Page 15 - Food&Drink magazine July 2022

special relevance for Robinson who suffers from anxiety.
“I have tried various supplements, and nothing was ever as effective as I needed it to be. I realised there was no whole food formula on the market, so we got to work,” Robinson says.
Koch explains, “With Calm Food we knew we wanted a stress and anxiety formula. Coming from that clinical nutrition background we also knew there were so many variables at play when it comes to anxiety.
“We’re talking about genetics, gut health, sleep; all the aspects that surround someone’s physical health with stress and anxiety. That’s where we started. Then it was a process of, okay, these are the therapeutics, these are the herbal medicines, this is the plant, this is the food, and these are the nutrients.”
INTO THE MIX
“We start product testing by trialling it on ourselves for three months, then we have a small trial group do the same and keep refining it until we finalise the recipe. With each new iteration we go through that process again. For Gut Food it took around twelve batches, Calm Food took a lot more,” Robinson recalls.
“We are a rogue in the food manufacturing industry because of our therapeutic
“ We are a rogue in the food manufacturing industry because of our therapeutic standpoint. We won’t use any emulsifiers, additives, flavourings, or colourings.”
ingredients where possible.
“We make every
effort to source from our region here on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland.
“If we can’t do that then we will source the highest, best quality Australian product. We also use a local company for freeze drying our ingredients,” Robinson says.
While their focus may be local for ingredients, the pair are focused on growing distribution nationwide. Currently stocked in health food stores in Queensland, and available on the C-Biogenics website, Koch and Robinson are actively looking for broader distribution channels and partners.
With their third product set for release early next year and about eight more in the pipeline, C-Biogenicsisontherise. ✷
LEFT: C-Biogenics co-founders Hayley Robinson and Lynsey Koch.
standpoint. We won’t use any emulsifiers, additives, flavourings, or colourings, but then the worry creeps in around the product’s palatability and mixability. Consumers have been conditioned to expect a functional powder to dissolve or blend instantly or even taste a particular way,” Koch says.
But the pair decided to “own it”, choosing to not compromise on the ingredients’ efficacy while also ensuring the products taste delicious.
“We are constantly working on the products, educating our customers that the reason it needs twenty seconds to mix is because of its authenticity and
lack of additives, and that it is a functional food,” Robinson says.
Koch and Robinson are currently manufacturing the products in-house, a conscious choice to maintain high and tight quality controls.
“We are using the highest quality ingredients we can source to create a premium effective health product.
“By making it ourselves we know everything has been stored and blended correctly. That said, our pace of growth means we are having to revisit that, it is getting very busy! It is a nice problem to have,” Robinson says.
They also try to source local
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