10 Women-Owned Snack Brands to Nosh On Right Now

While women account for 93% of purchases in the food sector, being on the business side of the purchase has traditionally been challenging. As the founder of a snack-food company, I’m often the only female in the room when it comes to dealing with investors, suppliers, retailers, and production. Most meetings, it’s all men… and me. 

Which is why it’s never been more important to support women who are out there leading food brands that are not only innovating approaches to what we eat (and how it’s made and distributed), but which better address the largely unmet needs of all those women shoppers. According to Females in Food Founder Chelsea Ford, 41% of women-owned businesses have started to serve problems that are specific to them.

In honor of Women's History Month, I'm delighted to share 10 female-founded brands (including mine!) that continue to reinvigorate and challenge the way we snack today.

S'NOODS: Everyone's Favorite Snack Noodle

• Founder: Lauryn Bodden
• Year Founded: 2022
• Why They're Great:  I'm a bit biased (okay, very biased), but this snack is like nothing on the market. Because that's exactly what I set out to make (something unlike anything else) when competing on Netflix's Snack vs Chef. I immediately dreamt of making the grand world of noodle shapes, textures, and flavors accessible as well as approachable to all. Forget generic tomato powders mixed with dried herbs. I want to highlight the rich, authentic sauces specific to cultures around the globe and make it all sustainable with upcycled materials.

Wandel

• Founder: Stephanie Berlin
• Year Founded: 2020
• Why They're Great: From the name to the texture, this snack has it all. Inspired by mandelbrot (Jewish biscotti), Berlin used her mom’s recipe to launch Wandel at a farmers market in New York City during the pandemic. Wandel snacks are soft, yet dense enough to hold up to the inevitable milk or coffee dunk. I especially enjoy that the cookies aren't too-sweet, so they can appeal to an even broader range of snacker.

Mezcla

• Co-Founder: Coco Sotelo
• Year Founded: 2019
• Why They're Great: The name "Mezcla" stems from the Spanish word for mixture, which according to the brand “represents the mixture of flavors and communities” that Sotelo is working to build with her co-founder Griffin Spolansky. They work with regional farmers around the world to create plant-based bars made from green pea puffs with 10 grams of complete protein for a soy-, dairy-, and gluten-free snack. Additionally, Sotelo and Spolansky created a Responsible Sourcing policy where they donate a portion of their sales to support the communities where they source their ingredients.
  

Cowgirl Creamery

• Founders: Sue Conley & Peggy Smith
• Year Founded: 1997
• Why They're Great: Conley and Smith aren't new to the scene; they’re trailblazers. Following college, the women worked in famous kitchens across San Francisco—Smith spent 17 years at Chez Panisse, and Conley was the co-owner of Bette’s Overview Diner. In 1997 the pair launched Tomales Bay Foods, (a wholesale food operation) and the wildly popular Cowgirl Creamery to spotlight the incredible agriculture of Marin and Sonoma counties. While both Conely and Smith retired recently, their legacy as founders remains.

Lupii Bean Bars

• Founder: Isabelle Steichen & Allie Dempster
• Year Founded: 2019
• Why They're Great: Future Market Insights forecasted that the lupini bean protein market would grow by 60 percent in the next 10 years, reaching $159.7 million. So yeah, you could say that Lupii’s bean bars are ahead of the curve. Originally from Luxembourg, Steichen went fully plant-based in 2013 after her move from Paris to NYC. Steichen initially started the company out of a small commissary kitchen in Brooklyn. After a long search for a co-founder, she met Dempster, who not only shares her passion for plant-based eating, but came from an incredible food and beverage background, including PepsiCo.

Gwell

• Founder: Fawziyya Sugai
• Year Founded: 2018
• Why They're Great: Sugai’s snack story started with her own personal journey to change her diet—she struggled for more than 15 years with chronic illness. The intention of Gwell was not to solve all her problems, she says, but to find balance in living a better life (and share that goal) with sweet and savory snacks, including cookies and granola clusters that are gluten- and dairy-free, as well as vegan and organic.

BEHAVE

• Founder: Mayssa Chehata
• Year Founded: 2020
• Why They're Great: Chehata grew up in a "no sweets" household due to a family member with diabetes. For her, this led to an unhealthy obsession with sugar and sweets, which impacted her physical and mental health as she got older. As the other supermarket aisles began to expand with better-for-you products, Chehata noticed that the sweets section remained stagnant, so she reached out to Chef Elizabeth Falkner to help her create a gummy candy low in sugar, without artificial ingredients, and with mega flavors ranging from Seriously Sour Lychee to Pink Pineapple Sour Stars.
  

B.T.R. Nation

• Founder: Ashley Nickelsen
• Year Founded: 2020
• Why They're Great: B.T.R. Nation is a tribute to Nickelsen’s parents who both recently passed away from rare forms of cancer. The name comes from a mantra her parents regularly left in her lunchbox when she was a kid:  “Be BOLD, TENACIOUS & RESILIENT.” Nickelsen began B.T.R. while working full-time and looking after her parents in the hospital. Because she was trying to juggle so much, Nickelsen said it was harder to take care of herself. With a background in food science and nutrition, she craved an on-the-go snack that would boost her energy levels and help lower her stress—something that the vending machine couldn’t provide. And so, B.T.R came to be.   Nickelsen works with registered dietitians and doctors to pack in the nutrition, and  with flavors like Cinnamon Cookie Dough and Banana Nut Nourish, the bars are also delicious.

Lil Bucks

• Founder: Emily Griffith
• Year Founded: 2018
• Why They're Great: Griffith was first introduced to sprouted buckwheat while living abroad in Australia when she ordered an acai bowl at a local café. Instead of granola, the bowl was topped with grain-free buckwheat, which offered an incredible crunch without all of the sugar. It quickly became an obsession—and in 2018, Griffith launched Lil Bucks. Use the Original Sprouted Buckwheat Crunch sprinkled over salads, or enjoy clusters like Golden Chai or Snickerdoodle while on the go

Rooted Fare

• Founder: Ashley Xie and Hedy Yu
• Year Founded: 2020
• Why They're Great: Xie and Yu created Rooted Fare to celebrate their Chinese American identity. Their first product was Black Sesame Crunchy Butter, which they describe as “a Chinese-American twist on crunchy peanut butter.” Add the crunchy spread on toast, swirl it into your next batch of cupcakes, or just eat it straight from the jar (it’s that good).