September 12, 2024 • 29 mins
Welcome to Ingredient Intel! In this episode, our ingredient investigator dives into the world of healthy eating and the impact of food ingredients on our health. Discover why our food supply is lacking in nutrients and how supplements like Vitalite' can help.
We’re thrilled to have Amanda Wuerz from HUGZ Snacks Company as our special guest. Amanda shares her inspiring journey from Brazil to the United States, her background in economics, and her passion for healthy eating. She talks about her family's culinary heritage and how she revamped her mother's recipes to create nutritious snacks for her kids.
Learn about the challenges and triumphs Amanda faced while starting her business, the importance of using clean and natural ingredients, and the community support that helped her succeed. Amanda also discusses her innovative products, including her popular cheese bread made with cassava flour, and upcoming vegan and colorful options designed to make healthy eating fun for kids.
Join us for an insightful conversation about the importance of good nutrition, the process of creating healthy snacks, and Amanda's commitment to offering products that are both delicious and beneficial for families. Don't miss this episode filled with valuable advice and heartwarming stories!
https://jeanneolson.threeinternational.com to purchase and learn more about Vitalite'. A vitamin/mineral supplement made from whole foods
ingredientintel.podbean.com to learn more about your host Jeanne Olson
Contact Email for Jeanne: lifetop7@gmail.com
hugzsnacks.com to purchase product or contact Amanda Wuerz
offgridphotography.art to view and purchase stunning photos taken by Jeanne in the beautiful Rocky Mountains of East Idaho!
A huge thank you to www.pixabay.com for the awesome intro and outro music!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Music.
(00:33):
What are they not telling us? And why? Welcome to Ingredient Intel.
I'm your ingredient investigator and I spend hours combing through articles,
publications, and studies to bring you intel on ingredients and products that
can harm your health. But it's not always bad news.
I also share ingredients that you can use that is actually good for your health.
I've spent 30 plus years helping people, both as an educator in and out of the
(00:58):
classroom and as a personal trainer.
I have a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and a Bachelor of Science degree
in Health Education, and I just love helping people.
Now it's true, our food supply today is lacking in nutrients.
The same fruits and vegetables we ate as a kid contain less nutrients.
So now more than ever, it's important to supplement with a high quality vitamin
(01:21):
mineral supplement, and the one I love is called Vitality.
It's a superfood blend which contains not only vitamin vitamins,
and minerals, but important enzymes, probiotics, greens, fruits, and omega-3s.
And the best part is, it comes from whole foods, and it's totally organic.
To learn more about Fatalite and where you can purchase it, visit my website,
(01:42):
and I'll have that in the show notes. So, let's get on with the show.
Today, I'm very excited to have a very special guest, Amanda Wurz,
from the Hugs Snacks Company.
Thank you so much for having me.
(02:19):
Why don't we start there? Yes, absolutely. So I am originally from Brazil.
I've been in the United States for almost 20 years.
And I come from a family where I should say my mom is a foodie and a chef.
She's retired now, but she's a chef. And I grew up pretty much in the kitchen.
(02:43):
So my parents had small restaurants and little shops when I was a kid.
We also had a restaurant. Right before I came to the United States,
we had a gastronomic place.
It was a mix of restaurant and boulangerie, as my mom would like to call it,
because she loves making bread and she specialized in breads.
(03:06):
Her concern at the time was not about being gluten-free or having vegan options.
My family is originally from Portugal, Spain, and Italy.
My grandparents migrated to Brazil in the 1940s.
So my mom incorporated all of those lessons from her grandparents,
(03:28):
and that's how we built our restaurants and our recipes.
Piece but then I moved to the United States I
studied I went to good schools
in Brazil for economics then I moved to the United States and
I pursued my my degree in economics and started working for multinational companies
and most of the time and most of those 14 13 14 years working primarily in the
(03:55):
food industry large corporations like Unilever like Beyond Meat neat vegan company.
And that's when last year, and I don't know if I'm jumping ahead,
Jean, interrupt me if I, is it too fast?
Do you want me to stop and talk more about my background or?
(04:16):
Just, just go. You're doing great.
Yeah. So last year, I was laid off from Beyond Meat as part of restructuring of the company.
And I stayed home with my three little kids. I have a now seven-year-old boy
and four-year-old girl and two-year-old girl.
(04:38):
And I stayed home with them and I started to bring it back, all those old recipes
from my mom and incorporating to it or revamping it with a healthier touch.
So I always had this passion about nutrition, always.
So I ended up doing economics, going to the economics and management route for my studies.
(05:04):
But prior to that, I wanted to be a doctor or nutritionist, because I loved it.
I always read the ingredient deck of anything that I consumed.
I didn't drink soda as a kid or teenager.
I was passionate about that. And I understood at a very early age that everything
(05:25):
that we consumed would interfere with our health.
And I did not want to end up like most of the grandparents having so many pills
and taking pills for diabetes or blood pressure.
I didn't think that was normal.
And I saw myself at the age of 11 dieting, but not just to be skinny.
(05:50):
I was dieting because I was specifically picking the ingredients and products
that I was going to consume.
And that's why my passion grew over time.
And at the age of 15, I decided to be vegetarian.
