KOJA was founded by Melbourne’s own Kate Johansson, who believes life is simply more enjoyable with delicious, better-for-you snacks. She founded KOJA on the principle that real, unprocessed, and plant-based foods are best. KOJA’s range of products are the highest nutritional value and are proud to be free from preservatives, emulsifiers, artificial sweeteners, and stabilisers. They are an ideal grab-and-go snack and are the perfect addition to a healthy balanced diet.
1. Welcome to the GBN Family! Can you tell us a little bit about how KOJA got started?
I have always had an interest in natural, holistic health and eating wholefoods plays a very large role in these areas. When walking down the aisles of supermarkets I found that most health bars on the market were packed with preservatives, additives and processed ingredients and even the ones that did contain less synthetic ingredients were unfortunately packed with high amounts of sugar.
I wanted to create a product that not only contained 100% real and natural ingredients but also tasted amazing and anyone could enjoy. I tested and created many different recipes in my kitchen until I came up with products that I believed customers would actually love and would make eating whole foods enjoyable.
2. How do KOJA bars differ from other bars on the market?
There are many reasons why KOJA stands out from other brands on the market. We prioritise our customers’ health and make sure that everyone has a bar that they can enjoy. We appeal towards consumers with dietary requirements such as coeliac, gluten free, dairy free, fodmap, fructose free, soy free, vegan, vegetarian and plant based as well as consumers with sensitive stomachs as we contain no sugar alcohols and no dates.
KOJA bars also contain 75% less sugar than the average natural snack, we tested over 20 natural snacks and the average sugar content per bar was 16g, not KOJA! We keep our sugar contents low as we contain only natural sugars and do not load our bars up with dates like many other natural bars which not only causes a high sugar content, they can also cause digestive issues.
3. What has been your biggest motivation behind the brand?
I believe that health and taste should go hand in hand, there is no point creating a bar that is healthy but tastes like cardboard. It is rare that you can say a bar that is indulgent and satisfies you is good for you too. That’s why this is such a priority for me at KOJA.
4. What has been your biggest challenge?
My biggest challenge with KOJA was getting new customers to taste the bars for the first time. Once customers have tried our bars, we have a very high repeat purchase rate and our customers are very loyal to our brand. Unfortunately this industry has been filled with so many terrible tasting products for many years, so a lot of our ideal customers had given up on snack bars and on the category as a whole. No one believed that a health bar could taste amazing and satisfy their snacking needs, getting rid of this stigma is definitely my most difficult challenge.
5. Obviously all Koja bars in the range are delicious but do you have a favourite flavour?
After creating and crafting all the KOJA recipes in my kitchen until I was 100% happy with them it is very hard to pick my favourite, but I would say it would have to be the Dark Choc Chip Oat Bar as not only does it taste indulgent but I know I am eating a satiating snack that will fuel me for hours.
6. What does ‘wellness’ mean to you and how do you adopt it in your everyday routine?
Wellness to me is taking care of yourself both mentally and physically. It is something that I believe should be incorporated into your everyday life. I do this by prioritising eating wholefoods, moving my body in ways that I enjoy, listening to podcasts, and spending time with my friends and family. Most of all I try not to rush through days. However, wellness is personal and whatever makes you feel your best is always the best option for you.
7. What has your experience with GBN been like?
GBN has been amazing to work with so far. Their whole team is so clearly passionate about what they do and it’s great to work with likeminded people. We’ve met with some of the GBN reps at our warehouse and invited them to taste our full range. We’ve also spent plenty of time introducing our range to all the reps, supporting with training, presentations, and special offers wherever we can. We know that the health food industry in Australia is a very tight knit community, so we look forward to working with many suppliers, retailers, distributors etc that we already know and I’m very excited to see where our relationship goes.