In this interview series, HSWT presents startups that are part of the Food Startup Incubator Weihenstephan (FSIWS). are. The series introduces the companies, their product ideas and working methods.
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 organic quality. The founders, graphic designer Lena Egi and catering owner Miriam Brossok, both completed distance learning to become vegan nutritionists. In 2021, Brossok received a scholarship for the Foodstartup Foundation certificate course at FSIWS, where she was able to develop her snacks with expert support and spend a year preparing for the startup.
FSWIS: Your snacks are completely vegan and gluten-free: What is the vision behind this?
Miriam: We love snacks more than anything and are very interested in vegan and gluten-free nutrition. We both live a purely plant-based life out of conviction and Lena has both a lactose and gluten intolerance. This makes the search for delicious snacks all the more difficult, and the assortment in supermarkets and online retailers has unfortunately disappointed us more than once. Either the vegan, gluten-free snacks contain good ingredients, but then taste really "healthy" or they contain a lot of sugar and unnecessary additives.
Lena: Doing something good for yourself, delicious snacking, 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 deals every day with food and creating new delicacies. In addition, we both take home many new impressions and inspirations through traveling. We also regularly test ourselves through the vegan snack assortment and try to combine all that we are missing in a new Snack Bite.
What are your next steps with your startup?
Lena: Next up is our crowdfunding campaign from February 15 to March 15, 2023, and we really hope that we can reach and inspire many people. If the campaign is successful, we can finance our first large-scale production and get certified organic. The Snack Bites will then also be available for purchase in our online store after the crowdfunding packages have been delivered. Our dream is that they will also be available in local stores and retailers in the future. We are working very hard towards that.
