About
Peaceful Fruits - delicious, superfruit snacks on a mission!
$22,848
210
Peaceful Fruits - healthy delicious snacks, made the right way from the right stuff!
Simple, Sustainable, Superfood - our healthy, delicious fruit snacks have roots that stretch from the Amazon Rainforest to Akron, OH! Made from nothing but fruit and love, these super snacks are making a difference in the Amazon and for people with disabilities here in Ohio.
Founded by a returned Peace Corps Volunteer, Peaceful Fruits is committed to fair trade products that empower people at every step - creating snacks you can enjoy with peace of mind.
We hope you will help us grow!
How can you help us grow?
The most important thing is to get our snack and story in front of more people. So you are already helping! But it takes money to make money and we need to invest in getting in front of the nation.
Yes, we are already in dozens of local stores - but we need to find the larger customers that can put us in front of hungry snackers in a big way.
Specifically, we need to take our snacks on the road and go to Expo East - one of the largest food tradeshows in the nation. That’s where we can meet the buyers and other partners we need to start scaling up. It takes $10,000 to secure our place at the show - renting the booth, paying for materials, transportation, and the other hundred little details. That's what it requires to get ourselves ready, literally, for a spot on the national stage.
Fair trade sourcing and employment means that our social impact scales along with everything else: more communities in the Amazon Rainforest can protect their way of life and more people with disabilities employed here in Ohio.
So are these fruit snacks really that good?
Well we think so, of course! But check out what some of our customers have to say - from kids to adults, athletes to afternoon snackers, and mom-bloggers to Teen Vogue Magazine!
And that's just for you, the consumer! We are also making a difference for the farmers and producers that help make these super snacks.
Tell me more about these snacks! How do they work?
Two flavors: Wild Acai + Pineapple and Wild Acai + Apple. Both combine the energy and vitality of the Amazon Rainforest with the delicious nutrition of whole fruit. Acai berries combined with the familiar crisp sweetness of apple or the warm zing of pineapple.
We always come back to three words: simple, sustainable, superfood.
Simple - All fruit. Nothing else. FDA compliant, shelf stable, delicious food made from food! No additives, no weird chemicals, and zero "mad science" processing. All-natural, literally from Mother Nature.
Sustainable - Our fair trade, ethically-sourced acai is harvested wild, in partnership with the local people of the Amazon Rainforest. That's where our founder, Evan Delahanty, was a Peace Corps Volunteer. He, and all of us at Peaceful Fruits, are committed to helping the local people make a living while empowering them to protect their way of life and the environment.
Also, our packaging is compostable so we are eco-friendly from start to finish!
Superfood - Our acai snack is actually made from acai! It’s the main ingredient, with over 25 acai berries in every strip. Just briefly, acai is called a "superfood" because it's one of the best sources of antioxidants out there! To learn more about that, check out this blog post!
Also, with the opportunity it helps create for people in the Amazon and in Akron, it really is food doing some super things!
What is Peaceful Fruits' mission?
Peaceful Fruits is about economic empowerment that respects the world and the people in it. Our philosophy is, “snacks made the right way, from the right stuff.”
That starts in the Amazon Rainforest where Evan served as a Peace Corps Volunteer. In his own words:
"In Peace Corps, I lived with people who subsisted on less than a few dollars per day and faced hard choices. To provide for their families, they often were pushed to sacrifice their culture and the environment. Peaceful Fruits offers a better option - we create economic opportunity that is in balance with their way of life and puts their destiny back in their own hands." - Evan, Founder of Peaceful Fruits, Peace Corps Volunteer (2011-2013, Suriname, South America)
Our acai grows wild in the untouched Amazon Rainforest. It is a premium, renewable resource that gives the local people a source of eco-friendly income that does not disrupt their environment or their way of life. And, because wild acai gets a premium price in the market, there are incentives built in to help keep the rainforest untouched! This gives people a way to provide for their families without abandoning their traditions or letting outsiders exploit and destroy their land.
Next we bring that acai to Akron, Ohio where we employ people with disabilities to produce our snacks. This is a full wage jobs program in partnership with two local non profits - Hattie Larlham and Blick Center. Our team of people with disabilities - and their dedicated support staff - are the ones making the snacks, packaging them, and even shipping the orders. We are proud to have already created jobs for more than 10 people with developmental disabilities!
This is a small start, but it's why we are working so hard to grow!
Our exact recipe and production process is a trade secret, but if you ever get to meet our folks - you'll know the secret ingredient really is love.
Due to our strong social mission and impact, we were recently named one of the top "social enterprise startups" in Northeast Ohio by SEAChange NEO!
What are Peaceful Fruits' goals?
Rewards - We make delicious snacks already and you will get to try these for sure! Wild Acai+Apple and Wild Acai+Pineapple!
We will also be giving away our limited edition Peaceful Fruits t-shirt. This isn't just another piece of swag, this is an awesome shirt people actually want to wear; gorgeously soft tri-blend, modern v-neck, and a great fit!
People have been trying to buy this shirt since our core team started sporting it. But nope - only for snacker-backers like you!
We've also got some fun ways for you to connect with us and become part of the story - from handwritten letters expressing our gratitude (because who doesn't like real mail?!), to tours of our facility (so you can see what we're talking about!), or joining our "superfan" club!
Finally, we are launching our "Select Tasting Council" - this is a elite group of snacker-backers that will be an important part of deciding what products we put out there. From flavors, to new product lines, to packaging design - council members will have input on the snacks that Peaceful Fruits is all about.
It's a very cool way to not just give us a hand, but to be part of the social enterprise experience!
And of course - if anyone wants to go to the Surinamese Amazon with Evan - let's do it!
To Sum it all up:
For more information:
Our Website: http://www.peacefulfruits.com/
Follow Us: Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter
Risks and challenges
Peaceful Fruits is a social good snack startup. Like any startup we face challenges in terms of cash flow, tight margins, and competition from bigger players. Our job gets just a bit harder because we also prioritize taking care of our stakeholders - from our compostable packaging, to our team of people with disabilities, to the folks in the Amazon. They get paid FIRST, so our margins are even a bit tighter than a lot of small companies - with less wiggle room, since they are depending on us.
That said, we are already in dozens of (small) stores and have sold and produced nearly 30,000 snacks – that’s not much in the scheme of things, but it allows us to say with confidence that you will get your snacks!
Our facility is fully FDA compliant and certified. Our partnerships with suppliers from here to the Amazon are strong. So far, we’ve been consistently hitting our milestones as we grow.
So, with your help, we think we can keep that momentum going!
Thank you!
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Funding period
- (31 days)