Healthy snacks startup Welly builds retail presence with Woolworths distribution deal

Melbourne-based health food startup Welly is making major inroads into mainstream retail after securing a distribution deal with Woolworths (ASX: WOW) for its sweet organic fruit bites, a year after capping off a deal with Coles for its instant smoothie range.

The agreement will bring a new Welly range of sweet organic fruit bites to 350 Woolworths stores nationally, adding to the 830 Coles supermarkets already selling its powdered products.

Welly founder and CEO Jarahad Valeri, who established the business in late 2022 with the Welly Kids range before later expanding into products for the adult market, also has up to 500 independent points of distribution for the company's products from dietitians, nutritionists and paediatricians to independent grocery groups and health food stores.

“The partnership with Woolworths is a monumental step for Welly, as it not only validates our mission but also amplifies our reach, making nutritious, whole foods more accessible to Australians everywhere,” says Valeri, who was a finalist at the 2024 Melbourne Young Entrepreneur Awards. 

“This collaboration paves the way for a future of retail expansion across the country, helping us bring fruit and vegetable goodness to more households and promote a healthier lifestyle for all.”

Welly was founded on the principle of making fruit and vegetables “more convenient, more accessible and more desirable” through its range of products comprising organic fruit bites, smoothie pouches and instant smoothies.

“The biggest differentiation for our product range is that we use 100 per cent whole foods and the majority of it is fruit and vegetables,” Valeri tells Business News Australia.

“In the powdered space we exist against supplementation which is fortified and created in the lab. We are basically taking what nature has grown and processing it into a format that we can use for an alternative product.

“There are many better-for-you confectionaries out there but at the crux of it they are still fortified in a laboratory with ingredients that are not necessarily natural. That is at the absolute core of everything we do – just fruit and vegetables but in a different format.”

With a background in product development, branding and marketing, Valeri was inspired to establish Welly while growing his previous ventures which included MOUS, a business that manufacturers and distributes reusable personal items such as water bottles.

“What I saw from this is how people were fuelling and hydrating their bodies and that is where the initial concept for Welly came from,” he says.

“Some 96 per cent of children don’t consume enough fruit and vegetables and we identified them as being a consumer group that was in high need of a solution. We felt that if we could help children achieve greater wellbeing and health at an early age that would be a key focus for us.

“However, we soon found that the parents of children who were buying our products realised that they weren’t getting enough fruit and vegetables themselves. The number of inbound requests we received from them was too large to ignore and that’s why we now have Welly and Welly Kids.”

Valeri used the proceeds from the sale of one of his earlier startups to establish Welly, initially bootstrapping the business before bringing in angel investors to help drive growth.

“We got to the stage where we needed external investment from angel investors to provide the capital we need to scale,” he says.

“We now have some really big goals and we feel that by having the majors such as Woolworths and Coles on board it allows us to get in front of the right consumers and to make fruit and vegetables more accessible to them.”

Welly’s expanded distribution network over the past year fuelled a 700 per cent increase in revenue in FY24, and the company is eyeing 250 per cent growth in the current financial year.

“Having Woolworths recognise what we are doing in this space and to also expand their healthy offering is a really good sign of what we are building,” says Valeri.

“But now it’s a question of who’s next, what’s next and how do we bet bigger.

“We are focused on how to build healthy solutions for other categories whether that be ready-to-drink beverages or cereal – whatever it may be.”

Valeri’s near-term ambitions include growing the business into at least three high-growth product categories with three product ranges.

“From a retail perspective that will need support from major grocery, petrol and convenience – a channel that is really ripe for the products that we offer,” he says.

“Then there are pharmacies which would give us a good trajectory to potentially expand overseas.

“What that looks like we are not sure yet, but we see the Asian market as one where we can help with greater health options.”