Munchy Crunchy Protein® Uber-healthy & delicious snack & primary meal plant protein by Vegetarian Traveler, LLC

OK, another plant-based product for you to hear about. But Munchy Crunchy Protein® is truly different. The thoughtfully designed features and benefits present investors with a unique collection of opportunities for growth. “No brag, just fact!” Read on to see for yourself.

Vegetarian Traveler® is a certified woman-owned, mission-driven company, created to address a market absence of versatile and portable whole-food plant-based protein. This is a problem which we ourselves sharply experienced both at and away from home. In the previous decades plant protein choices included tofu/tempeh, bean burritos/canned beans, grains and nuts/seeds. These choices were either not ready to eat, lacked situational versatility, or simply offered less than a significant amount of protein per serving. The huge market movement to more plant protein is fantastic but still suffers from those same problems; and now additionally too many of today’s choices, such as meat, seafood and dairy analogs, are particularly heavily processed and are not actually that healthy! ENTER MUNCHY CRUNCHY PROTEIN®! 

 

Munchy Crunchy Protein (MCP) checks all of the boxes!

·       Meal-sized amount of complete, healthy protein and a lot of fiber. Along with the great taste and hearty crunch, MCP provides true appetite satiety.

·       Natural and whole-food with a clean label and simple ingredients.

·       Always free of GMO’s, gluten, nuts and grains; and it’s keto-friendly with low net carbs.

·       Easy single serve packets for portion control, convenience, and the versatility to use anytime, anywhere. Bulk also available for many food service operations.

·       Designed to be a true snack AND a true primary meal protein. MCP works well in all eating occasions. 

 
The magnitude and combination of these features and benefits are what sets MCP apart from other plant-based proteins, and fuels our business model in many consumer and business channels.
·       As an in-hand snack it totally crushes the hungries when you are at your workplace (desk or any job setting), watching TV, or on-the-go while traveling, hiking, or camping, with uber-nutrition, great flavor and crunch. 

·       With 16g of complete plant-protein it is the perfect meal protein for so many meals in all dayparts. Adds great flavor – savory, sweet, mildly spicy or lightly salted – to salads, soups, stir fries, yogurts, oatmeal, and much more. 

·       Because it is so high in protein and fiber, with no/low added sugar, and has only 170 calories with only 4 net carbs, it is the go-to food for many specific health needs and challenges, including diabetes/blood sugar control, weight management/obesity, cardio/vascular health, senior health (muscle and bone support), and all-around physical fitness needs. 

 

A quick look at our customer list illustrates this omni-channel versatility. And it’s supported by over 1,500 registered dietitians, nutritionists and health educators as a uniquely healthy option. Munchy Crunchy Protein stands apart from other food choices as a Premium Snack and Primary Meal Protein.

Sound interesting? Read on to learn what customers – both consumers and buyers – are looking for and how Munchy Crunchy Protein meets and exceeds expectations. 

Our unique mix of product features and benefits makes MCP work in many consumer channels, with most all food tribes and trends. Before we share with you our wide customer appeal and base, here are a few facts and figures to serve as a quick review of the current consumer market. 

·       60% of US consumers snack daily

·       40% substitute snacks for meals

·       73% want snacks that are filling and provide sustenance

·       57% want convenient portion control

·       Sensory attributes desired include CRUNCH and GREAT TASTE! 

 

Health-conscious Consumers want in both their Snacks and Meals: 
·       Plant-based food

·       High plant protein

·       High fiber

·       Whole natural food/clean label

·       Gluten/GMO/Nut/Grain free

·       Low to no added sugars and lower carbs

We were set to launch Munchy Crunchy Protein at Expo West in early 2020, but the world had other plans. Clearly not the best time to launch a new product! Geez…. But we persevered because of our informed confidence in and commitment to providing our unique plant-protein food to American consumers. In late 2020 we started to find new ways to enter the old and new market channels, including brick & mortar retail, old and new e-comm opportunities, food service and private label – all in both regular healthy food and special health-concern lanes.

Brick & Mortar:
Munchy Crunchy Protein is currently sold in over 500 retail locations, ranging from mainstream and natural grocers, specialty shops, health food stores, gift shops, cafes, clinics, etc. These include a little over 400 stores under 6 Kroger Banners across the country, in their selected pharmacy “Diabetic Dream Sets”. The Kroger stores began to go live in Q4 2021 and have continued to roll out in Q1 2022. It also includes scores of independents and a growing list of Hy-Vee stores. We also work with Duo Marketplace, a sales and marketing organization that is methodically selling us into their customer base of 3,000 retail store locations around the country. We have product numbers inside of these distributors: DPI, Jakes, UNFI (East and West), and KeHE.

E-Comm
The fast-growing e-comm channel, both B2C and B2B, is a great medium for educating consumers and buyers about many of the qualities of MCP that separates it from so many other “better-for-you” products. Current outlets include:

B2C & D2C (Business to Consumer or Direct to Consumer)
·       WW.com (Weight Watchers) – WW selections are predominantly their own branded products. They selected MCP for sale on their very carefully curated online Shop site for 2 key reasons: to feed the growing demand for plant-based options and because of its off-the-charts nutritional stats, especially protein and fiber. Per WW, our sales are very strong; we are generating 600 orders per month in our first 6 months, with many repeat sales of our 3 and 8-packet items. D2C drop ship.

·       BariatricPal – the leader in online bariatric care related food sales. Like WW, we were selected by BP for their online store among their predominantly own-branded product lines. For over a year they purchase packets in bulk cases and resell many hundreds of units per month in all flavors. 

