Liliana Sydorenko is a senior at Northwestern University and co-founder of Minimal Snacks, a student-run startup experimenting with superfood innovation. She and her co-founders, Ryan Teo and Ansh Prasad, are proud to present their debut product: MNML Air Dried Beef, a four-ingredient, protein-packed, mouthwateringly tender, and ultra flavorful meat snack. An avid baker and weight-lifter, Liliana is passionate about food and fitness. She hopes that Minimal Snacks can influence snackers to eat intentionally and producers to prioritize simplicity, fueling our bodies the way evolution intended.

Can you tell our readers about your background? 

I grew up in Manhattan, New York in Murray Hill, a charming neighborhood that boasts cozy coffee shops, popular restaurants, and innovative frozen dessert makers. Living within a 5-block radius of the authentic food of all kinds of cuisines - Indian, Greek, Israeli, Thai - as well as enjoying the cooking of an Italian mother, a Ukrainian nanny, and an American father, I was spoiled with incredible flavors from a young age. This is where my love for food originated. 

Though I had always been involved in various sports, such as soccer, gymnastics, swimming, and even Ukrainian folk dance, my interest in fitness really flourished in high school. I began to train like an endurance athlete, cross country skiing for the Wellesley High School Varsity Nordic Ski Team and going for long runs on the weekends and in the off-season. Now, as an environmental science and economics student at Northwestern University in my third and final year, weight lifting is a personal passion of mine.

Beyond my diverse academic interests and active lifestyle, I have a longstanding affinity for the performing arts. Growing up, I sang in various choirs, including church, vocal jazz, a cappella, and chamber, and performed in school theater productions. I am now a soprano for my acappella group, the Northwestern Undertones. 

What inspired you to start your business?

I joined Minimal Snacks in its early stages when I met our founder, Ryan Teo. Everything in his 60 second pitch resonated with me, especially his identification of a gap in the snack market for a clean, minimalistic protein snack that tasted delicious - no ifs, ands, or buts. Training 6 times a week means my diet has to keep up, especially when it comes to protein. But between a rigorous course load, a cappella rehearsals, my RA job, and other extracurricular commitments, it’s hard to prioritize health and balance when it comes to food.

Nutrition is very important to me. I am a huge believer in eating intuitively and honoring my body’s cues, which is so much easier, fun, and satisfying when I have nourishing options that are easily accessible. That’s why Minimal Snacks’ had people like me in mind while designing MNML Air Dried Beef - the health-conscious, busy bees who need a convenient way to get their protein in with none of the extra sugar, overprocessed additives, and dubious preservatives. 

Where is your business based?           

Our business is based in Chicago, IL, and it was born in Evanston, IL at Northwestern University. Our co-packer and the nation’s largest producer of biltong, Stormberg Foods, is located in Goldsboro, North Carolina.           

What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business?

Word of mouth and Instagram! On-campus, we’ve been telling our friends, professors, mentors, clubmates, and supervisors about our business. Fliers with the Minimal Snacks name grace the entrances of many dorms and academic buildings, and our daily Instagram posts have our follower count growing every day. People on campus now recognize me and associate me with “that beef jerky startup,” and one of their first questions is always, “Where can I buy some?”

What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?

Navigating gender bias in contexts historically dominated by men has been my biggest challenge throughout my academics and the early stages of my career. I’ve realized my identity presents unique challenges to my ambitions of growing a business from the ground up and taking my science degree into the corporate world. In particular, I have struggled to learn that I have a right to take up space in academic and professional environments. Especially in rigorous courses and the high-pressure, fast-paced world of entrepreneurship, it can be easy to shrink back into insecurities about how much you “should” say and worry about how others perceive you for having a dissenting opinion. In my economics classes, I’ve worried about asking too many questions and whether I’m entitled to challenge my professors in the same way my male peers do. In business settings, I’ve similarly worried about whether I should offer my dissenting opinions, no matter how well-researched they are, and found that my contributions are more heavily scrutinized than those of my male counterparts. It is especially difficult to feel welcome in the world of business when women only occupied 10% of C-suite and 8% of executive board positions in 2021, the same as in 2019 (Business Insider).

Finding female mentors in my professional and academic networks, as well as the powerful women within my family, has been instrumental and uplifting in learning how to navigate my identity in coursework, research, and business. Additionally, taking time to understand my collaborative tendencies, my leadership style, and my professional identity has been formative for my professional development.

How do you stay focused?

