together with
13 - 16 February 2024 // Nürnberg, Germany
BIOFACH Newsroom
HEYHO: The social muesli attack
Young innovative companies pavilion
HEYHO produces a very special granola, which is handmade by special employees. One adventure wasn’t enough for HEYHO’s founders, so they simply planned two: a flavour adventure and an adventure of radically different management.
Simply roasting the world’s best organic granola is just too little for the socially responsible founders. Firmly convinced that every person can contribute their little bit to society regardless of their past and background, they want to give everyone a good start to the day. In keeping with this belief, a third of the staff who now have a secure job at the company’s roasting plant in Lüneburg have a past in which things were not easy for them due to a very turbulent life. “By employing these people at the roasting plant, we want to give them new prospects for the future and show them that social entrepreneurship is possible – while tasting fantastic as well,” said Christian Schmidt, one of HEYHO’s founders.
With this in mind, the company decided that all its products would be handmade, and so all its granolas are mixed by hand and roasted in the oven on baking trays. The granolas are completely vegan, meaning the factory purposely doesn’t use honey and sweetens its products with agave instead. HEYHO wants to add more fun to this market segment with its unconventional flavour combinations.
Frühsportfreunde, for example, is a high-energy granola designed to get consumers going in the morning. The company recommends stretching your masticatory muscles before eating this variety’s hand-beaten coconut pieces. For those who enjoy the Late Night Breakfast, its special mixture consists of roasted rolled oats, melted dark chocolate, chocolate salted pretzels, roasted pumpkin seeds, bitter cocoa bean fragments and cocoa moons. The Golden ChaiChai variety, which contains cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, black pepper and turmeric is meant to add a spicy inspiration to the average bowl of muesli. For those in the undecided target group, who don’t like having to choose between sweet and salty, the granola specialists have created a variety called Saltcity Original, which includes caramelised almonds, cashews and hazelnuts that have been enhanced with a pinch of real Lüneburg salt. In terms of its packaging designs, HEYHO also wants to move away from the grey mass of muesli boxes and has opted for completely transparent jars.
HEYHO (www.goheyho.com) will be one of the exhibitors in the Pavilion for Young Innovative Companies. This pavilion is being supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) and is aimed at newcomers and start-ups based in Germany. 20 companies altogether will be presenting products there in hall 9 at BIOFACH, the World’s Leading Trade Fair for Organic Food (www.biofach.de), which takes place from 14 to 17 February 2018.
Photos: HEYHO
CAPTION: HEYHO founders