I incorporated fish, pescatarian. So So I always did those trials.
So back to 2023, after being laid off, I started to rediscover myself.
(06:14):
And now not just as Amanda, but also as a mother of three and very careful about
what my kids were eating.
And obviously, as a full-time employee working crazy hours because I was responsible
for Europe and also China, I had, you know, being a mom, I didn't pay attention during those.
(06:35):
Years on the specific ingredients that my kids were consuming.
I would just pick something that was relatively healthy or okay to consume,
but certain breads and snacks that they loved contained a lot of artificial
ingredients, tons of sugar, and I was not happy with that.
So I decided to bring those old recipes from my mom, refresh them, revamp them,
(07:04):
Still having that heritage, Portuguese, Italian, Brazilian feel that the kids
love it. They actually enjoy it.
And that's why I started with the cheese bread that they absolutely love.
Last year we visited Brazil, we visited my family and the kids loved acai and cheese bread.
They wanted to eat that every day. So back to the United States,
(07:27):
I continue to make it by replacing any seed oils with avocado oil only.
Also, freshly grating the cheese so it does not come with all the fillers and
other antibiotics and things that are mold preventer ingredients that I didn't
want them to consume on a daily basis.
If we can reduce the amount of those ingredients, I think it's best for the
(07:53):
kids. It's the best option for the kids.
And we moved to Utah at the end of 2023.
My husband had an offer for a sports company.
My husband is all about sports. So he plays all the sports possible.
And he surprisingly got an offer two weeks after I was laid off from Beyond Meat.
(08:17):
So we ended up moving to Utah and I realized that those recipes and those trials with my kids at home,
all those snacks that I started to make for them were really good at the birthday
parties. All the kids loved it.
And every time we had friends coming over to our house to play,
(08:39):
they loved the snacks that I would prepare for them.
And I was so happy to do that, to share that instead of just opening another
highly manufactured product and giving and serving to them.
I was excited to see that they liked something that was healthier for them.
So I said, this can become a business, right? So I prayed.
(09:01):
I put it in the hands of God. And I said, Lord, if this is the way to go,
please give me an answer. or please, if this is something I should do,
talk to me. And less than 24 hours later, I had literally an answer.
(09:23):
I brought the cheese bread to our meetings with our mom's group.
And the pastor of our church came in with some drinks, coffee,
and snacks for the kids and for the moms.
And he said, what is this in this bowl? wool. And I said, it's my cheese bread.
And he picked it up and he said, oh, this is delicious. And it's gluten free too.
(09:47):
So he said, I said, this is exciting for me because I think this is encouragement
that I should pursue this business and I should go ahead and sign the contract
with this kitchen, with this commercial kitchen.
And the pastor said, why are you signing a contract with the kitchen.
We have a fully licensed kitchen in the building and it's for you to use.
(10:11):
And I was like, wait, what?
I started to shake. I'm like, I don't believe in this. Is this real?
He said, yes, we are here to support the community, to empower the community.
And you're part of it. And we believe in you. And then his wife said,
come on over. Let me show you the kitchen. the night before.
(10:32):
The commercial kitchen I was going to sign the contract with did not have a mixer.
And I would have to come up with the money to buy the mixer.
And I did not have the money.
So before I went to sleep talking to God, I was praying and said,
Lord, I don't have the money to buy this mixer.
I don't know what to do, but I trust in everything you do.
(10:52):
And I went to sleep and I fell asleep with that picture of the mixer on my phone.
As soon as the pastor's wife opened the kitchen door, in front of me was the
mixer that was on my phone screen the night before.
The same model, the same size, the same brand, everything.
(11:14):
And I said, OK, now I am crying because this is really this is real.
The message is very clear to me. And that's how I started with all the licenses
and the whole process to get the business up and going.
And on april 19th the
(11:35):
utah department of agriculture came to
in audit the kitchen and the process
and label and we started so april 19th and we got the green light to go ahead
and and proceed with the business i started registering for farmers markets
we started in farmers markets And people started to try the samples. And this is delicious.
(12:00):
Most people, when they see, oh, this is avocado oil, no seed oils,
no sugar, and it's naturally gluten-free.
People, and six simple ingredients, right?
So that's what we, that's the, it's a clean label.
There's nothing like cheese flavors or lecithin. No, it's very simple.
(12:21):
It's that bread that we make at home.
And people said, oh, this is good.
Every time I tried to give someone a sample and I said, hey,
would you like to try? Oh, no, thank you. Yes, it's really good. Try.
And people would try and they said, oh, this is really good.
Okay, let me buy one. Let me buy another one. And I got so excited because we.
(12:44):
In every single farmer's market, we sold more than we expected,
more than I at least expected.
And I started to knock the doors of other stores.
And right now, in five months, we are already selling in eight different stores
with a focus on natural and organic and natural foods, natural ingredients.
(13:07):
So we are selling at all the stores of Good Earth Markets in Utah.
We are selling at Patterson's Fresh Market in Riverton here in Utah as well,
and the Neighborhood Hive in the Sugar House District.
District and we are very excited with
the welcoming of all these businesses who
(13:29):
are opening the doors for us and excited with the with the customers the consumers
who try the product and they come back to buy more and then they send me messages
on instagram amanda i couldn't find it this store how can i buy it i really
want to get more of your cheese bread So this is really exciting.