Balancing classes with what has become almost a full-time role is certainly challenging. This business is my passion, so much so that most of the time, writing emails and strategy brainstorms and business meetings don’t feel like work at all. However, as much as I (and I’m sure many Femfounder readers!) would like to give 100% at all times, this is simply not feasible. Taking brain breaks and understanding the importance of mental, not just physical, rest has been crucial to keeping up my stamina. Investing in my self-care, such as reflective walks, crocheting, and prioritizing full nights of rest every day means I can bring my whole, energized, focused self to my work at Minimal Snacks. 

What’s your favorite way to decompress? 

Moving my body is my favorite way to decompress, be it strength training, running, biking, skiing, or just walking down the stretch of Lake Michigan and enjoying Northwestern’s beautiful campus. Rehearsals with The Undertones, where I get to spend hours making beautiful music with my best friends, are also a great creative release. 

What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?

Besides the valuable work our networks have done in spreading the word, our partnerships with our influencers on social media have probably been the most fruitful in expanding our reach beyond our immediate circles. Our social media influencer slate is diverse, composed of BBQ aficionados, gluten-free foodies, lifestyle influencers, and professional and soon-to-be professional athletes. And once each of these partners received their own samples, they came back with nothing but glowing reviews.

One of our first partners on Instagram, The Dude Network, has been instrumental in our growth. And while they were impressed by our nutrition facts, we were especially excited by their commentary on the taste of MNML Air Dried Beef. This meat connoisseur described it as “high-end charcuterie in beef jerky form.” Another one of our partners, @grainfreee, reported similar satisfaction with the deep umami flavors and nutritional density, but especially with MNML’s compatibility with gluten-, sugar-, and grain-free diets.

We also work with Ryan Deakin, the Team USA Olympic wrestler, as well as NFL prospects Ty Shelby, Isaiah Chambers, and Ralph Holley. All of these athletes came back with stellar reviews of the product’s macro-nutritional profile and especially the complex and savory taste

How do you differentiate your business from the competition?

We see ourselves straddling two different markets: the meat snack market, and the healthy snack market. MNML Air Dried Beef outperforms competitors in both of these spaces along with every metric. 

For example, Jack Link's beef jerky - arguably the first thing that comes to mind when you think of beef jerky - has 6g of sugar, 11g of protein, and 15 ingredients per 1 oz serving. A 1 oz serving of MNML Air Dried Beef has 0g of sugar, 15g of protein, and 4 ingredients.

MNML even outperforms other “minimalistic” healthy snacks, such as the RX Bar, on these metrics. In a 210 calorie package of 6 ingredients, a Blueberry RX Bar has 12g of protein and 15g of sugar. A 195 calorie pack of MNML has 23 g of protein and 0g of sugar. 

Because of its efficient and impressive nutritional density, we’re sure that adventurers, gym rats, athletes, office workers, and the everyday health-conscious snacker will be pleasantly surprised by the back (and front!) of our packaging. And, MNML Air Dried Beef is also competitively priced at $5.49 per bag.

What do you have planned for the next six months?

Before we can start selling our product anywhere, we have to wrap up our Kickstarter campaign! I’m especially excited about our 50k funding goal on Kickstarter, where we have committed to sourcing packaging from carbon-negative suppliers. Shortly after, we’ll be launching our online store, as well as our Amazon fulfillment channels.

We’ve already begun having conversations with potential retailers, such as local grocery stores and coffee shops. For at least the next six months, we will be continuing these conversations, trying to get MNML Air Dried Beef on as many shelves in Chicago and beyond as possible. If you think your local gym, coffee shop, or grocery store owner would be interested in featuring our product, please don’t hesitate to reach out! 

Concurrently, we’re going to begin R&D for our next product! We’re planning on growing the MNML meat suite to include two new products, each featuring a protein punch and a superfood twist. As Product Development lead and an avid baker, I also have some ideas up my sleeve for some sweeter, vegetarian and vegan snacks, like protein bites and energy balls. As my team and I like to say, Minimal Snacks isn’t a beef jerky company. It’s about the philosophy behind snacking: minimal ingredients, maximum nutritional impact.

How can our readers connect with you?

Reach me at hello@minimalsnacks.com, follow us on Instagram and Twitter (@minimalsnacks), visit our website (minimalsnacks.com), and pre-order some MNML Air Dried Beef for yourself! You can also message me on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/liliana-sydorenko/) and check out my website, https://lilianasydorenko20.wixsite.com/lilianasydorenko. 

Links:

●      Minimalsnacks.com

●      https://www.linkedin.com/in/liliana-sydorenko/

●      https://lilianasydorenko20.wixsite.com/lilianasydorenko