COMPANY

Name: Blake’s Seed Based

Legal: Blake’s Seed Based LLC

Location: Chicago

Founded: 2018

Founder(s): Blake Sorensen and Alex Marijan

Website: https://www.blakesseedbased.com/

Social Media: 1,288 followers Instagram, 434 followers Facebook, 131 followers Twitter, 4.6 stars Amazon

INDUSTRY – Allergen-free Food

Size: $3.5Bn (2016) (Source: “Free From Food Market-Growth, Trends and Forecast”)

Projections: $4.7Bn by 2020

Introduction

Blake’s Seed Based makes and sells allergen-free snack bars. These bars do not contain the top eight allergens that affect the US population: tree nuts, peanuts, milk, eggs, soy, fish, shellfish and wheat. The factory that processes these bars explicitly forbids any contamination. The bars are therefore healthy for someone with even the most deadly allergy. The bars are plant-based, vegan, non-GMO and gluten-free, seeking to account for the estimated 15 million people in the United States suffering from food allergies.

The Product

Blake’s Seed Based offers two kinds of bars: a snack bar and a protein bar, both of which contain no nuts and are entirely gluten free. The bars have 10+ grams of protein and contain no more than 8 grams of sugar, with only 160 calories. The snacks are primarily based on pumpkin and sunflower seeds.

The company is online-only, so you can only buy bars in packages of 12 or more. The snack bars come in raspberry, pineapple, and chocolate chip flavors, while the protein bars come in chocolate mint and mango lemon. A box of 12 snack bars is priced at $23.99 while a box of protein bars is retailing at $29.99. For every box sold the company claims to donate one bar to a Chicago local school. All prices are as of publishing this article.

The company processes these bars in a Canadian factory. CEO and founder Blake Sorensen did so in order to ensure quality, since many people suffering from allergies have deadly sensitivities. “Safety is our highest priority,” Sorensen said in a statement on PR Newswire. “We finally found our home after months of looking – the facility literally pats you down to make sure you don’t have nuts on you.”

Origin

Founder and CEO Blake Sorensen grew up with a deathly peanut allergy. As a result, he quickly became frustrated with the lack of food options. Most products either contain nuts or are made in a factory that contained nuts. So, even eating a nut-free snack could have deadly consequences. Sorensen began making himself homemade bars using a food processor in his kitchen,  testing out the results on friends at school. Partnering with Alex Marijan, Sorensen began a Kickstarter to raise money for the idea. In just 48 hours, the company had raised over $20,000, convincing Sorensen that he was correct to think others were as eager for a new allergen-free option as he was.

Before founding Blake’s Seed Based in 2018, Sorensen worked as a consultant. His co-founder, Marijan, is an associate manager at Procter & Gamble. When asked about the design and logo of the product, Sorensen stated that he was inspired by the music and philosophy of Jimmy Buffett, noting the parrot’s significance as a symbol of an easy, laid-back lifestyle.