I just, I love that. It's got, it's got not good.
(13:52):
You know, I love that. And the product, I think people are really searching for that.
They want that because of high processed foods and all of the sugar that's in our foods.
They're looking for exactly the product that you have.
That's exciting to me. Do you have, so you have the cheese bread.
(14:14):
Do you have any other products that you offer or are working on? We are, yes.
So we are working in two, we're working on two new recipes now, two new formulas.
We launched a limited edition for the summer. So for my kids,
I started to create a different cheese bread with the same cheese bread flavor, same ingredients.
(14:36):
But I know that my kids love the color in all the foods.
They want the green, then they want the blue, rainbow colors.
They want everything exciting for them.
So I searched for natural coloring, natural ingredients that could add color to the cheese bread.
And for the summer, we made the rainbow colors, all these blue and green and
(15:01):
pink and orange, and all of them are natural ingredients.
So blue spirulina, orange spirulina, organic spinach, and pink pitaya,
all natural organic colors.
So my goal is to reach the kids and make them understand at a very early age
(15:23):
that they can have fun eating their favorite colors.
But at the same time, being conscious about the ingredients that they are eating.
Or at least their parents can teach them, hey, this is okay to eat,
and this is healthy, and it's not going to be unhealthy for you.
And it's still fun, right? My kids want the green one or the blue one.
(15:45):
And we did this very limited edition for the summer. We are thinking about,
we sold out very quickly and I'm thinking about coming with different colors
too for different times or seasons.
Now in the fall, if we could have the orange or the purple, we are working on that.
We also, we are partnering with a vegan company, vegan cheese company from Salt
(16:09):
Lake City to come up with a vegan cheese bread.
I have a lot of friends who are vegans. I have a lot of friends who have intolerance to dairy.
So I want to make sure that our products...
Are inclusive and everybody can go to a party together and have their favorite
snacks and celebrate together without being restrictive.
(16:34):
I want to make sure that, okay, if you cannot have the regular cheese bread,
you can have the vegan option.
And it's very, very similar to the original one. And our goal is to launch now in October.
And we also have some snacks that are ready to eat. So our cheese bread is frozen.
So you buy frozen and you bake it at home in the oven or air fryer,
(16:54):
super quick in the air fryer.
And now we are coming up in September with our gluten-free, also vegan cassava chips.
So if you're on the road and the kids want to snack and obviously you cannot
prepare your cheese bread on the go, or if you're just like at a park and the
kids want to snack, you can give them nice snacks,
(17:17):
good snacks that they love and you know are not going to hurt their bodies, their gut system.
So that's the goal. And this is slow.
I know we don't have a lot in the pipeline right now, but the idea is to launch
products, see the acceptance of the consumers,
(17:38):
see how much they like, how we can add additional flavors without breaking with
a goal of providing good ingredients,
clean label, simple and not highly processed foods.
We want to continue to offer something that is simple.
Yeah, and that takes time. If you just wanted to make money,
(18:00):
you would just throw anything out there just to make money. But it's not about making money.
It's about helping kids and everything. No, I think money is a consequence.
Yes. I usually say to my consumers, to my friends and family,
that I would not be able to sell something that I would not feed my kids with.
(18:21):
I cannot offer something, oh yeah, but if I add this ingredient or if I remove
that ingredient, it's going to be cheaper to produce and I can be more profitable.
Yes, for sure I could, but I would not feel that I am doing any,
I'm not bringing any benefit to my community, to my society. And that's my goal.
(18:41):
And I think as a small company, even though we are so tiny,
I think we have the ability to move forward with the industry,
with the food industry, or just push the whole food industry to do better for the consumers.
I am from Brazil, but I've been in the United States for almost 20 years and
(19:03):
I have so many friends in Europe.
I visited Europe many times for vacation or for work because I worked with the
European market for Beyond Meat, really closer to large customers like McDonald's, right?
Launching the vegan products in the German market, Austrian market, and in the Dutch market.
(19:24):
And they are so concerned about the ingredients that they serve and they offer
to their consumers there.
And in the United States, you're still able to add some oils and some ingredients
that are completely forbidden in Europe. And I don't agree with that. Why?
Why are we offering people here something that would just cause diseases now or later in their lives?
(19:48):
I don't think that's the way to go. And as a small producer,
I think we can change this game. Yeah, absolutely.
Because here in the United States, it's all about money. I mean,
they really don't care about the consumers.
That's just how can you make me money, which is super sad.
And they don't care whether we have diseases. You know, so my hat's off to you for what you're doing.
(20:13):
And I do have a question. I want to know, how are you involving your kids?
Are they involved in the tasting or tell me about that? They're highly involved
in the tasting and in everything.
My husband and the kids, I usually do blind testing with them too,
because I buy products that would be competitive to our products and I ask them
(20:34):
to pick their favorites.
And that was the number one decision to launch our products is after giving
to them five different options, they picked all of them.
Without knowing that they were picking my product, they selected our hugs cheese bread.
In our revisions of the formulas too, I always bring the batches home for them to try.
(20:57):
And with a vegan option, we did.
