We make snacking healthy by creating delicious and uniquely flavored plant-based snacks. Our first creation is vegan granola ball snacks. Think of us as urban vegan gourmet. With 94%-96% of people snacking 4-6 times a day, we believe that snacking healthy is more important now than ever.
We support mentoring relationships that inspire community college students to follow their dreams. We are strong advocates and grateful benefactors of mentoring relationships. If you are interested in learning more, find free mentoring for minority or women owned businesses.
It’s Nola is a local Black Woman-owned limited liability vegan snack manufacturing company located in Brooklyn, New York. We don’t make your grandma’s granola which is dry and crumbly, making a mess and adding loads of unhealthy ingredients. WE Reimagined Granola – It’s Nola – for the 21st century, creating a mighty compact snack bite you can just pop into your mouth. We manufacture healthy and delicious small batches of granola bites, which are carefully infused with real nut and seed proteins (healthy fats), dried fruit and spices, and love. “It’s like nougat meets chewy!” We strongly believe in ethically sourcing organic ingredients. We source organic, non-GMO, and our products feature real nuts, seeds, and dried fruit that are gluten-free thanks to Mother Nature.
Additionally, we’ve created better-tasting plant-based snack options that bring value to our customers’ lives. Brooklyn’s audacious flavors include but are not limited to Sassy Mango Masala, Luscious Cranberry Coconut, and Dark Decadent Chewy Chocolate. Our product is low in fat, sugar, sodium, and carbs, a snack that’s better for you and better for all of us. Our mission is to give people a healthy snack with real ingredients that treat your body well. In a recent survey conducted by our company, we discovered that 75% of our customers are not vegans. They purchase It’s Nola snack bites because they like our healthy and great tasting snack options. Also, 81% of our customers are women between the ages of 25-70. The evolution of granola: 1800s (crumbly), 1970s (bars), 2018 (It’s Nola snack bites).
Margaret’s story
In 2017, I started bringing my homemade vegan bite-size snacks to the college for my students. It became evident that they enjoyed them as they asked for more and more of them each time I brought them. After months of eating these bite-size snacks, my mentees, students, family, and colleagues insisted that I should start a company because they were so delicious; they satisfied their hunger and were much better than the chips, cookies, sugar-filled candy, and granola bars they used to eat in class. Each time my mentees told me that I should start a business. I would emphatically tell them, “NO!” Then, one day, my mentees dumped hundreds of surveys on my desk. “See!” They told me. “People love them!” I couldn’t believe it at first. I read through every survey response. I was pretty shocked and honored to be supported by my students who believed in me. Their belief in me opened up a new way for me to create legacies of wealth.
For me, I had to figure out my big Why? One of my major passions is mentoring. I figured if I could marry these passions: making healthy snacks and mentoring, it would inspire me to do the hard work of starting a food company. It’s Nola was born out of a desire to support the mentoring of community college students. I have been such a blessed benefactor of healthy mentoring that I feel very strongly about supporting these relationships for the students at the community college. In February 2018, I started the company. I invited two of my mentees to join me, giving them sweat equity in the company. Especially significant to me is that I have committed to giving 10% of our profit to community college mentoring programs.