Evolved Snacks manufactures NASA-inspired freeze-dried fruit snacks

Evolved is a young healthy snacks brand, manufacturing a range of NASA-inspired freeze-dried fruit snacks. Using the power of freeze-drying (the same process used to preserve food for space voyages), Evolved maintains the fruits natural colour, taste and nutritional value – making it a convenient way to snack on fruit while on the go. Currently supplying the likes of Google HQ and Amazon Prime, Evolved sells to health-conscious customers all over the UK and beyond!

Evolved Snacks aims to disrupt, revolutionise and evolve a tired market. ‘The dried fruit market is misleading, outdated and boring’ says Nutritionist & Founder of Evolved, Dom. Evolved offers a new and emerging category, by harnessing the innovation of freeze-drying, to offer customers a new and exciting way to eat more fruit. With only 18% of kids and 28% of adults meeting their recommended ‘5 a day’ in the UK, there’s clearly work to be done to make fruit and veg more accessible and convenient for everyone.

Freeze-drying, best known for its use by NASA to preserve food for space missions, removes up to 98% of the foods moisture content – while maintaining the natural, taste, colour and nutritional value. This creates a light and crunchy texture, while preserving its natural goodness. Freeze-drying fruit requires a large vacuum chamber, specialist knowledge or experience and a lot of patience!

Freeze-dried fruit is naturally hygroscopic, meaning it quickly grabs and absorbs moisture from the atmosphere. Due to this, Evolved had to completely transform the manufacturing process, to ensure the fruit was not exposed during handling and packing. With a series of failed manufacturing trials, Evolved took 2 years of trials to crack the code and launch their range to market.

Evolved received support during early development, from the University of Plymouth. This included access to grant funding, mentoring, office space and market research. Since launching in 2019, Evolved has joined the Accelerator FORWARD by Birmingham Enterprise Community.

Since launching, Evolved has gained traction online, launching in several European countries as well as in the UK. They are also set to launch with two National wholesalers, that will offer distribution to cafes, delis and grocery stores all across the EU.