Three rounds already and I brought it home and they didn't like the first one.
It's very interesting and it's amazing because the kids are very honest.
They say, no, mommy, I don't like this. It feels weird.
Okay. Is it the texture? And then you try to elaborate with them,
(21:19):
but it's really good because they're very honest about it.
You know that when you offer something that they like, they truly like it.
And then you say, okay, if this is the way to go, if this is what kids prefer,
that's great. Let's go this route.
And it's possible to come up with a good recipe that is still appealing to the kids.
So that's how we do it. And they also help sometimes I do some small batches
(21:43):
at home and the girls help me roll.
And we try, oh, what do you think about doing this? Oh, yeah, let's do it together.
So usually, all the recipes is start at home with them.
Then we take to the commercial kitchen, then we take to for more elaborate revisions
of the formula and all of that. But we always start at home.
(22:05):
And then we bring back for them to try after we come up with something that
is sustainable, we check, you know, the quantities and all of that to come up with formulas.
And then we bring to them for the final green light. Do you like it? Is it approved?
And if they approve, okay, perfect, then we're going to launch it.
Okay, so I've got a question about the cassava flour that you put in it. Cassava.
(22:28):
Yeah, so tell me about that. Why would that be a better ingredient? Right.
Cassava is a root vegetable, very commonly used in South America and also Asia.
It's similar to a potato.
In the United States, the names are interchangeably used. But in Brazil,
(22:52):
there are several grades of the cassava flour or yuca flour.
You have some that is more powdery, other very, very fine, others very granular.
And they're used for different recipes.
But in Brazil, we consume in a lot of our, a lot of dishes, dishes and snacks.
(23:13):
And the cheese bread or the pão de queijo is a classic in Brazil.
You will find different recipes all over Brazil, and we love it.
We eat it for breakfast. We eat it as a snack, party snacks.
It's that snack that you don't know exactly what to do, and you just bake some.
If you have friends coming over, you always serve some. Usually in Brazil,
(23:38):
it's coffee and cheese bread.
It's that welcoming, sometimes a little sweet cake or coffee cake and cheese bread and coffee.
That's how Brazilians usually welcome their guests.
But the cassava is the basic ingredient of the cheese bread.
And I think the recipe is over 200 years old. We use actually what it's called
(23:59):
the sour and sweet and sour cassava starch.
It's naturally gluten free, obviously, because it's a root. It's not wheat flour.
It has a low glycemic level. I just incorporated the classic recipe to our recipe
to offer consumers an alternative, a healthy alternative for gluten-free bread.
(24:24):
Usually what I see is that people try to achieve a gluten-free option by mixing
a lot of ingredients or microprocessing a lot of ingredients.
And the cassava is naturally gluten-free, so you don't have to go that route
of processing or adding too many ingredients to it. It's just simply gluten-free.
(24:47):
But there are several benefits to the cassava.
It's a vegetable, so it would be similar to a potato flour, potato starch.
I know that other countries eat so much more healthy than the United States
does. And so for you to bring this product to the United States is huge.
(25:08):
I love the gluten-free. A lot of people are gluten intolerant.
And so that's why I was wondering about why you chose that flour.
So that's interesting. It's the classic recipe.
It was originally made with cassava. Some people use potato.
I prefer the cassava because of the lower glycemic level.
(25:30):
Travel potassium is high in potassium as well okay
amanda so i want to leave with you
giving one piece of advice but first i want you to
tell people where they can find your hugs snacks h-u-g-z snacks
right so tell me where can listeners find your product so we besides selling
(25:51):
in several farmers markets we are rotating through different farmers markets
we are going to be in september and October at the Ogden Farmer's Market in Ogden, Utah.
But besides the markets, we also sell at Patterson's Fresh Market in Riverton.
We sell at the Neighborhood Hive in Sugar House.
(26:14):
It's a local store and they have amazing products there.
And we also sell in all six locations of the Good Earth markets.
And right now we're only selling in the state of Utah.
Hopefully soon I can ship some to Idaho, California.
I had some customers who visited the stores and I was doing some sampling and they loved it.
(26:41):
They loved it. They were from Ohio, some from Idaho, some from California.
Oh, how can I find this in our store, in our stores?
And I said, we're not there yet, but we will be. I'm working on it to make it
available outside of the state of Utah.
But these will be the stores where you can find it, farmers markets.
And you can also find us on our website. We are delivering for,
(27:04):
if you place the order on the website, we can deliver.
And I'm working with some carriers
to be able to deliver outside of the state as well. So it's coming.
Soon we will be able to do that as well.
Cool. And do you have a way that they can reach out to you personally, like an email?
That you want to put on or would you just have them go to your website? Go ahead.
(27:28):
Sure. You can, you can email, you can go to our Instagram hugs, snacks, hugs with Z.
So H U G Z snacks.
You can find us on a, on Facebook as well, our website, or you can reach out to me directly.
And my email is Amanda at hugs, snacks.com. Perfect.
(27:49):
Okay. Is there, do you have any Any one word of advice that you'd like to leave
with the listeners as we end to the show?
Do good. Always do good to people around you. If you're a business owner,
if you make products, offer the best you can.
