My name is Tyson, and I'm a 19-year-old entrepreneur from Ontario currently working as an electrical apprentice while building a protein bar company on the side.
Over the past several months, I've been developing a high-protein, allergen-friendly protein bar and have reached a stage where I could really benefit from guidance from individuals with food science and product development experience.
My current challenge involves working with milk protein isolate (MPI). While I'm making progress toward the nutritional profile I'm targeting, I'm experiencing texture and consistency issues that I'm struggling to solve on my own. I'm hoping to connect with food scientists, product developers, or others who have experience formulating high-protein food products and working with MPI.
I'm also interested in connecting with allergen-free co-manufacturers that work with lower minimum order quantities, as well as learning more about the commercialization process for emerging food brands in Canada.
As a young founder, I've invested a great deal of time and effort into this project and am eager to learn from people who have experience in formulation, manufacturing, and bringing food products to market.
If you have relevant experience or know someone who might be able to help, I would greatly appreciate any advice, insights, or introductions.
Thank you for taking the time to read my post, and I look forward to learning from this community.
Congratulations on taking the initiative to build your own food brand! Developing a high-protein, allergen-friendly bar is no small task, especially when working with ingredients such as milk protein isolate, where texture, hardness, moisture migration, and shelf-life can quickly become challenging.
At The Pickle Lab, we specialize in food product development and commercialization support for startups and emerging brands. We help entrepreneurs refine formulations, troubleshoot processing and texture issues, conduct shelf-life assessments, source ingredients, and prepare products for scale-up and manufacturing.
We are based in Liberty Village, Toronto, and have experience working with food startups. We also have a network of ingredient suppliers and manufacturing partners that may be able to support your commercialization journey.
If you'd like to discuss your protein bar formulation and the challenges you're encountering with MPI, I'd be happy to schedule a call and see how we can help.
Hi Tyson, great idea! Palm Bites is a mississauga based manufacturer focusing on date and chocolate products. We sell some protein products under our own brand and work with several partners on similar projects. Would love to connect. Most of our product development and testing is done in house. Please feel free to check out our website and email me directly to arrange a phone call to discuss. Palmbites.ca. John@palmbites.ca.
The Food Innovation & Research Studio (FIRSt) is a Technology Access Centre. We support the food and beverage sector with scientific R&D services from our lab at George Brown College. We work with our clients to troubleshoot product development challenges and help them bring new ideas to market.