creations?
Miriam : In 2017 I founded my own catering company “Chez Mimi” and I focus on food and creating new delicacies every day. In addition, we both take many new impressions and inspiration home with us through traveling. We also regularly test our way through the vegan snack range and try to combine everything we're missing in a new snack bite.
What next steps are you planning for your startup?
Lena : Next up is our crowdfunding campaign from February 15th to March 15th, 2023 and we really hope that we can reach and inspire many people. If the campaign is successful, we will be able to finance our first large-scale production and obtain organic certification. The Snack Bites will also be available to purchase in our online shop after the crowdfunding packages have been delivered. Our dream is that they will also be available in local shops and retailers in the future. We are working very hard towards that.