If you're not, always do good. And I believe that it doesn't matter what the outcome is.
(28:12):
You should always do your best.
I love that. Thank you. Well, thank you for being on the show.
It's been my pleasure to get to know you and to interview you.
I wish you the best for your Hug Snacks.
Hopefully, we can stay in contact.
Maybe you can come on again later in a year or two and tell me how it's going. I would love that.
(28:34):
To my listeners, please share this episode with someone who you think would
enjoy it and learn from it because I know that they will.
Thanks to everyone for listening. I want to leave you with this.
Cultivate a heart of gratitude and praise, recognizing that every good and perfect gift comes from God.
Choose to focus on His blessings and goodness, even in the midst of trials.
(28:56):
You see, God loves you, and so do I. Get to know Him. I promise you won't be
disappointed. See you next time.
Music.
Music.
(00:33):
What are they not telling us? And why? Welcome to Ingredient Intel.
I'm your ingredient investigator and I spend hours combing through articles,
publications, and studies to bring you intel on ingredients and products that
can harm your health. But it's not always bad news.
I also share ingredients that you can use that is actually good for your health.
I've spent 30 plus years helping people, both as an educator in and out of the
(00:58):
classroom and as a personal trainer.
I have a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and a Bachelor of Science degree
in Health Education, and I just love helping people.
Now it's true, our food supply today is lacking in nutrients.
The same fruits and vegetables we ate as a kid contain less nutrients.
So now more than ever, it's important to supplement with a high quality vitamin
(01:21):
mineral supplement, and the one I love is called Vitality.
It's a superfood blend which contains not only vitamin vitamins,
and minerals, but important enzymes, probiotics, greens, fruits, and omega-3s.
And the best part is, it comes from whole foods, and it's totally organic.
To learn more about Fatalite and where you can purchase it, visit my website,
(01:42):
and I'll have that in the show notes. So, let's get on with the show.
Today, I'm very excited to have a very special guest, Amanda Wurz,
from the Hugs Snacks Company.
Thank you so much for having me.
(02:19):
Why don't we start there? Yes, absolutely. So I am originally from Brazil.
I've been in the United States for almost 20 years.
And I come from a family where I should say my mom is a foodie and a chef.
She's retired now, but she's a chef. And I grew up pretty much in the kitchen.
(02:43):
So my parents had small restaurants and little shops when I was a kid.
We also had a restaurant. Right before I came to the United States,
we had a gastronomic place.
It was a mix of restaurant and boulangerie, as my mom would like to call it,
because she loves making bread and she specialized in breads.
(03:06):
Her concern at the time was not about being gluten-free or having vegan options.
My family is originally from Portugal, Spain, and Italy.
My grandparents migrated to Brazil in the 1940s.
So my mom incorporated all of those lessons from her grandparents,
(03:28):
and that's how we built our restaurants and our recipes.
Piece but then I moved to the United States I
studied I went to good schools
in Brazil for economics then I moved to the United States and
I pursued my my degree in economics and started working for multinational companies
and most of the time and most of those 14 13 14 years working primarily in the
(03:55):
food industry large corporations like Unilever like Beyond Meat neat vegan company.
And that's when last year, and I don't know if I'm jumping ahead,
Jean, interrupt me if I, is it too fast?
Do you want me to stop and talk more about my background or?
(04:16):
Just, just go. You're doing great.
Yeah. So last year, I was laid off from Beyond Meat as part of restructuring of the company.
And I stayed home with my three little kids. I have a now seven-year-old boy
and four-year-old girl and two-year-old girl.
(04:38):
And I stayed home with them and I started to bring it back, all those old recipes
from my mom and incorporating to it or revamping it with a healthier touch.
So I always had this passion about nutrition, always.
So I ended up doing economics, going to the economics and management route for my studies.
(05:04):
But prior to that, I wanted to be a doctor or nutritionist, because I loved it.
I always read the ingredient deck of anything that I consumed.
I didn't drink soda as a kid or teenager.
I was passionate about that. And I understood at a very early age that everything
(05:25):
that we consumed would interfere with our health.
And I did not want to end up like most of the grandparents having so many pills
and taking pills for diabetes or blood pressure.
I didn't think that was normal.
And I saw myself at the age of 11 dieting, but not just to be skinny.
(05:50):
I was dieting because I was specifically picking the ingredients and products
that I was going to consume.
And that's why my passion grew over time.
And at the age of 15, I decided to be vegetarian.
I incorporated fish, pescatarian. So So I always did those trials.
So back to 2023, after being laid off, I started to rediscover myself.
(06:14):
And now not just as Amanda, but also as a mother of three and very careful about
what my kids were eating.
And obviously, as a full-time employee working crazy hours because I was responsible
for Europe and also China, I had, you know, being a mom, I didn't pay attention during those.
(06:35):
Years on the specific ingredients that my kids were consuming.
I would just pick something that was relatively healthy or okay to consume,
but certain breads and snacks that they loved contained a lot of artificial
ingredients, tons of sugar, and I was not happy with that.
So I decided to bring those old recipes from my mom, refresh them, revamp them,
(07:04):
Still having that heritage, Portuguese, Italian, Brazilian feel that the kids
love it. They actually enjoy it.
