SNX’s mission: Guilt-free snacking

Have you also been to the OSV winter barbecue? Chances are you sunk your teeth into a burger from SNX Food. This company from De Bilt aims to be the new, healthier snack brand for everyone in the Netherlands.

Enjoying a tasty snack without guilt. A utopia? Not according to SNX Food. Whether it’s a quick bite of fried goodies or a juicy burger, this newcomer on the snack scene believes it can be done more responsibly. SNX—which, yes, you pronounce as “snacks”—partners with both local and national companies and imports as much as possible from within Europe. Their burgers also have less meat. CEO Tessa Rijn calls it snacking with a positive impact. “Our burger combines the best of both worlds, made with 50% premium Dutch beef and 50% plant-based ingredients. It also contains 30% less salt and fat than most burgers on the market and has a Nutri-Score A. Thanks to our recipe, you still get that full-fat burger experience. Even die-hard carnivores enjoy it.”

A special moment

The company aims to be the go-to snack brand for everyone in the Netherlands. At the most recent OSV barbecue, visitors got to try the hybrid burgers. It was a special moment. Just a few years earlier, Tessa had been talking to various players in the food industry at an OSV barbecue while she was still knee-deep in product development. “And now, I was able to showcase the finished product,” she says. “The perfect burger—healthier but still incredibly tasty. Many burgers on the market are packed with additives. I just don’t get that. Our products contain no added salt. The only fat comes naturally from the meat.”

The product lineup includes more than just burgers and buns. There are also bitterballen and kroketten, made with 25% beef and containing 30% less salt and fat, with a Nutri-Score B.

Semira van Hees (left) and Tessa Rijn

Kilos and hurdles

The brand’s snacks hit the market at the beginning of 2024. The idea for them began about four years earlier, during the COVID pandemic. Like many Dutch people, Tessa was spending a lot of time at home. Reports about homebodies snacking more and gaining a few kilos sparked an idea. “We all love to snack. I’m a foodie myself. But of course, we’d prefer to minimize the negative consequences. I started exploring ways to snack more healthily and with less impact. That’s when the idea of launching my own snack brand really started to take shape. I don’t have a background in food, but I did run an HR business. So the entrepreneurial drive was already there.”

Product development often comes with challenges. Although Tessa and her team hit the ground running, they encountered a few bumps along the way. “Finding the right balance between being responsible and flavorful wasn’t easy. We also made a classic mistake with our bitterballen development—we forgot to document every step of the recipe properly. As a result, we couldn’t reproduce it. There were also issues during the first production run of our burgers. After some investigation, we realized the producer hadn’t followed the exact steps, leading to a completely different product. We’ve since learned how critical it is to stick closely to the recipe.”

A puzzle

That’s why the entrepreneur was especially pleased to have a product ready just as hybrid meat began gaining traction. There’s a demand for it, she notes. Since its market debut, SNX has been meeting with major catering companies. The snacks can now be found at golf clubs, football clubs, hospitality venues, and butcher shops. And there’s more in the works. The brand is currently developing cheese soufflés and sausage rolls, also with 30% less fat and salt. The prototypes have been created, and SNX is now talking with producers.

For Tessa, developing these snacks sometimes feels like solving a puzzle. It can be frustrating at times but also incredibly rewarding. In fact, she says, “I have the best job in the world. Developing bitterballen as part of your work—what could be better? Don’t get me wrong; it takes a lot of expertise. We rely on an entire team of food technologists and chefs. It’s precisely this combination of two different worlds that creates magic. In other words: products we’re proud of.”

Snxfood.com