Plant Chat: Justin Anderson, creator of WOATS

I am so excited to have Justin Anderson, creator of WOATS Oatsnack on my blog today! Justin created WOATS in his Texas kitchen, and it has turned into an indulgent oatsnack carried in over 3,800 Target and Walmart stores across the U.S. WOATS gained snacking stardom when organic ambassadors, like popular Vine celebrities Thomas Sanders and Dom Gold, took it upon themselves to post a parody of Drake’s song, “Know Yourself”, with the play on its lyrics “Runnin’ through the six with my woes”, featuring their love of the brand. Stores like Target and Walmart took notice of WOATS’s guerrilla marketing and street teams that amassed a cult following ranging from the aisles of their stores to the outside lines of the premiere of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. WOATS has never employed traditional marketing or advertising yet cleared over $1 million in revenue in 2014, seeing a 350% increase in sales. Founder and President Justin, sees top-of-mind pop culture events as activations and is redefining what it means to engage and advertise in 2015.

I love this creative and healthy snack, so I had to have Justin on my blog to talk all things WOATS! Keep on reading to learn more about this fantastic company.

What inspired you to create Woats? 

I started the company in high school when I was 16-years olds. I had broken my braces from eating crunchy granola. So, I invented soft granola and brought it on a Boy Scout campout and it was gone by Saturday. They all said they would buy it if it were for sale. I thought it was a good idea for a business.

I started out with a different brand of premium soft granola. Then, 3 ½ years ago I noticed a trend in snacking that was a little bit more indulgent. I brought on a business partner who came with a background at Frito Lay, and he recognized the trends in snacking were changing. I started looking back to how I had started the company, and realized that people were snacking on the original product, even though I never positioned it as a snack—it wasn’t really differentiated as a snack.

We partnered the concept of Woats as a healthy, indulgent snack. It’s more snackable, more indulgent, easy to eat out of the bag, has indulgent ingredients, such as graham crackers and natural chocolate sandwich cookies.

The first brand of premium soft granola is not sold anymore. I started the company in high school. Today, there are four flavors of Woats. It’s something that started almost 12 years ago, and I’ve learned as I’ve grown. I started in high school and got into my first retailer, and had to learn quickly. I studied entrepreneurship, business, and English in college, so having that background has helped me to continue to grow the business. We are based on Ft Worth Texas, and produce the products in Austin, which is a hip, healthy place perfect for Woats.

Do you feel that it is a unique product in today’s food product offerings? Why? 

Woats tastes likes its bad for you, but it’s not! We saw how healthy indulgent snacks were on the rise, and that people were snacking on my original brand. So, we went into the kitchen and come up with a formula to rework my old product to make it more snackable and more indulgent. No matter what the fads are—whether it’s non-GMO or whatever goes on—it changes every few years. People like to indulge, but not fully so. My product makes it so that you can feel like you’re having an indulgence.

What sort of response have you had to the product, and why? 

We get positive response continually. People take the time from their day to tell us how much they love it. We hear it on email, social media, and written letters that people love it. It’s been such a great response. They’re either snacking on it right out of the bag, or incorporating it into foods, such as on unsweetened Greek yogurt, overnight oats, or smoothies—Woats is a way to make foods tastier and more indulgent. People are using it on their smoothies, such as putting it on smoothie bowls, or baking it into breads and cookies, or having it right out of the bag as a quick breakfast, or a snack that will hold you over. People are talking about Woats on social media, instagram, and vine. There is a video incorporating it into a Drake song using WOATS—it’s a cool video with a huge reach. All sorts of other people on social media are using it, making videos, taking photos, referencing songs, posting, and talking about where they found it. You can find it at Target, Walmart, Sprouts, Ingles, and Fresh Market. There is national distribution in 5,000 locations.

Do you feel that people are more interested in eating healthy foods that still taste good? Do you cater to a wide range of consumers? 

With Woats being healthy and also indulgent—it is a new ideain snacking, and people are loving it. Also, people are feeling like they are being a little bit naughty, with indulgent ingredients, like cookies, and shortbread. That’s the one drawback—it’s not completely healthy. We do use non-GMO products, too.

What’s next for you? 

We are working on a couple of new flavor ideas now, and some new size opportunities, such as smaller sized bags we would be able to use in different areas of stores, that are even more snackable.