And that's why I started with the cheese bread that they absolutely love.
Last year we visited Brazil, we visited my family and the kids loved acai and cheese bread.
They wanted to eat that every day. So back to the United States,
(07:27):
I continue to make it by replacing any seed oils with avocado oil only.
Also, freshly grating the cheese so it does not come with all the fillers and
other antibiotics and things that are mold preventer ingredients that I didn't
want them to consume on a daily basis.
If we can reduce the amount of those ingredients, I think it's best for the
(07:53):
kids. It's the best option for the kids.
And we moved to Utah at the end of 2023.
My husband had an offer for a sports company.
My husband is all about sports. So he plays all the sports possible.
And he surprisingly got an offer two weeks after I was laid off from Beyond Meat.
(08:17):
So we ended up moving to Utah and I realized that those recipes and those trials with my kids at home,
all those snacks that I started to make for them were really good at the birthday
parties. All the kids loved it.
And every time we had friends coming over to our house to play,
(08:39):
they loved the snacks that I would prepare for them.
And I was so happy to do that, to share that instead of just opening another
highly manufactured product and giving and serving to them.
I was excited to see that they liked something that was healthier for them.
So I said, this can become a business, right? So I prayed.
(09:01):
I put it in the hands of God. And I said, Lord, if this is the way to go,
please give me an answer. or please, if this is something I should do,
talk to me. And less than 24 hours later, I had literally an answer.
(09:23):
I brought the cheese bread to our meetings with our mom's group.
And the pastor of our church came in with some drinks, coffee,
and snacks for the kids and for the moms.
And he said, what is this in this bowl? wool. And I said, it's my cheese bread.
And he picked it up and he said, oh, this is delicious. And it's gluten free too.
(09:47):
So he said, I said, this is exciting for me because I think this is encouragement
that I should pursue this business and I should go ahead and sign the contract
with this kitchen, with this commercial kitchen.
And the pastor said, why are you signing a contract with the kitchen.
We have a fully licensed kitchen in the building and it's for you to use.
(10:11):
And I was like, wait, what?
I started to shake. I'm like, I don't believe in this. Is this real?
He said, yes, we are here to support the community, to empower the community.
And you're part of it. And we believe in you. And then his wife said,
come on over. Let me show you the kitchen. the night before.
(10:32):
The commercial kitchen I was going to sign the contract with did not have a mixer.
And I would have to come up with the money to buy the mixer.
And I did not have the money.
So before I went to sleep talking to God, I was praying and said,
Lord, I don't have the money to buy this mixer.
I don't know what to do, but I trust in everything you do.
(10:52):
And I went to sleep and I fell asleep with that picture of the mixer on my phone.
As soon as the pastor's wife opened the kitchen door, in front of me was the
mixer that was on my phone screen the night before.
The same model, the same size, the same brand, everything.
(11:14):
And I said, OK, now I am crying because this is really this is real.
The message is very clear to me. And that's how I started with all the licenses
and the whole process to get the business up and going.
And on april 19th the
(11:35):
utah department of agriculture came to
in audit the kitchen and the process
and label and we started so april 19th and we got the green light to go ahead
and and proceed with the business i started registering for farmers markets
we started in farmers markets And people started to try the samples. And this is delicious.
(12:00):
Most people, when they see, oh, this is avocado oil, no seed oils,
no sugar, and it's naturally gluten-free.
People, and six simple ingredients, right?
So that's what we, that's the, it's a clean label.
There's nothing like cheese flavors or lecithin. No, it's very simple.
(12:21):
It's that bread that we make at home.
And people said, oh, this is good.
Every time I tried to give someone a sample and I said, hey,
would you like to try? Oh, no, thank you. Yes, it's really good. Try.
And people would try and they said, oh, this is really good.
Okay, let me buy one. Let me buy another one. And I got so excited because we.
(12:44):
In every single farmer's market, we sold more than we expected,
more than I at least expected.
And I started to knock the doors of other stores.
And right now, in five months, we are already selling in eight different stores
with a focus on natural and organic and natural foods, natural ingredients.
(13:07):
So we are selling at all the stores of Good Earth Markets in Utah.
We are selling at Patterson's Fresh Market in Riverton here in Utah as well,
and the Neighborhood Hive in the Sugar House District.
District and we are very excited with
the welcoming of all these businesses who
(13:29):
are opening the doors for us and excited with the with the customers the consumers
who try the product and they come back to buy more and then they send me messages
on instagram amanda i couldn't find it this store how can i buy it i really
want to get more of your cheese bread So this is really exciting.
I just, I love that. It's got, it's got not good.
(13:52):
You know, I love that. And the product, I think people are really searching for that.
They want that because of high processed foods and all of the sugar that's in our foods.
They're looking for exactly the product that you have.
That's exciting to me. Do you have, so you have the cheese bread.
(14:14):
Do you have any other products that you offer or are working on? We are, yes.
So we are working in two, we're working on two new recipes now, two new formulas.
We launched a limited edition for the summer. So for my kids,
I started to create a different cheese bread with the same cheese bread flavor, same ingredients.
(14:36):
But I know that my kids love the color in all the foods.
They want the green, then they want the blue, rainbow colors.
