We spoke with Mireia Muñiz, CEO of Yuït, a company dedicated to healthy food in practical formats. In her talk she talked about innovation, the future of her company and how to transform a dream into reality.
Devol: Award for Best Food Startup in 2022 at the Expansión awards, finalists for Startup with the greatest international projection 2023 at Food 4 Future… What do you do differently to deserve these awards?
Mireia Muñiz: We started with a very innovative range of powdered food, which is becoming more and more popular and integrated (in society), but at the beginning it was a bit like: “What are these crazy people doing?”. We also wanted to break that concept of healthy eating by incorporating a new way of eating in a healthy way.
That is why our vocation is innovation. From the concept of the prototypes we launch, to the way we do things. We are forerunners of inclusive food, gluten-free, allergen-free, 100% vegetable…
We always try to be in line with consumer demand and to make, above all, healthy eating easy and accessible, which is something super necessary so that people are really able to do it.
What should companies do to evangelize innovation?
MM: For us, the main handicap, the problem we encounter, is that we conceptualize very cool things, but then it is more difficult to carry them out. For us, that transparency and openness that we sometimes miss in the sector is very important. Companies that really want to collaborate, that want to cooperate and that make it easy to put it on the market.
Nowadays, being a startup, with the size limitations, is complicated. And for us it is key to identify partners with whom we can go hand in hand.
Mireia Muñiz and Felipe Rebollo, Commercial Director of Devol.
What new projects will you be involved in?
MM: This year is the year of R&D, of new launches at Yuït. On the one hand, we are going to launch a new range of functional products and, later on, many variants aimed at specific niche populations with specific needs.
So far we have been making healthy food for a typical adult and now we are going to specialize more in people with certain nutritional needs, age groups… we are going to bring out many specialized products. We are also going to expand the range of savory products to very interesting flavors.
Internally, at the company level, we are going to expand the sales channels. Our goal is to reach the physical channel, because up to now Yuït can be bought online through our website, yuit.eu, but we would love it to also have a day-to-day presence in stores, in points of sale. So this year is also the year to see Yuït on the shelves.
Do institutions support companies that innovate?
MM: We have found a lot of support, and without the aid we have been able to collect and without the support of institutions such as BEAZ/Provincial Council of Bizkaia or ENISA, it would have been very difficult to get to where we have reached.
The food sector is very demanding in terms of financial muscle and resources, especially when you do B2C, to be able to put your product on the market. And the truth is that the support in the early stages, for us, has been key for us to be able to take off now.
Where is this path leading you?
MM: The idea is to take Yuït to the shelves, but also to other geographical locations. Our expansion in Europe is there and we hope to continue taking steps and, from Europe, as far as we can go, which I hope will be very far.
