We recently connected with Luis Sayrols and have shared our conversation below.

Luis, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?

I decided to call it Santte, which means Health in French with only one t. The idea from our first product, has been to deliver a healthy option “good for you” to the public. Today, we produce a less than two calories meringue bite/cookie. sugar free, gluten free, dairy free, cholesterol free, soy free, non GMO, natural flavor and color, kosher certified, gluten certified. Literally the best snack for all ages to enjoy! We have three product lines; Regular, Keto, Diabetic. Each line has nine flavors; Vanilla, Chocolate, Strawberry, Cookies n Cream, Cappuccino and Mint Chocolate, Caramel, Birthday Cake and Cotton Candy.
We will be launching 3-5 different products under the same healthy umbrella. Stay tune!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

After many years of illness and changing lifestyle, I decided to make the best sweet snack for everyone to have. Sugar free, gluten free, dairy free, cholesterol free, soy free, non GMO, natural ingredients, kosher. In terms of calories; one bags equals an oreo cookie, five bags equal one doughnut. This is a great way to satisfy your sweet tooth and/or cravings with out feeling quilt with a great tasting and healthy product.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I was born and raised in Mexico, came to Houston due to a health issue that had been hunting him for 10 years. Me and my family loved it there and decided to stay for good. I had to do something to earn money to be able to support my family. I decided to start a business. I aimed to create the healthiest snack that could satisfy a sweet tooth. Tidbits was born, a less than two calories per piece, sugar-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, cholesterol-free, soy-free, non-GMO, and natural ingredient meringue.

In February 2018, I invited a long friend of mine, Sergio Ramos, to join me on this journey. After going back and forth on how crazy my idea was, Sergio finally gave in! We started to put together the business plan and started working in the Public Library two days a week from 5-9, always being the last ones out the library doors. Four months later, we moved to a local restaurant to continue working while watching the World Cup. By December 2018, we had acquired part of the machinery needed but couldn’t yet find the desired warehouse. Then in January 2019, the machinery was on its way but still no warehouse, suddenly one day and thanks to a great realtor, we found it and got a great arrangement with the landlord. March came and we had everything installed, hired the personnel, trained them, and started doing formulations. We spent all that year sampling the product anywhere we could whether it was at expos, venues, events, etc. In April, Santte Foods entered a competition HEB does look for the best product in Texas, and out of 1,200 participants, we were among the 5 finalists, which earned us becoming vendors for HEB.

2020 started with TIDBITS on the aisles of HEB, immediate success!!! But not quite! Two months later COVID-19 struck and hit us tremendously hard. Orders went almost to a halt because everything was focused on first aid related to the pandemic, supply chain just started to become the most important issue for all companies. Being an essential company, we were able to stay open and decided not to lay off anyone but started working 3 days a week to keep production going and employees with work.

Thank GOD, by May, we had our second client, by June our third, and by July our fourth, fifth, and sixth clients. By August, the meringues were selling in around 3,000+ stores nationwide, they had launched two more lines of product, they had Regular, KETO, and Diabetic lines with 9 flavors each. They also joined the e-commerce market through Shopify on their official website.

2021 arrived and they launched their CBD line with the same 9 flavors. They started selling on Amazon and by the end of the year, they were in 11,000+ stores nationwide (HEB, BUC-EE´S, RITE-AID, TJMAXX, MARSHALLS, HOMEGOODS, ROSS, COSTCO), plus Canada, UK, Germany, Poland, and Sweden.

By 2022, we encounter inflation at its best, all the cost of goods with substantial increments and still a supply chain and covid issues. Still blessed, we started working with PUBLIX and SAMS CLUB. Got another facility of 10,000 sf, and started producing cookies as co-packers for three clients and with a line of their own. This year and after 28 months in operations Santte will be profitable and will be ready for the next level of growth.

Santte started in one of the most complicated times in our lives, even though we have encountered more than the usual hurdles. We have endured and have been able to find the funding needed, and have made the right decisions to keep afloat, but for the most part a great team willing to sacrifice when the going got tough.

In all those moments of darkness and despair, there was always a ray of light lifting us and letting us continue our journey. We encounter many angels along the way to help us when we need them the most!

My recommendation for starting a business is PASSION and willing to work 10-14 hours daily whether it be weekdays or weekends. As well as a good product that people like followed by a good presentation and attributes.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

In our business plan, we had planned to invest all our out of pocket money into the machinery, then we will have a lease back to get that investment back and have it as working capital, that was not possible. I was stuck without working capital and had to be creative on how on earth would I get the funding.

Not being a US Citizen, loans were out of reach, had to go out and beg for money to possible investors/friends and family that would trust me on a startup business that had just launched. It has been a survival mode for the last 28 months.

We have also grown consistently in this 28 months and has been a good problem finding funding. We are about to leave all the financial problems behind before the year ends, thanks to the new clients we have started working with.

Contact Info:

• Website: Santte.com
• Instagram: Tidbitsfunbites
• Facebook: Tidbitsfunbites
• Linkedin: Tidbitsfunbites
• Twitter: Tidbitsfunbites
• Youtube: Tidbitsfunbites

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