Christy Loekito is the founder of The Wondersnack Co. which makes premium gourmet bar snacks in small batches, using real ingredients rather than flavourings. In this episode, you'll hear how, as a self-confessed snack-a-holic, Christy was underwhelmed by the bland, boring and overly- processed range of salty nut snacks available and decided to shake-up this category with the creation of The Wondersnack Co. She set about making a range of gourmet savoury snacks from real premium ingredients. After an accidental meeting which gained her a skilful business partner, Christy scaled up using co-manufacturing and soon achieved ranging in retail stores. However, she soon realised that the costs and challenges of operating in this competitive distribution channel made it one of her least profitable routes to market. Instead she found profitable inspiration in the bar fridges of 5-star premium and luxury hotels, who embraced her gourmet snacks across Australia, and are now driving expansion of The Wondersnack Co. into Asian hospitality channels. Plus, in this episode, you'll learn about the fragmenting Australian food retail environment and the value of looking for new distribution opportunities beyond the usual grocery store suspects. Learn more about The Wondersnack Co products and connect with Christy on:https://wondersnack.com.auhttps://www.facebook.com/TheWondersnackCo/http://instagram.com/WondersnackCo Many thanks to this episode's sponsor, Badalya, a global food and beverage venture catalyst which specialises in taking validated food concepts to global markets. You can check them out at http://www.badalya.com and put them to work building your business.