20 February 2023
Eating healthy is not just a passing fad, but a long-term commitment to taking care of your health and well-being. But, amidst a busy lifestyle, it might sometimes be one of the biggest challenges to keep taking care of yourself. That’s where Sjakes comes in, where you can take in a healthy meal that’s prepared within a minute.
Sjakes is, what Dylan likes to call, a ‘healthy meal replacement’. Dutch startup Sjakes differentiates their shakes from others because “this is the first shake that really contains everything” – according to founder Dylan Pels. “You don’t need to add anything, except the substance that makes them juicy – like water or a milk of choice. All nutrients are balanced out and carefully thought-out, so you can find everything from vitamins and plant-based proteins to superfoods. It also doesn’t contain preservatives, and since we make use of frozen fruit and vegetables – it still has the maximum nutritional value.” Also good to know: they only make use of plant-based protein, which makes all their shakes vegan.
Healthy food made easy
The initiative came from the consumer demand to eat healthier and more nutritious, while at the same time having lack of time to prepare a healthy meal. “Most people want to eat healthy but find it too hard. It’s one of my main missions with Sjakes to make The Netherlands healthy again. We do this by making healthy food easy.” Because you can keep the Sjakes in the freezer for a long time, you also don’t have to throw away any food – while still being sure of having a healthy meal at home.
Supermarket and webshop
Dylan is excited about the future of Sjakes: “When we just started out, we sold over 100 Sjakes per location at Jumbo, while – on average – 20 similar products are sold within one week. We are now mostly looking forward to launching nationwide at Jumbo, but also another big supermarket in the Netherlands, the Albert Heijn.”
They currently have four different types of shakes. The shakes that mostly contain fruit are Strawberry Peanuts and Blueberry Chocolate. Ginger Greens is your go-to if you want to go 50/50 for your daily fruit and veggies intake. And lastly, they offer one veggie shake: the Carrot Chia. “With one shake we emphasize more on fruit, with the other more on vegetables.”
Sjakes costs €3,79 per piece in their web shop, with free delivery. “But the more you buy, the cheaper they become. That’s how we can offer similar prices to the prices you’re used to in a supermarket.”
Sjakes was one of the finalists of the Brave New Food Startup Challenge 2022. Read all about the finalists and winners here.