Passing through Zagreb‘s Savska road, around number 100, we recently came across a colorfully decorated shop with a big sign ‘Crunch You!‘ written on the doors and windows. We were immediately intrigued, started investigating, and discovered that it was a new brand of granola and spreads, which we then, logically, decided to test. Since we particularly liked the chocolate hazelnut spread, and we will gladly return to the granola, we inquired about who is behind this new brand and what the story is all about. And then we liked the whole thing even more.
Filip Krtalić has been brewing beer since 2010, and for the past eight years, he has worked in our well-known and respected craft breweries. Since it is a job where oats are always present, Filip jokes today, breakfast was always at hand, which later inspired him to start his own business. He has always loved preparing granola at home, for his own needs and for friends, and then, when he realized last year that there is really great interest in what had only been a hobby to him until then, he switched from brewing beer in the brewery to baking granola in his own production, right where we found out about him, in Zagreb‘s Savska. Crunch You! is now a brand he is proud of, because he conceived and realized it himself, so the desire for success and the will to offer customers something better and different is truly great.
"It‘s hard for me to pick a favorite breakfast because it really depends on the situation and mood. For example, when I‘m hungover I‘ll eat polenta with lots of butter, garlic, and sour milk, but I eat granola at least three times a week, usually combined with fruit yogurt and a spoonful of peanut butter or hazelnut spread," he answers our question with a smile about whether granola, since he decided to dedicate himself to it so much, is also his favorite breakfast.
Currently, he offers two types of granola, chocolate with hazelnuts and with cranberries and nuts, as well as peanut butter and a hazelnut and chocolate spread. He is especially proud that he can highlight on his products that they do not contain hidden ingredients.
"My intention is to be as transparent as possible about my product and not to hide ingredients, quantities, and recipes, which may sound naive, but I believe that customers and the market are increasingly demanding it. I came into this industry after eight years in the world of craft brewing, where small craft breweries help each other, even though they are technically competitors. I still don‘t have a good insight into how the craft food industry works, but we need to keep in mind how small a part of the market small food producers occupy and how much room there is for growth. For now, I‘m not inventing anything new or revolutionary regarding the granola recipe, so you‘ll find standard ingredients in my products. These are oats, sesame, flax, sunflower, coconut chips, hazelnuts, almonds, cashews, dried cranberries, dark chocolate, coconut oil, barley malt extract, and salt. I source ingredients from several distributors, so their origins are diverse, but I try to make sure they are all of the highest quality. The salt and hazelnuts are Croatian, the chocolate is Belgian - Callebaut 811, the cranberries are from Canada, the peanuts are runner variety from Argentina, and the rest is from Europe. When the website is finished, the idea is to allow customers access to the specifications of all ingredients, just as I receive them from suppliers. Besides that, I wanted to stand out with the packaging and bring some color to the shelves because, apart from Morning Lab granola, all granola products are in identical brown packaging," Filip told us.
What also makes his products special is that they are completely vegan. Namely, he uses barley malt extract as a sweetener, while in other granolas it is most often honey.
"The main advantage is the lower glycemic index, which means that sugar is absorbed more slowly in the body. It also contains many minerals, vitamins, and essential amino acids, as well as significantly more protein and fiber compared to any other sweetener. Although all natural sweeteners have plenty of vitamins and beneficial ingredients, they are mostly lost during the baking process. Another difference is in the taste - you will notice that this granola is half as sweet as some regular granola. With this, I wanted to increase the versatility of the granola, so I often use it in preparing salads," he explains and continues: "The spreads stand out for their simple recipes but excellent taste. My opinion is that you really don‘t need to invent much with peanut butter and that just roasted peanuts are enough, while the hazelnut and cocoa spread contains only salt and brown sugar. There are no added oils or emulsifiers, so I can say that these are natural products."
The most demanding part of the whole product creation process, says Filip, was finding a recipe that would work well in all conditions and suit the tastes of customers, but also his own. He especially struggled with the chocolate spread, because, he adds, he has a mild allergy to hazelnuts, so if they are not roasted enough, the spread bothers him, and if they are over-roasted, it becomes bitter.
However, it seems he found the right balance in everything, because customer reactions to the novelty on the market, Filip tells us, are unexpectedly good and he definitely did not expect so much support.
"At the Trešnjevka market, I presented my products for the first time on a sunny Saturday, May 10, after a rainy week, and sold over 20 kilograms of granola and all the spreads I brought. People liked what I presented and many came the next weekend specifically looking for the Crunch You! stand. I would like to take this opportunity to greet the ladies from Dubravica at the market who bought something every day. For the hazelnut spread, I often get comments that someone doesn‘t want to buy it anymore because they eat it in two days, but they still come back to the market the next weekend for more."
In addition to Trešnjevka, he has already been at Dolac and the Kvatrić, Utrine, and Jarun markets, and at the end of the summer, he plans to visit a few more, as this way of selling and promoting has proven to be excellent so far.
In addition, he adds that he also plans to establish a few more collaborations with other brands or food bloggers. Just like with beer specials, he plans to make limited series of granola and thus offer the market something different and encourage others to start doing the same.
"By the end of the year, the plan is to achieve three collaborations, and after that to do one every two months. I am currently developing another new product that does not exist on the market, and it will be in the form of a spread and will go together with special editions of granola. Unlike the rest of the products, I am having a bit of trouble scaling production and the recipe with this one, but I believe it will be ready by the time the first collaboration is released," Filip hinted and revealed that all his products can already be purchased in all three Špeceraj stores, in the Almas store in Trešnjevka, and by direct order. For more information about Crunch You!, you can definitely follow them on social media.
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