Frustrated by the lack of balanced nutritional snacks available to parents with babies and toddlers, Julia Ford set out to create her own. At Love Snack they are on a mission to make parents’ lives easier and kids’ bodies healthier, aiming to bring healthy, convenient, sustainable snacks to your little people. Their delicious, nutritionist-certified smoothies are full of superfoods, fruit and vegetables, with no hidden nasties. They pride themselves on sourcing only the best ingredients for your kids, using locally grown products first and partnering with brands that they know share their values on sustainability. Here, Julia talks to The Natural Parent Magazine about the inspiration behind her business.
The passion: What inspired you to set up your business?
My inspiration came from having my daughter Bobbi and discovering the single use plastic pouch foods in the supermarket aisle. As I researched more, I discovered they were very high in sugars and were pasteurised using extreme heat to make the product stable and to extend shelf life, but also destroying vital nutrients in the process. Furthermore, the majority of these plastic pouches end up in landfill as they need to be taken to a soft-plastic recycling collection point. I wanted to create a product that functioned the same as these pouches (provided convenience), that’s better nutritionally and better for the environment.
The launch: How did you start out in the beginning?
I’ve just recently launched (1 July) after making a few changes following a soft launch in December. I currently operate out of my kitchen in Auckland, registered and approved with MPI.
