Meet Our Makers: Vanessa Hutchinson, Founder of Fodbods

We are a nation of snack fanatics. 9 out of 10 Aussies snack from a packet each week – huge! – and within that segment, healthy bars are surging ahead. That’s why Fodbods, created by founder Vanessa Hutchinson, caught our attention. They’re the creators of the world’s first range of truly gluten free protein bars along with high protein and gut friendly protein powders, nibbles and snacks. They’re unprocessed, low FODMAP, vegan, minimally sweet and packed with digestible fiber and protein. Talk about virtuous! Fodbods has a huge following online and in-store, with thousands of five star reviews saying things like: “Most filling bars we’ve ever tried”, “Tastes sooo good”, and “My absolute go-to”. We loved hearing more about the early days of Fodbods, how the business got started and how it’s going today. Read on for our chat with Vanessa!

C&C: Hi Vanessa! Can you tell us a bit about the early days of Fodbods? Where did the idea come from and how did the business get started?

Vanessa: I’d had gut issues for as long as I can remember. I had a busy corporate job, I was always eating on the go and I was constantly dealing with gut issues. I spent years looking for a healthy snack that was both filling and free from all the things that caused gut issues, These include high FODMAP ingredients like inulin, chicory root fibre and dates as well as artificial ingredients like sweeteners and fillers. Protein bars are a really good option because you can just throw them in your bag and eat on the go, but they all wreaked havoc on my gut. When I couldn’t find a solution, I started making my own and taking them with me everywhere. This prompted me to do a little bit more exploration in the space. I spoke to a lot of dietitians who all pretty much said that they didn’t have anything to recommend to people who had sensitive guts. I did a lot of customer research as well and everyone was crying out for a truly gut friendly snack solution.

Back in 2019, I decided to launch Fodbods protein bars. I developed the recipes myself, experimenting with different ingredients, using Excel to track everything. They took a lot of iterations – and my husband, family, friends and everyone who was open to giving them a try sampled them. Once I was happy with the recipes, I found a manufacturer to make them at scale. It started with just two flavours, I built the website myself, the packaging was a little bit scrappy but people just kept buying them because they really needed a solution.

Our bars are really the only ones that we can confidently say won’t cause gut issues and we’ve had that feedback for the last six and a half years. 

C&C: Amazing! We read that Fodbods products are free from artificial sweeteners or fillers, sugar alcohols and are truly gut friendly - how have you found that this has resonated with people looking for low FODMAP options?

Vanessa: So it started in a very targeted way, with people looking for a gut friendly protein bar and I think that’s how we were able to cut through the noise with not very much marketing budget - people were desperate for something! As we’ve evolved, it’s become a lot more mainstream. We have customers in lots of different demographics. There are of course the ones who have sensitive guts and they’re universally excited when they try our products and they don’t react to them because they’ve often never had that before and are very mistrustful of other brands. We also have a lot of customers that don’t have gut issues.

Our protein bars have really amazing macros - the regular ones have 15g of protein, 10g of healthy fats and about 10g of sugar - so they’re really balanced. 

We’ve just released a range of Elevate bars, which have 15g of protein, 8g of fibre and less than 5g of sugar so they’re a bit more functional. Those are resonating really well with the fitness community who want those strong macros, but are looking for something more natural. Irrespective of whether you have gut issues, I think most people can relate to feeling a bit sick after regular protein bars.

We offer a really clean, natural protein bar that tastes amazing and we have people in the fitness community, mums, vegans (all of our products are plant based) - there’s a really big range of customer demographics now. 

C&C: What has the process of getting Fodbods ‘on the shelf’ and into retailers been like? Has it been similar to what you’ve just described, starting in a more targeted way and then shifting into something more mainstream?

Vanessa: Definitely. When we had those early conversations, we were such a small brand that I didn’t really know what I was doing. We’ve learnt a lot along the way and refined our brand positioning so I know now how to articulate what’s special about our products. As you said, when we first had those conversations retailers would refer to us as the ‘low FODMAP bar’ and either say that they didn’t have a lot of customers in that demographic or would be excited to have something to offer them. But now we don’t focus as much on the FODMAP piece and we talk more about the fact that our products are truly gut friendly, because that’s what really sets us apart. Any other bar on the shelf, even if it’s not low FODMAP, often does have other ingredients that can cause gut issues. 

In addition to that, I think everyone is becoming more aware of the importance of gut health and so as our brand has evolved, that awareness has grown. People are actively looking for a gut friendly solution. To support that, we’ve developed products along the way that are not only gut friendly, but they support gut health. That’s why we created the Elevate range, which has different plant based fibres which support digestion and gut health. It’s definitely become a much easier conversation because gut health used to be niche and it’s no longer niche. 

C&C: That’s great to hear. So in that process of getting the products ‘on the shelf’ and going through that evolution, how did you end up working with a distributor and why did you choose to work with Cartel & Co? 

Vanessa: That’s a great question. We’ve worked with a few distributors along the way, some have been really good and we still work with them and some of them were not perfect for our brand. I was connected to Cartel & Co by another distributor we were speaking to. They connected me with Hayssam and the conversation took off from there. What really drew me to Cartel & Co was that they act as an extension of our sales team as opposed to just a warehouse moving products around. I really wanted to work closely with the sales reps to make sure that they’re understanding what’s unique about our products and which retailers they sell well in.

We have customers that really depend on our products as well and they get upset if they’re out of stock, so just making sure that the team is on top of those things. That’s what I really liked about Cartel & Co - they don’t have too many brands so we’re able to work quite collaboratively with them.

C&C: If I was brand new to the Fodbods world, which product would you recommend that I try first? 

Vanessa: Our bestseller is the Peanut Choc bar, that’s the one that everyone gravitates to and I’ve never met anyone that doesn’t like it. My personal favourite is the Hazelnut Mocha, it’s like a little indulgence but it’s healthy. Those are the two that I would say first and then if you want a snack sized one, the Mint Choc bars are really good. I clearly like chocolate! 

C&C: What do you envision for the future of Fodbods as a brand?

Vanessa: We want to be known as the go to protein brand if you’ve got a sensitive gut, which is a lot of people! If you think about the statistics, one in five people have IBS but one in two people are prone to gut sensitivity. Also, for anyone wanting to improve their gut health – our Elevate range is perfect. In addition, people should trust that all of our products are made from really clean, natural ingredients. Everything we make is endorsed by dietitians because we work really closely with them when we’re formulating our products so you know the macros will always be really strong as well. 

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