Lion's Den 2014
High-protein products back when they weren't available everywhere in supermarkets
With a café serving high-protein baked goods, yogurts, pancakes, waffles, sandwiches, and much more, we were ahead of our time.
The main ingredient we worked with back then was whey protein. When we realized there was no whey that met our standards, we reached out to our contacts in Ireland (Michael had lived there for a while) and managed to convince a large dairy cooperative to supply us with small quantities—a few hundred kilos, which was a lot for us at the time.
That is how Protero was born.
That went well too, until...
A government analysis found that...
the protein content of our product turned out to be
higher than stated on the packaging. One might assume that
is a good thing....
Instead, we faced a business-threatening tax bill. Less protein and additives would have absurdly prevented this.
But since additives don't go into our protein, we packed them into a separate bag. We were then allowed to present the absurdity package on the SWR Marktcheck.
Protero presents a clever solution for avoiding additives.
What we made of it...
...making the best of a bad situation. If we’re going to be punished for being honest and providing more protein than declared for the customer’s benefit, then our customers should know about it too.
The protein content has since been prominently displayed on every package and is strictly adhered to.
It couldn't be any clearer how every gram counts. That is precisely why we make it our guiding principle.