In an interview with CanadianSME Small Business Magazine, Julie Bednarski, founder and CEO of Healthy Crunch, shared her inspiring journey from overcoming personal challenges to building a thriving business. Julie discussed the early struggles of launching a startup with limited financial backing, how she maintained her mission of providing allergen-friendly, better-for-you foods, and the innovative partnerships that have propelled Healthy Crunch into the mainstream market. As the company celebrates its 10th anniversary with exciting new product launches, including a collaboration with Mattel’s Barbie brand, Julie continues to redefine what it means to offer healthy, accessible food choices for consumers.
Julie Bednarski is a dynamic and energetic entrepreneur with almost ten years of experience in the food and nutrition industry. She has always had a passion for food and wellness and believes that health and happiness all start in the kitchen. Julie’s education includes Bachelor of Applied Science in Applied Human Nutrition at the University of Guelph and a Master of Health Science in Nutrition Communication at Ryerson University. Julie went on to complete her dietetic internship to become a Registered Dietitian with the College of Dietitians in Ontario.
In 2012, Julie followed her passion for culinary arts, as she attended the Chef’s Training Program culinary in New York City at the Natural Gourmet Institute. Following her culinary training, Julie went on to work at various restaurants throughout North America to refine and further develop her culinary skills.
In July 2014, Julie started Healthy Crunch – as a way to satisfy her craving for super crunchy kale chips that were BIG in size and BIG in flavor. She started recipe development in her home kitchen and within 1 year, Julie had expanded to own her own commercial snack food manufacturing facility. Healthy Crunch’s mission is innovate everyday foods making them better for you, while still being super delicious. With Julie’s ambition for success Healthy Crunch grew to have over 25,000 points of distribution within Canada within the first 2 years in business. Healthy Crunch now distributes their products throughout the world including Canada, USA, Europe, and the Middle East. Since the start of her business, Julie continues to expand Healthy Crunch’s product lines to include coconut chips, trail mix, granola bars, rice crispy squares, chia jam, seed butter, instant lattes, kale chips, and dark chocolate fruit bites. Julie is proud to be a woman entrepreneur and a certified Women-Owned Business.
Starting a business without financial backing is a significant challenge. How did you introduce your product and build your business in those early years with little-to-no funding, and what key decisions helped you overcome those challenges?
The statistics can be discouraging – only 2% of women-run startups receive funding. But this should never keep you from chasing your dream. In the beginning, like many new businesses, we got creative with financing and funding where I could find it. I used my own investments and secured a loan with BDC to get started.
Those early years were lean. I remember living pay cheque to pay cheque. This is where fiscal responsibility is the most important aspect of building a business. I kept the team lean and wore many hats. Every dollar I spent I would ask “how can this come back as revenue?”
This meant I didn’t spend money on fancy offices or marketing. Some business owners feel they can’t promote themselves if they don’t have a huge ad spend. This is not true at all. My first product line, kale chips, came from me selling my products at a local fair. In the beginning we focused a lot on direct sales – taking our products to markets, trade shows. That’s where a buyer at Starbucks discovered my kale chips. It was total serendipity, being at the right place at the right time.
You don’t need a fancy office to pitch buyers on LinkedIn, letting them know about my better-for-you products.
An early piece of advice I got was to “go slow so you can go fast”. A lot of businesses put pressure on themselves to scale and grow quickly. This is where you run the risk of spending money on equipment you don’t need, pushing a product the public doesn’t want, hiring the wrong people. Slow growth gives you time and space to get really efficient at what you do. Then when it comes time to grow, you’ll do so from a sustainable, informed, and intentional place.
Healthy Crunch operates with a strong mission to innovate everyday foods while being inclusive and allergen-friendly. How do you strike a balance between staying true to your purpose and ensuring profitability in a competitive industry?
This is a question of attitude and mindset. Our core value and mission is to provide better-for-you foods to every consumer. Quality is very important to us. We source ingredients from all over the world, trying to get the best quality for the best price. We do believe consumers appreciate the value of the product they’re getting.
Success in business comes from making one decision at a time. If you make decisions based on competitive pricing, it will affect the ingredients and quality of your product. As our goal is to make healthy eating accessible our souring team works hard to find the best quality ingredients while still offering consumers good quality product as we focus on quality and value.
As a woman entrepreneur in the food industry, what specific challenges did you face in securing resources, and why do you believe it’s crucial to support women-run businesses?
This is a topic that I am very passionate about being a women-owned business as access to financing was a huge challenge in the beginning. When I first started Healthy Crunch in 2014, the food industry felt like a “boy’s club” and I am happy to see more women leaders within our industry. The food industry is run by established legacy brands. There are many legacy brands that have a lot of power and influence on the market.
We’re the challenger brand, so we often have to prove ourselves and our product success for retailers to believe in our brand. But this is actually where we shine.
In business, the leading brand is always looking behind them, keeping an eye on the competition as many challenger brands are able to adapt and innovate faster than the leading brand. The challenger brand is always looking forward having a proactive mindset for growth and innovation. I’m on a mission to give consumers better-for-you food choices everywhere. As an innovator, it doesn’t serve me to look behind or to the side at my competitors. We’re always looking forward at how else we can make positive change.
Your personal story of overcoming childhood obesity and an eating disorder has shaped the way you approach your business. How has your commitment to providing healthier food options evolved, and how do you envision the future of the healthy food industry?
This is what fuels my passion. It’s not just business, it’s personal. I know what it’s like to be unhappy, and to have poor food choices be the source of that unhappiness.
When I was 13 I weighed 200 pounds. Both of my parents worked, so after school I filled that time with unhealthy foods. I was bullied and depressed. Back then, healthy eating wasn’t accessible. There simply were not a lot of healthy options in the market. And anything that was labeled “healthy” was not marketed to kids.
My core mission is to make better-for-you food options available everywhere. Our products are not only found in specialty aisles at the grocery store. They’re in all the aisles, in movie theatres, at the airport and on the go convenience stores.
We all want to be happy, and I believe people will make healthy choices when given the option. My goal is to have a Healthy Crunch better-for-you foods in all food categories within the grocery store, so it’s easier to make the healthy choice.
With ten years of business success under your belt, what’s next for Healthy Crunch? Can you share any exciting upcoming product launches or partnerships?
By far the most exciting project for us is our partnership with Mattel North America. We are excited to celebrate our 10 year anniversary while also celebrating the 65th anniversary of Barbie! The Healthy Crunch Barbie Crispy Squares Dreams Collection is available in Canada as of October 2, 2024 and will be available in the U.S. in spring 2025. These better-for-you, low sugar Crispy Treats are available in Vanilla Sparkle, Pink Birthday Cake, and Chocolate Dream.
By partnering with Mattel, a Global ionic brand to create Barbie inspired products, illuminates that Healthy Crunch and our better for you products can be mainstream and reach the masses. Healthy foods are often treated as specialty items, made for health-conscious consumers . However, I want to debunk this myth. You can make a super-delicious products using better-for-you ingredients while still offering your products to the masses in mainstream grocery. Consumers are looking for healthier options, we just need to provide them the opportunity and accessible to make the healthier choice the easy choice.
The more mainstream Healthy Crunch becomes, the more we can continue innovating new better-for-you foods and providing consumers with more options. The first 10 years built a solid foundation. We are on track for $100 million in sales and to be the global leader in better-for-you foods.
