Useful meals startup ‘reimagining power’

AUSTIN, TX — Inexperienced tea caffeine provides a lift to brownies and cookies developed by Energy Up Meals, an Austin-based startup targeted on increasing power advantages past beverage units. stated Ilene Chen, its founder and CEO. Merchandise from the model will roll out to Erewhon and City Outfitters shops this month.

Gentle baked snacks characteristic gluten-free, plant-based elements together with almond flour, natural coconut sugar, natural coconut oil, coconut flour, natural flaxseed, and unsweetened oat milk. Merchandise embody Chocolate Chip Coconut Cookies and Double Chocolate Brownies, in addition to seasonal choices akin to Pumpkin Spice Cookies and Peppermint Brownies. Every single-serve pack accommodates as a lot caffeine as a cup of espresso.

“Naturally, individuals are likely to affiliate caffeine with drinks and liquids,” Chen says. “Your complete Energy Up Meals model ethos is about rethinking power and the way we devour it.”

It is particularly moveable, she says.

L-theanine, an amino acid present in inexperienced tea, counteracts the nervous results of caffeine to offer sustained power, she added.

Earlier than launching Energy Up Meals, Chen labored in finance and know-how and relied on a couple of cups of espresso or matcha on busy days.

“I used to be consuming cookies each afternoon anyway, so it was solely a matter of time earlier than a lightweight bulb went off in my head saying, ‘Why do not you mix each day caffeine with each day snacks,'” Chen stated. “That is how it began. I wanted a day pick-up.”

After testing a whole lot of recipes and gathering suggestions from her colleagues, she launched her caffeinated Vitality Bites final 12 months.

“I knew I’d remorse lacking this chance. I actually believed there was a marketplace for my product, so I give up my day job on the finish of 2021 and have been working full-time ever since. she stated.

She added brownies and cookies to her lineup earlier this 12 months and phased out the unique Vitality Bites after transferring manufacturing to contract producers. Additionally it is accessible in specialty shops and company places of work. A self-proclaimed life-style retailer specializing in fashionable and classic items, City Outfitters represents the biggest model retail account so far.

“My overarching imaginative and prescient for the model was large,” Chen stated. “We wish Energy Up Meals to basically substitute the various cumbersome dietary supplements and capsules that individuals are taking with merchandise which are good for them and style nice.”