People around the world all seem to reach for snacks throughout the day when hunger strikes. Interestingly, not everyone snacks the same—for example, when people in Sweden get peckish, the treats they reach for might be less sweet than the items chosen by their U.S. counterparts.

A group of Swedish snack innovators has been inspired to bring a taste of the Scandinavian country to American snackers, with RE:DO bars—a line of plant-based products promising a decent protein profile and a cleaner label than other bars made in the U.S. might offer. To learn more about the RE:DO bars and the products’ mission to bring a bit of Swedish-style snacking to the U.S., we connected with founder Donnie SC Lygonis.

Jenni Spinner: Please tell us a bit about Mellanmal—the company's history, the kinds of products you offer, key leadership and staff, and what sets the company apart from others in this particular space.

Donnie SC Lygonis: The Mellanmal Inc. story started in 2016 when I was sent to the U.S. to help start a soft-landing spot for Nordic startups in Palo Alto, CA. I had been working in the Swedish innovation and startup ecosystem since the early 2000’s. I am also a fitness instructor as well as a serial entrepreneur, which led me to start the first protein ice cream company in Sweden, Lohilo, in 2013 (a company I sold in 2016 and is listed on the Swedish stock exchange today).

When I came to the U.S. to stay for a year in 2016, I soon realized that I couldn’t find the products I was used to buying at home in Sweden—especially the small bites, or “mellanmål,” I ate to keep energy up between meals. As a fitness professional, I was used to eating six meals per day; breakfast, mellanmål, lunch, mellanmål, dinner, mellanmål—smaller meals more often, keeping my metabolism going and never overeating, usually the result of dieting. That gave me the idea to start the company Mellanmal Inc., a U.S.-based company with the purpose of not only bringing over healthier products but moreover introducing a whole new word to the American English dictionary, a mellanmål: a middle meal, or between meals. As opposed to a sweet snack laden with sugary, speedy calories, a mellanmål is more of a protein and slow carbs bite. The Swedish language has already given the USA smorgasbord and ombudsman, so now it’s time for mellanmal.

It took me a number of years to get started (a winding road that is a story for another day) but finally, in 2023 we were up and running and signed with a couple of old friends, Pierre and Linda, founders of RE:DO Foods, for U.S. distribution. 

JS: Could you please share a bit of perspective on the nutrition and performance bar market in the U.S.?

DL: The healthy snack market in the U.S. is witnessing significant growth as consumers increasingly prioritize health and wellness. The healthy snack market in the U.S. was estimated at $22 billion in 2023.

JS: How might the market for nutrition and performance bars in Sweden differ from the U.S.—and what do the two markets have in common?

DL: In general they are very similar; however, the U.S. market tends to lean more towards sugary sweet snacks, and even regular snacks are sweeter in the U.S. than in other countries. Everything is sweeter; U.S. Coca-Cola is sweeter than in Sweden, and in Sweden, you won’t find a lot of low-cal sweeteners—you either use sugar or you don’t, but in the U.S., everything seems to have to taste sweet to be digestible so the products are either very sweetened with sugar or corn syrup or similar, and there are four or five different lo-cal sweeteners available at any coffee shop. That of course is a challenge when bringing over a Swedish product – will it taste sweet enough? So far so good. The RE:DO bars are getting rave reviews so we know we are on the right track. 

JS: RE:DO is unique among bars in a number of ways. Could you please tell us about the products themselves—the flavors, of course, but also the formulation and who they’re targeted at?

DL: The RE: DO bar is designed to be a healthy small meal, it was designed by Pierre Johansson, a hockey pro, to be the equivalent of a bowl of oatmeal and an egg, slow carbs, and protein. Today the bars come in five flavors; Chocolate, Salted Caramel, Raspberry, Mocha Latte (which also contains caffeine for an extra boost), and then the latest, and most popular flavor so far, the Swedish Chocolate Ball, a very Swedish flavor, based on a very Swedish sweet snack, an oat and chocolate ball, rolled in coconut flakes. Yes, the snack is sweet, but the bar only borrows the flavor, not all the sugar. They are targeting people who live an active lifestyle and who want to fuel their bodies with good fuel, something the Swedish Olympic Committee liked a lot, awarding them the certification “Good Fuel for athletes.”—active people, kids, teenagers, anyone with a need for good clean energy without overloading the body with fast calories but that still needs energy, not just a protein bar with tons of artificial sweeteners. You can’t build muscles or perform in sports without adding carbs as well as protein. Ask any professional athlete. 

JS: These were created out of an initiative from the Swedish Olympic Committee, which is pretty. Could you please tell us how that collaboration came about, and how the different parties worked together to create RE:DO?

DL: The Swedish Olympic committee created this alternative called “Bra Bränsle” which means Good Fuel, and with that, they wanted to show parents and athletes alike what good nutrition is all about. In Sweden, there has been a big debate about athletes with eating disorders,  much because of social media’s incorrect imagery of what a healthy body is supposed to look like, so the Olympic Committee wanted to show everyone once and for all what good nutrition means for active people. 

The RE:DO product line was one of the first products they identified and after testing the products and going through all the ingredients, the brand RE:DO got the certification as Good Fuel, which of course is an incredible stamp of approval. But then again, the products were designed by a professional hockey player for optimal nutrition for himself and his kids. 

JS: Now, the bars are coming to the U.S. Could you please tell us a bit about the decision to bring that bit of Swedish clean nutrition to the States?

DL: When I was starting up Mellanmal Inc., I wanted to start with some really good products. I had previously met Pierre and Linda of RE: DO a couple of years earlier when they were just starting out and helped them get started with some tips and pointers. That made them the obvious and perfect choice to go to market with, the RE:DO product line is one of the fastest growing brands in their category, and a lot of people are discovering just how good their bars are: plant-based, no dairy, nut free, no palm oil—good fuel plain and simple. And of course, the brand story involves a Swedish hockey champion coach, who coached Skellefteå to the national championship in 2024 and won the silver with the junior national hockey team, also in 2024 (beat only by the U.S., by the way). 

JS: What’s next for the company—please feel free to talk about your plans to grow and evolve the RE:DO brand, but feel free to mention other Melanmal products.

DL: RE:DO has some really cool products coming out, a couple of new flavors of bars coming this autumn as well as a couple of beverages, all-natural energy boosters. Then once RE:DO is established on the U.S. market, we have a number of equally innovative Swedish brands lined up to be launched by Mellanmal Inc.—we can’t name any names yet, of course, but we promise they are equally good; one of them is even based on Swedish sports nutrition research and is revolutionizing the way athletes fuel up for endurance races. All will be revealed in the autumn.

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