{"id":14204,"date":"2026-07-14T08:16:55","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T16:16:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rangeme.com\/blog\/?p=14204"},"modified":"2026-07-14T08:39:45","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T16:39:45","slug":"defi-ing-the-odds-this-former-cpg-exec-scores-quick-retail-wins-with-her-healthy-indulgent-snacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rangeme.com\/blog\/defi-ing-the-odds-this-former-cpg-exec-scores-quick-retail-wins-with-her-healthy-indulgent-snacks\/","title":{"rendered":"DEFI-ing the Odds: This Former CPG Exec Scores Quick Retail Wins With Her Healthy & Indulgent Snacks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Defi Snacks has certainly hit the ground running. Just launched last year, the healthy snack brand has already landed on the RangeMe Top Brands in Food & Beverage charts three times (October 2025<\/a>, January 2026<\/a> and April 2026<\/a>), and was recently named one of six winners of the Nourishing Change Conference<\/a> Emerging Brands Competition, which will see its products on the shelves of 500 Kroger stores. The brand inked a deal with Hy-Vee, as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leading the charge for DEFI<\/a> (which stands for Delicious Energizing Fitness Indulgence) is Founder and CEO Tatyana Jones, who previously spent years climbing the corporate ladder at global Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) giants like Mars, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), and Bausch & Lomb. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking at Jones\u2019 background, it becomes clear why her brand has seen so much success so fast. While DEFI is Jones\u2019 first entrepreneurial venture, her CPG background has more than prepared her to win as a business owner. She was a classically trained brand director, fresh off managing a massive $100 million marketing budget and launching high-profile national commercial campaigns for pharmaceutical brands like Miebo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I caught up with Jones shortly after her Nourishing Change win, and she broke down her journey, from managing hundred-million-dollar corporate budgets to navigating the gritty realities of startup operations and building a functional chocolate brand that refuses to compromise on taste or integrity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Corporate Heavyweight to Scrappy Entrepreneur<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Jones\u2019 entrepreneurial seed was planted a decade prior during her post-MBA Graduate Leadership Rotational Program at Mars.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

“When I first thought to myself, I really want to be an entrepreneur, it was during my Mars days,” Jones recalls. “During one of those rotations, KIND was being partially acquired by Mars\/Wrigley, and we had KIND Founder Daniel Lubetzky join us on stage. Even though Mars is privately owned, there’s still a different level of polish that a lot of executives there had. And then you had Daniel, this huge personality. He was on stage, he took a call from his son, and it was super, super fun. He was just so free to be himself. And I was like, wow. He kind of opened up this whole new world to me.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That town hall encounter inspired her, but Jones wasn’t one to leap without a safety net. She spent the next ten years mastering white space innovation, shopper marketing for powerhouse accounts like Walmart, and general management. Five months before her breakout year, she realized she had built the ultimate foundation for success on her own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I felt like I was really good in marketing, brand building and managing a brand, which is essentially being a general manager of a business,\u201d says Jones. \u201cI felt like I’ve scratched enough surfaces at this point. I can now do it. Cash intensiveness aside, it is the best job I’ve ever had.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To bridge the gap in her expertise, Jones intentionally surrounded herself with specialized talent. Recognizing that her career had centered heavily on the demand side of business, she brought on an operations master who literally wrote the book on startup supply chains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“In a way, this is just another rotation of my life here with Defi Snacks,\u201d she says. \u201cIf they’re the same as me or if I’m teaching them to do something that I bring them on to do, they’re not the right fit. They have to be better than you. They have to be smarter than you in a lot of ways, but especially in that discipline that you’re bringing them on for.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Anatomy of a Functional Indulgence: \u2018No Fake Shit\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The foundational thesis of DEFI Snacks is simple yet radical: consumers shouldn’t have to choose between a genuinely decadent treat and their fitness goals. According to Jones, the current market is flooded with products that either lean too far into empty-calorie indulgence or push toxic diet culture hidden behind misleading “healthy” labels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The whole idea behind it is there’s a lot of snacks out there that are either too indulgent, or on the flip side, that say they’re healthy and they have quite literally garbage ingredients,\u201d says Jones. \u201cAnd fake fats, fake sugars \u2013 your body does not know what to do with those. So we wanted to create this really indulgent snack where it is real chocolate. We don’t sacrifice on taste.