A Sunshine Coast mum has created her own healthy range of kids’ snacks, which will soon be sold at 900 Woolworths stores in Australia.
Laura Allan created Isaac’s Snacks in her kitchen, using only healthy ingredients like dates, apricots, figs, cinnamon, coconut and oats, and with no refined sugar, dairy, fillers or mystery numbered chemicals.
She was motivated to create a healthy alternative after being alarmed by the high sugar, chemicals and mystery fillers in many kids’ snacks.
“I was really looking for more real-food snacks for my young son and I just felt that a lot of the things in the supermarkets, and also actually the health food stores, were loaded with sugar – some bars marketed as healthy are up to 50 per cent sugar,” she said.
“And one thing in particular that I found confusing, and still find confusing today, is the very long ingredient lists, including all sorts of additives, and ingredients labelled with mysterious numbers.
“It just was really puzzling why there weren’t more snacks out there that were just really clean and simple and just had really, really limited ingredients.”
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In response, she created Isaac’s Snacks, initially just home baked for her son’s lunchbox, and then scaled quickly when sales of the snacks started taking off.
Her first product, Jammy Date Bites, as an example, has just eight ingredients: oats, dates, chia, flour, coconut oil, maple syrup, coconut and cinnamon.
It’s one of two Isaac’s Snacks products to be sold from the shelves of Woolworths, along with Fruity Cutie Bites.
Ms Allan, who lives at Peregian Springs, said it was a dream to sell through Woolworths, which she said shares her commitment to healthy foods.
“Definitely, as a retailer, Woolworths is really aligned with Isaac’s Snacks’ values, and along with everything they’re doing around sustainability and supporting Australian brands, it’s fantastic,” she said.
“You don’t get so many moments in your life where you feel really proud, but I feel like I’ve built something that’s trying to do something different and better in the kids’ snacks category.
“I just reached out to Woolworths and sent some samples. It was a really big focus of theirs to bring in healthier lunchbox snacks. They just loved Isaac’s Snacks and felt that we were doing something unique.”
Ms Allan said the packaging for Isaac’s Snacks includes simple listings of the ingredients, to ensure parents were well informed rather than confused, as to what they were feeding their children.
“We are really helping that modern mum who wants to make great choices,” she said.
“She’s been working all day, she’s got to pick the kids up from school, she just wants something she knows is a bit nutritious and healthy … putting Isaac’s Snacks in a lunchbox or as an afterschool snack is at least one decision that she can make with confidence,” she said.
“Parents can have that trust when they look on the back of a pack and they know exactly what’s in it … that kind of trust and transparency is a massive part of Isaac’s Snacks, and it is a massive part of why I started it and continues to be really important.
“This launch into Woolworths will also allow me to grow the brand even more, bring out even more products … and having that reach makes a massive difference in terms of education and giving people that option to make a better choice for their children.”
Isaac’s Snacks will be rolled out on Woolworths shelves across Australia from mid-November.
Ms Allan had a 20-year career in sales management in the health and beauty industries, prior to starting Isaac’s Snacks.
She continues to manage Isaac’s Snacks from her Sunshine Coast home, after moving to Queensland this year.
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