They want everything exciting for them.
So I searched for natural coloring, natural ingredients that could add color to the cheese bread.
And for the summer, we made the rainbow colors, all these blue and green and
(15:01):
pink and orange, and all of them are natural ingredients.
So blue spirulina, orange spirulina, organic spinach, and pink pitaya,
all natural organic colors.
So my goal is to reach the kids and make them understand at a very early age
(15:23):
that they can have fun eating their favorite colors.
But at the same time, being conscious about the ingredients that they are eating.
Or at least their parents can teach them, hey, this is okay to eat,
and this is healthy, and it's not going to be unhealthy for you.
And it's still fun, right? My kids want the green one or the blue one.
(15:45):
And we did this very limited edition for the summer. We are thinking about,
we sold out very quickly and I'm thinking about coming with different colors
too for different times or seasons.
Now in the fall, if we could have the orange or the purple, we are working on that.
We also, we are partnering with a vegan company, vegan cheese company from Salt
(16:09):
Lake City to come up with a vegan cheese bread.
I have a lot of friends who are vegans. I have a lot of friends who have intolerance to dairy.
So I want to make sure that our products...
Are inclusive and everybody can go to a party together and have their favorite
snacks and celebrate together without being restrictive.
(16:34):
I want to make sure that, okay, if you cannot have the regular cheese bread,
you can have the vegan option.
And it's very, very similar to the original one. And our goal is to launch now in October.
And we also have some snacks that are ready to eat. So our cheese bread is frozen.
So you buy frozen and you bake it at home in the oven or air fryer,
(16:54):
super quick in the air fryer.
And now we are coming up in September with our gluten-free, also vegan cassava chips.
So if you're on the road and the kids want to snack and obviously you cannot
prepare your cheese bread on the go, or if you're just like at a park and the
kids want to snack, you can give them nice snacks,
(17:17):
good snacks that they love and you know are not going to hurt their bodies, their gut system.
So that's the goal. And this is slow.
I know we don't have a lot in the pipeline right now, but the idea is to launch
products, see the acceptance of the consumers,
(17:38):
see how much they like, how we can add additional flavors without breaking with
a goal of providing good ingredients,
clean label, simple and not highly processed foods.
We want to continue to offer something that is simple.
Yeah, and that takes time. If you just wanted to make money,
(18:00):
you would just throw anything out there just to make money. But it's not about making money.
It's about helping kids and everything. No, I think money is a consequence.
Yes. I usually say to my consumers, to my friends and family,
that I would not be able to sell something that I would not feed my kids with.
(18:21):
I cannot offer something, oh yeah, but if I add this ingredient or if I remove
that ingredient, it's going to be cheaper to produce and I can be more profitable.
Yes, for sure I could, but I would not feel that I am doing any,
I'm not bringing any benefit to my community, to my society. And that's my goal.
(18:41):
And I think as a small company, even though we are so tiny,
I think we have the ability to move forward with the industry,
with the food industry, or just push the whole food industry to do better for the consumers.
I am from Brazil, but I've been in the United States for almost 20 years and
(19:03):
I have so many friends in Europe.
I visited Europe many times for vacation or for work because I worked with the
European market for Beyond Meat, really closer to large customers like McDonald's, right?
Launching the vegan products in the German market, Austrian market, and in the Dutch market.
(19:24):
And they are so concerned about the ingredients that they serve and they offer
to their consumers there.
And in the United States, you're still able to add some oils and some ingredients
that are completely forbidden in Europe. And I don't agree with that. Why?
Why are we offering people here something that would just cause diseases now or later in their lives?
(19:48):
I don't think that's the way to go. And as a small producer,
I think we can change this game. Yeah, absolutely.
Because here in the United States, it's all about money. I mean,
they really don't care about the consumers.
That's just how can you make me money, which is super sad.
And they don't care whether we have diseases. You know, so my hat's off to you for what you're doing.
(20:13):
And I do have a question. I want to know, how are you involving your kids?
Are they involved in the tasting or tell me about that? They're highly involved
in the tasting and in everything.
My husband and the kids, I usually do blind testing with them too,
because I buy products that would be competitive to our products and I ask them
(20:34):
to pick their favorites.
And that was the number one decision to launch our products is after giving
to them five different options, they picked all of them.
Without knowing that they were picking my product, they selected our hugs cheese bread.
In our revisions of the formulas too, I always bring the batches home for them to try.
(20:57):
And with a vegan option, we did.
Three rounds already and I brought it home and they didn't like the first one.
It's very interesting and it's amazing because the kids are very honest.
They say, no, mommy, I don't like this. It feels weird.
Okay. Is it the texture? And then you try to elaborate with them,
(21:19):
but it's really good because they're very honest about it.
You know that when you offer something that they like, they truly like it.
And then you say, okay, if this is the way to go, if this is what kids prefer,
that's great. Let's go this route.
And it's possible to come up with a good recipe that is still appealing to the kids.
So that's how we do it. And they also help sometimes I do some small batches
(21:43):
at home and the girls help me roll.
And we try, oh, what do you think about doing this? Oh, yeah, let's do it together.
So usually, all the recipes is start at home with them.
Then we take to the commercial kitchen, then we take to for more elaborate revisions
of the formula and all of that. But we always start at home.
