Today we’d like to introduce you to Grace Mittl.
Hi Grace, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Absurd Snacks started in college, in Richmond, Virginia, when my co-founder Eli and I got tired of watching friends and family sit out of snacking because of food allergies or sensitivities. We set out to make something that didn’t feel like a compromise: snacks that are completely free of the top 9 allergens, but still genuinely delicious, made with clean ingredients and plant-based protein and fiber.
What began as something we made for people we cared about has grown into a real business. We built out our supply chain to be safe at scale, launched our Crunch Mix line, and have been steadily expanding our footprint, from direct-to-consumer, into retail (including Whole Foods Market, Kroger, Publix, and more), and into foodservice channels like Colleges, Corporate Pantries, and Hospitals, where institutional buyers need snacks that work for everyone walking through the door. We’ve been featured in Entrepreneur, Bon Appetit, Well+Good, and Yahoo Finance, and we sit on FARE’s PACT Alliance, supporting food allergy initiatives and donating through Securing Safe Food.
Today, we’re focused on getting Absurd Snacks into more of the places people already shop and eat, deepening our retail and foodservice partnerships, including a push toward Target and Walmart, while staying true to why we started: making sure allergen-free doesn’t mean settling for less.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It hasn’t been a straight line. Building a supply chain that’s genuinely safe for top-9 allergens, at scale, is much harder than making a clean product in small batches. Our mixes and bars are produced at separate facilities, which means keeping quality and safety consistent across two different operations, and we recently had to move our fulfillment out of our own warehouse in Richmond and into a third-party logistics partner, which brought its own learning curve.
Getting into new channels hasn’t been easy either. Foodservice, in particular, is controlled by Group Purchasing Organizations, and figuring out how to navigate that hierarchy, who actually makes the buying decisions and how to get in front of them, took real trial and error. Retail has its own gauntlet: building broker relationships, going through processes like Walmart’s Open Call, and proving ourselves to buyers who see hundreds of pitches.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Absurd Snacks makes snack mixes and bars that are completely free of the top 9 food allergens, without sacrificing taste, texture, or nutrition. Our Crunch Mixes are made with roasted chickpeas, fava beans, granola clusters, and naturally sweetened dried fruit, sweetened with real maple syrup instead of refined sugar. They come in two flavors: Magic Maple Cinnamon, a warm cinnamon and nutmeg mix with dried cranberries, and Rockin’ Rosemary Sea Salt, a savory, herby mix with rosemary, thyme, and onion and sweet raisins. Each serving packs 7g of plant-based protein and 5 to 6g of dietary fiber. We’re plant-based, made with clean ingredients, and packed with protein and fiber, so you get a snack that’s genuinely satisfying, not just “safe.”
What sets us apart is that we don’t treat allergen-free as a niche or a compromise. Most allergy-friendly snacks on the market feel like an afterthought: bland, over-processed, or clearly designed around what they’re missing rather than what they offer. We build ours around flavor first, then make sure they’re safe for the widest range of people possible. That’s also why we’ve pushed into channels beyond retail, like foodservice, where buyers are responsible for feeding large groups of people and can’t predict who’s going to walk in the door with an allergy or sensitivity. Allergen-free snacking becomes a one-size-fits-all solution for them, not a special accommodation.
We’re proud of the community we’ve built around this. We sit on FARE’s PACT Alliance and regularly donate snacks to food pantries through Securing Safe Food, so families managing food allergies can access safe snacks even outside of retail. We’ve also been recognized by Entrepreneur, Bon Appetit, Well+Good, and Yahoo Finance, which has helped validate that what started as something we made for our own friends and family has real staying power in the market.
What makes you happy?
Being able to live in Richmond, VA. It’s a fabulous place to work, live, play, and invest in relationships.
I’ve found my community through running and all the outdoor activities that Richmond has to offer.
I love to cook & bake, and love that that hobbies fuels my life!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.absurdsnacks.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/absurd.snacks/
