The sweet life: Caramunchies founder makes a living making snacks

BY LUCY HAINES

Say you’re sitting on the couch, watching a movie… you want a snack, right? Something a little sweet, a little salty – munchies. Most of us wouldn’t take a moment like this and decide, “I’m going to make a snack like this, and make a career of it.” That’d be crazy, right?

Well, call her crazy, then, but it’s exactly what Edmonton’s Alysia Lok has done with her growing snack business, Caramunchies. The caramel-centric corn flake clustered snack (in several flavour varieties) is a hit – it’s been a long time in the making, as start-ups are, but it’s a hit –with sales growing across Alberta and even expanding beyond retail and online sales into the world of fundraising.

“The tumble of crunchy cornflakes with that sweet caramel – that’s a match made in snacker’s heaven. And seven years on, there’s no real direct competition making something like this, knock on wood,” laughs Lok, who says she eats the chewy, creamy, melt-in-your-mouth snacks by the bowlful at home, and comes by her love of all food honestly. Growing up in a large family that loves to cook and share meals (Lok’s dad has long been in the food industry), Lok says it’s those happy memories of family dinners at grandma’s house that fueled the desire to make a business out of offering people cheer through food.

But it wasn’t a straight line to the 2017 launch of Caramunchies (starting with tubs of clusters sold at farmers’ markets, before moving to the familiar 85-gram bag in four flavours). Holding a degree in nutrition and food science from the University of Alberta, the born and raised Edmontonian, Lok, first spent several years in the financial sector, as an advisor and mortgage broker, before asking herself the key question, “What am I passionate about? What can I do that really excites me?” Memories of shared food and laughter at family get-togethers provided the answer, Lok says. “Food is my love language. My mom was a banker and my entrepreneur dad, who worked in restaurants and understood the risks involved – that family support has been all-important.”

So too was the U of A mentorship program for start-ups (ThresholdImpact Venture Mentoring Service (TIVMS), which develops, inspires and empowers entrepreneurs through group mentorship experiences with leaders from varying industries. The accelerator forced Lok to hone her business pitch and focus goals, while gleaning wisdom from her lead mentor Chris Huebner, CEO of Lloyd Sadd Insurance.

“We spent over a year together until we couldn’t offer her any more,” recalls Huebner, adding he saw Lok’s entrepreneurial potential early on. “The one thing I advised Alysia was to ‘get out of your own way. Spread your wings and challenge yourself’. And she’s doing that.

She’s an awesome, genuine person who has the skill set to accentuate what she’s really good at.”

As a new mom, Lok says some of those lessons learned, how to develop a core team, for example, and growing the fundraising side of the business, has allowed her to take a step back from the company’s day-to-day operations. “Chris helped me achieve my goal of having Caramunchies be operational without me there all the time. It’s been more than full-time and at first the business couldn’t run without me. But by 2021, I got there, learning it comes down to having the right team – it’s so important for our trajectory.”

That small team, which includes operations manager Julia Cindric, and a newcomer on the production/packaging side, is a work family Lok cherishes. “The best compliment as a boss is hearing that it doesn’t feel like you’re coming to work each day.”

And Lok’s degree came in handy with the entrepreneurial adventure too, providing technical know-how and a curiosity to experiment with flavour combinations. Using high quality butter to create the caramel base for the decadent treats, the playful maker regularly rotates flavours and toppings, including best sellers like salted caramel and chocolate drizzled flavours, but also seasonal treats like a London Fog Latte, Pina Colada, and even a surprising Cheetos-esque variety (think flaming hot nacho cheese influenced, sweet and savoury, Chicago mix style). Once in a while, customers even land a pecan square or caramel candy too.

“As a small business, we can pivot quickly. A customer had made a joke that we should do something with Cheetos, and we launched that as a limited flavour. We get to collaborate too, with other businesses and organizations,” Lok says, pointing to a matcha white chocolate drizzle treat she created for a recent Animethon held at Edmonton’s MacEwan University. Currently, some 90 percent of the product is sold in Edmonton, (the remainder in the Calgary area), and created at a ‘small but mighty’, 1,000 square-foot commercial kitchen in Edmonton’s Park Allen neighbourhood. Depending on the season, some 300 to 2,500 bags are produced in a week, with Caramunchies now in retail spaces like Freson Bros, Italian Centre Shops, Ribeye Butcher Shop and other local specialty spots.

Lok admits there are challenges in creating an indulgent, luxury snack product, something that can go by the wayside when money is tight, or, for instance, when there’s a pandemic. “Before then, I was doing three to four farmers’ markets each week. COVID also created an increase in ingredient costs, just as we were launching our online shop. But we’ve made good connections (Sobey’s in Beaumont provides the cornflakes for Lok’s product line) and resisted a price increase even as we’ve changed packaging. We haven’t paid for advertising either, as we still rely largely on word-of-mouth (social media too).”

The 37-year-old businesswoman has also made giving back to the community a priority. A portion of the profits from each snack pack sold is donated to local food security programs, food banks, etc. The Caramunchies team is likewise invested in hot lunch programs in Edmonton, (providing the ingredients and a team of volunteers) to feed those in need.

“When I was a student, I volunteered with my parents at a local soup kitchen. That stuck with me, that so many people in our city don’t know where their next meal is coming from,” she says. “That’s part of our mission. We know we want to be more than just a delicious snack.”

Going forward, Lok says farmers’ markets still play a key role in connecting with existing and potential new customers – testing out new flavours, getting feedback. Though most of the company’s business is still in Edmonton, having online fundraising sales and a greater presence in Calgary (even Banff, where Lok says there is great potential for holiday selling, etc) bodes well for Lok’s ambitions of expanding the brand.

Fairly new to the company, the fundraising side of Caramunchies sees a dedicated website (caramunchiesfundraising.com) and a program offering organizations Canadawide (schools, sports teams, non-profits) a sweet way to raise some funds while growing the Caramunchies brand.

“We’re so thankful to our community, our customers, who’ve let us live our dream of making a living making snacks.”