(22:05):
And then we bring back for them to try after we come up with something that
is sustainable, we check, you know, the quantities and all of that to come up with formulas.
And then we bring to them for the final green light. Do you like it? Is it approved?
And if they approve, okay, perfect, then we're going to launch it.
Okay, so I've got a question about the cassava flour that you put in it. Cassava.
(22:28):
Yeah, so tell me about that. Why would that be a better ingredient? Right.
Cassava is a root vegetable, very commonly used in South America and also Asia.
It's similar to a potato.
In the United States, the names are interchangeably used. But in Brazil,
(22:52):
there are several grades of the cassava flour or yuca flour.
You have some that is more powdery, other very, very fine, others very granular.
And they're used for different recipes.
But in Brazil, we consume in a lot of our, a lot of dishes, dishes and snacks.
(23:13):
And the cheese bread or the pão de queijo is a classic in Brazil.
You will find different recipes all over Brazil, and we love it.
We eat it for breakfast. We eat it as a snack, party snacks.
It's that snack that you don't know exactly what to do, and you just bake some.
If you have friends coming over, you always serve some. Usually in Brazil,
(23:38):
it's coffee and cheese bread.
It's that welcoming, sometimes a little sweet cake or coffee cake and cheese bread and coffee.
That's how Brazilians usually welcome their guests.
But the cassava is the basic ingredient of the cheese bread.
And I think the recipe is over 200 years old. We use actually what it's called
(23:59):
the sour and sweet and sour cassava starch.
It's naturally gluten free, obviously, because it's a root. It's not wheat flour.
It has a low glycemic level. I just incorporated the classic recipe to our recipe
to offer consumers an alternative, a healthy alternative for gluten-free bread.
(24:24):
Usually what I see is that people try to achieve a gluten-free option by mixing
a lot of ingredients or microprocessing a lot of ingredients.
And the cassava is naturally gluten-free, so you don't have to go that route
of processing or adding too many ingredients to it. It's just simply gluten-free.
(24:47):
But there are several benefits to the cassava.
It's a vegetable, so it would be similar to a potato flour, potato starch.
I know that other countries eat so much more healthy than the United States
does. And so for you to bring this product to the United States is huge.
(25:08):
I love the gluten-free. A lot of people are gluten intolerant.
And so that's why I was wondering about why you chose that flour.
So that's interesting. It's the classic recipe.
It was originally made with cassava. Some people use potato.
I prefer the cassava because of the lower glycemic level.
(25:30):
Travel potassium is high in potassium as well okay
amanda so i want to leave with you
giving one piece of advice but first i want you to
tell people where they can find your hugs snacks h-u-g-z snacks
right so tell me where can listeners find your product so we besides selling
(25:51):
in several farmers markets we are rotating through different farmers markets
we are going to be in september and October at the Ogden Farmer's Market in Ogden, Utah.
But besides the markets, we also sell at Patterson's Fresh Market in Riverton.
We sell at the Neighborhood Hive in Sugar House.
(26:14):
It's a local store and they have amazing products there.
And we also sell in all six locations of the Good Earth markets.
And right now we're only selling in the state of Utah.
Hopefully soon I can ship some to Idaho, California.
I had some customers who visited the stores and I was doing some sampling and they loved it.
(26:41):
They loved it. They were from Ohio, some from Idaho, some from California.
Oh, how can I find this in our store, in our stores?
And I said, we're not there yet, but we will be. I'm working on it to make it
available outside of the state of Utah.
But these will be the stores where you can find it, farmers markets.
And you can also find us on our website. We are delivering for,
(27:04):
if you place the order on the website, we can deliver.
And I'm working with some carriers
to be able to deliver outside of the state as well. So it's coming.
Soon we will be able to do that as well.
Cool. And do you have a way that they can reach out to you personally, like an email?
That you want to put on or would you just have them go to your website? Go ahead.
(27:28):
Sure. You can, you can email, you can go to our Instagram hugs, snacks, hugs with Z.
So H U G Z snacks.
You can find us on a, on Facebook as well, our website, or you can reach out to me directly.
And my email is Amanda at hugs, snacks.com. Perfect.
(27:49):
Okay. Is there, do you have any Any one word of advice that you'd like to leave
with the listeners as we end to the show?
Do good. Always do good to people around you. If you're a business owner,
if you make products, offer the best you can.
If you're not, always do good. And I believe that it doesn't matter what the outcome is.
(28:12):
You should always do your best.
I love that. Thank you. Well, thank you for being on the show.
It's been my pleasure to get to know you and to interview you.
I wish you the best for your Hug Snacks.
Hopefully, we can stay in contact.
Maybe you can come on again later in a year or two and tell me how it's going. I would love that.
(28:34):
To my listeners, please share this episode with someone who you think would
enjoy it and learn from it because I know that they will.
Thanks to everyone for listening. I want to leave you with this.
Cultivate a heart of gratitude and praise, recognizing that every good and perfect gift comes from God.
Choose to focus on His blessings and goodness, even in the midst of trials.
(28:56):
You see, God loves you, and so do I. Get to know Him. I promise you won't be
disappointed. See you next time.
Music.
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