Liz Uy redefines snacks with healthy granola bars

Liz Uy just completed her first 10km with a Mood Food bar at hand and a smile to boot. The bar is her newest business venture — wholesome granola bars.

Liz Uy has been a top stylist in the fashion industry for decades. But, more than her pulse for fashion, she has had a pulse for business. During the pandemic, she started to get into the food business.

Uy started with Mood Bake, her cookie business. Now she’s shifted the name to Mood Food, her intro to the snack business. She explained, “It’s going to be a different range now. We created a new set of products, granola snack bars for adults and kids.”

Liz birthed Mood Food from a blend of necessity and love for granola bars, “We’ve always liked granola bars. We would bring it as baon, especially my husband. He’s into multi-sports.”

They both saw that there wasn’t one in the local market that suited their needs, so they created one for themselves. Another aspect is introducing well-balanced meals to their kids, which include treats with wholesome ingredients instead of the chocolates and candies that kids are addicted to nowadays.

From idea to selling to market, how did it start? Liz shared, “It started in our home kitchen because I love cooking and baking for my husband and our little boys. Some clients would also request for some whenever I made a batch. From there, it grew to what it is today.”

Every flavor of Mood Food’s granola bars is tied to the family’s preferences. Liz’s favorite is the Energy bar, featuring homemade peanut butter, a testament to her culinary skills and personal taste. “I’m a peanut butter girl, so my favorite is Energy. We make peanut butter from scratch,” she shared.

Mood Food reflects Liz’s approach to health and nutrition. She said, “We’re fond of all-natural products, so we made sure that Mood Food Bars and Mood Food Kids are made with natural ingredients — no artificial flavors, no artificial coloring, no high-fructose corn syrup.” The bars are made of only six to eight ingredients.

It’s a family affair with Mood Food. Liz shared that her family is “Super involved. The formulation of Mood Food Bar and Kids started from our kitchen.” The ultimate litmus test? Their children’s enthusiastic approval: “We knew we had the final recipe or formulation when our kids gave us their two thumbs up.”

Liz shared one moment last Christmas, “My eldest, Xavi, wrote a letter to Santa (without us asking him to do it). He left Mood Food Bars for him to enjoy!”

Mood Food has a range of flavors for adults and kids, including Peanut Butter, Chocolate with Seal Salt, Cranberry, Chocolate Peanut Butter, Mango with Chia Seeds, Mango Coconut with Maca, and Oatmeal Raisin with Ashwagandha for adults. And for kids, you have Brownie Bear, Cranberry Cat, Mango Flamingo, and Oat Raisin Raccoon. Prices range from P259 to P359 for a box of four granola bars.

Each one ranges from 90 to 190 calories.

The packaging of Mood Food, much like its contents, reflects Liz’s eye for styling, “As a fashion stylist, I’m all about being inspired all the time. We wanted the packaging to be fun, cool, and vibrant. I want it to pop on the stands.”

Since its launch last November 2023, Mood Food has received a lot of positive feedback. Liz shared, “Friends would tell us that Mood Food has become a pantry staple, and they would regularly replenish, especially for their kids.”

Mood Food makes a case for guiltless and joyful eating. So often, if you look around Manila, fast-food joints are one after the other in bright red, orange, and yellow. You can’t ignore it; sometimes, it can lead to snacking on junk and guilty foods.

With Mood Food, we could welcome a new snacking era that’s delicious, clean, and good for your body. You can have your snack and eat it, too.

A common saying goes, “You are what you eat.” And with every Mood Food bar, you can choose the benefits you want, from energy, focus, and recovery to active, shine, and chill. Liz Uy wants you to rethink and be wiser with snacking. Her goal is “we want to enrich people’s lives by creating a better snack option.”

* * *

Mood Food Bars are available on Lazada, TikTok Shop, Real Food, and some Shell Select stations. For more details, go to moodfood.co, https://www.instagram.com/moodfoodmarket and https://moodfood.co/pages/where-to-buy.