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DEFI approaches formulation through a strategy Jones terms “Better For You Chocolate Plus.” The brand uses premium, non-GMO chocolate with real sugar, but carefully modulates the sugar volume so it remains lower than traditional confections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The inclusion of time-released proteins is a calculated biochemical choice designed to disrupt the addictive nature of sugar. By grinding casein protein directly into the chocolate matrix and introducing whey protein through a light crisp, DEFI manages appetite spikes organically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Sugar is addictive,\u201d says Jones. \u201cYou just want more and more and more of it. So we add just enough through multiple ways. That is enough to control your sugar right away. And then over time, over a course of literally three to seven hours, depending on how much you eat \u2013 it’s almost like eating a real nutritious meal, but you’re eating candy.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To ensure the taste profile matched her strict standards, Jones partnered with a master chocolatier whose palate was honed developing major flavor profiles before his company\u2019s acquisition by Mondelez.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it was Jones herself who demanded the product’s secret weapon: sprouted organic buckwheat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Buckwheat was my requirement,\u201d says Jones. \u201cAnd he very creatively made that work. And so you have this multidimensional type of experience where the whey crisp is kind of a softer crisp and then the sprouted organic buckwheat is a much harder, much meatier crisp.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As an Eastern European superfood, buckwheat naturally outperforms trendy alternatives like quinoa, according to Jones. It delivers robust plant protein and clean fiber directly to the gut without the need for artificial additives that irritate the digestive system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Decoding the Target Market: Capturing the GLP-1 and Longevity Waves<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While DEFI Snacks naturally positions its branding to resonate with millennial and Gen Z “fitness-loving foodies,” as Jones refers to them, the brand has unlocked massive, unexpected demographic cross-sections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. The Longevity and Active Gen X Cohort<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Modern consumers in their 50s are increasingly focused on active wellness and longevity, searching out clean-label snacks that fuel lifestyle demands rather than dragging down performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Dietitians and Medical Nutritionists<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Initially a surprise to the brand, certified nutrition experts have widely embraced DEFI Snacks due to its clean ingredient deck and absence of sugar alcohols.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I didn’t realize it was going to be such a hit with dieticians and nutritionists,” Jones says. “Every show we go to, we realize how appreciated we are because everything about our brand is bold, but it’s that real ‘no fake shit’ type of thing. They like that realness about it because it’s not pretending to be anything else. Your body knows what to do with it.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. The Exploding GLP-1 Consumer Base<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

With 26 grams of protein packed into every single bag, DEFI Snacks aligns with one of the most significant macro shifts in modern food history: the rise of GLP-1 weight-loss medications. Medical professionals heavily advocate for high protein intake among GLP-1 users to combat the loss of lean body mass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It is known that as you lose weight while you’re on GLP-1s, you also lose lean body mass,\u201d says Jones. \u201cBecause of that, it is advised by healthcare professionals that you consume twice the amount of protein than an average person. Now twice as much is even harder. So everything you eat should have protein. Snacks should have protein. So we fit that trend very well.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turning an Axed Corporate Idea Into a Top-Selling Reality<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The DEFI product line launched with a calculated menu of flavors, anchored by a unique dark chocolate selection that represents Jones\u2019 ultimate corporate vindication. It\u2019s undisputed top seller is the Pink Himalayan Salt Dark Chocolate (70% Cacao). The flavor was directly inspired by an innovative product line Jones designed during her tenure at Mars\/Wrigley under the Dove brand \u2013 a project corporate leadership ultimately axed due to capital expenditure thresholds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We killed it,\u201d says Jones. \u201cIt was supposed to be a $5 million SKU. We were in the process of changing leadership and we had some rules that anything that’s under a certain threshold, if it needed capital investment, it would not get approved. And so it got denied. So the Dark Chocolate Pink Himalayan Salt was almost my way of launching that one innovation that I killed back at Mars Wrigley.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike competitor brands that tentatively dust their chocolate with a microscopic hint of sodium, Jones leaned into intensity. “It is not a touch of salt, it\u2019s a punch of salt, like I like to say,\u201d says Jones. \u201cI like things super salty. And it resonates with people very much because all the other chocolates with salt out there are a touch.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For consumers seeking alternative flavor profiles, the DEFI portfolio expands into highly indulgent spaces Additional flavors include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n