·       SnackMagic – a leader in online snack box sales. We started with SM in Fall of 2020. Even as their product offerings have exploded to hundreds of offerings, MCP’s brand and our 3 flavors have remained top sellers in the 70th to 80th percentile in the “crunchies” category, selling tens of thousands of packets in 250 packet bulk cases. 

·       Kroger Online and Giant-Eagle Online – we sell 10-packet cartons and small bulk-packet cases to their online customers in a D2C drop ship model.

·       Amazon – Although we have not yet actively marketed MCP on Amazon, our general marketing and sales have begun to spill over to Amazon, which remains a mostly untapped large opportunity given sufficient funding.

·       Our Own Website – This direct-to-consumer business is also growing (well over 1,000 orders) without much marketing support. We love these repeat customers!

·       Just Google Munchy Crunchy Protein to see all of the online locations.

·       GNC – the largest nutrition and supplement store in the USA. We will be going live on GNC.com in March 2022 selling 10-packet units in a direct-to-consumer drop ship model. Assuming success similar to what we have had in our other specialty online outlets, GNC will additionally bring us into their thousands of brick & mortar stores. 

 

Online Distributors
·       Faire, Mable, Abound and UNFI Marketplace Connect all sell MCP as online distributors to their thousands of customers. We just launched on UNFI in Feb 2022, but the others listed have reported that we have strong sales in their systems. (Drop ship to the businesses). 

Food Service
Pre-pandemic, with a predecessor product line – another story for another time – we had developed a growing business selling bulk products to school (college, university, prep school, high school) and business sites that provide salad bars (and soup and yogurt bars) to their students and workers. The sales track indicated 6-figure sales by 2021. While that business completely stalled in March of 2020, it has begun to pick back up. These organizations see our products as ideal for their cafeteria operations, their catering business and c-store needs as they focus on providing more healthy plant protein offerings, due to the demand from their customers. Pre-pandemic, a registered dietitian at the University of Louisville said that “it was the most popular item they ever had on their salad bar”. We have product numbers in 5 major food service distributor systems.

Private Label
We have private labeled one of our products for a major national meal kit company for more than two years (2019 – 2021). We remain open to additional opportunities in this channel. 

 So what exactly is MCP? Munchy Crunchy Protein® sells in convenient single serve packets as a premium healthy snack with high plant protein (16g) & fiber (7g), 0-1 added sugars (4g net carbs), certified vegan and made without gluten, GMO's, grains or nuts. Our nutrition data and ingredient listings are so good that we often lead with this data in sales calls. MCP is a whole food that tastes great and comes in 3 awesome flavors: Rockin’ Ranch, Chillin’ Chipotle and Salted Caramel. Plus, we produce a Lightly Salted version in a 4 lb. bulk size for food service cafeterias. All have the hearty crunch that people crave. Uniquely, with so much protein & fiber, it works perfectly as the primary protein for a meal. The high protein, high fiber, taste and crunch provide the true satiety people expect from an uber-nutritious snack and meal protein.

 

Our products are packaged in various configurations, from samplers, display cartons to bulk packet cases. The food service bulk is packaged in 4lb re-sealable bags.

 

We have developed and vetted many other flavors as well as additional base product configurations, all focused on high, clean plant-protein. Chocolate Java, anyone?

 Our team is experienced, committed and passionately-driven! Our business experience, personalities and demeanor make us ideal partners to move forward with. 

Christy Krejci, CEO, Co-Founder, Top Bean had with a 30-year career as HR Business Partner and Leadership Development Trainer at The MENTOR NETWORK & REM MN.

Chuck Krejci, COO, Co-Founder, Second Bean with a 19-year Career as Co-Founder, COO, CTO and General Counsel at ExitCare, a healthcare software and content company.

Roger Jacobi, EVP Sales, Acting CFO, Way Finder with a 17-year Career as President of ExitCare and as a serious serial entrepreneur. 

Romana Krejci, Executive Admin, Doer of Many Things with 10-years of experience on school advisory committees and boards at Footprints Academy, Woodbury & Leadership Academy, & community volunteer positions. Ro gets things organized and done including logistics/fulfillment!

Consultant: Dawn Pick-Benson, Social Media Guru, Founder of Globe Story Social Media

Consultant: Danielle Fiskar-Byers, RDN, Sciencey Agent, Nutrition Consultant

Strategic Advisors
Lucinda Wright, Food Industry Veteran with vast experience on all sides: production, retail, distribution, and company leadership; Business Development Advisor; CEO & Co-Founder of Cask & Kettle

David Leming, Food Industry Veteran in large and small companies; Production Advisor, Production & Planning Lead; Business Consultant with JPG Resources; Contract Consultant/Management with start-ups

 Vegetarian Traveler, LLC and its products are Vegan Certified by Vegan Action/Vegan Awareness.

Vegetarian Traveler, LLC is a Certified Woman Owned Business by the WBENC. 

Vegetarian Traveler, LLC has five (5) Registered Trademarks.

Vegetarian Traveler, LLC has created and vetted multiple proprietary recipes and flavors. 

 Vegetarian Traveler’s Munchy Crunchy Protein® is truly different. Our thoughtfully designed products and business model do present investors with a unique collection of opportunities for growth. As a stand-alone investment opportunity and/or as a near-term or middle-term acquisition target, Vegetarian Traveler welcomes additional discussions about working together to grow together!