Charlotte entrepreneur Justin Wiesehan figured out a way to snack healthy without sacrificing taste. And he wants to share it with everyone.
In 2017, after exiting another company he helped create, Wiesehan decided to dip his toes into the health-food arena. As a longtime member of the fitness community, Wiesehan knew first-hand the struggles of finding snack foods that were good for his body and measured up in taste.
So he got to work creating Macro Snacks.
"I created this product for myself," he said. "I was on a pretty strict fitness regimen that included counting my macronutrients, but I was also a huge chip addict. I couldn't find one that married taste and nutrition perfectly."
Every flavor of Macro Snacks is gluten free, and all but Pizza Pie are vegan friendly. The crisps come in seven flavors — BBQ Sauce, Pizza Pie, Churro Loco, Cheddar Cheese, Rockin' Ranch, Sour Cream & Onion and Spicy Chili Lime. Wiesehan said the flavors are based on popular chips.
Each bag of Macro Snacks has 11 to 12 grams of protein and a 45/35/20 carb/protein/fat ratio, making it perfect for those who track macronutrients in their diet, or even those who just want a tasty but healthy snack option. They're available on the Macro Snacks website and Amazon.
"A lot of people try health snacks then stop because it doesn't fulfill their craving or satisfy them from a taste or texture perspective," he said. "We really want to be a replacement for people eating those empty-calorie snacks, so we modeled our flavors off theirs to make the transition easy."
Wiesehan said the first batch launched in June 2019 and soon Macro Snacks were selling on Amazon and in health-food subscription boxes. Based on customer feedback, over the next couple of months, he said he was able to tweak the product to make it even better.
"We relaunched on an even bigger scale in October 2019, really hit our stride in March, then tweaked the product and launched again in August," he said.
Most recently, Wiesehan said Macro Snacks was chosen out of more than 100 applicants to participate in an Austin, Texas-based accelerator called SKU. The accelerator program began last week.
"I was looking for investment opportunities to help me continue the growth we've experienced, and I got hooked up with SKU," he said. "They have a stable of mentors who are either serial entrepreneurs or executive-level people at big food brands. I think it's really going to help our retail distribution."
