The Opportunity
During Underrated's rebranding planning end of 2021, Manu's business school research revealed a clear gap in the Luxembourgish Market: no online vegan snack delivery in Luxembourg. A market analysis became a business hypothesis that we decided to test in the real world.
The Vision
"Snacks that will make you feel good" positioning vegan snacking as both convenient and conscious. While traditional stores offered limited vegan options with inconvenient hours, we'd deliver a variety directly to customers' doors. The concept went beyond convenience: we wanted to make discovering new vegan products an experience.
The Build
10 months of intensive development from January 2022 to September 2022. I designed the complete brand identity: logo, colors, website (doesn't exist anymore, unfortunately), brand guidelines, packaging, experience. Everything from concept to execution, applying branding insights from my Amsterdam marketing internship I did in 2021, where I closely worked with the Branding Team. The challenge was creating a brand that felt premium yet approachable, vegan but not preachy.
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The Operations
Weekly product launches became our signature challenge. Every single week: source new products, taste-test everything ourselves, create website content, develop social media campaigns, photograph products. From chocolate bars to chips to themed boxes (Halloween, Christmas, cinema, starter packs, etc.). Plus supplier negotiations for bulk pricing, inventory management to avoid waste, and order fulfilment -> all while managing full-time studies.
The Reality
E-commerce revealed its operational complexity quickly. Balancing stock levels without overcommitting capital, building supplier relationships for better pricing, managing fulfilment logistics, and maintaining constant content creation. The business taught us deep respect for operational efficiency and highlighted our lack of proper market validation.
The Evolution
The ambitious long-term vision extended far beyond vegan snacks. We planned Snacks.lu, a complete transformation that would position VegaSnacks as just one vertical within a broader premium snack ecosystem. Snacks.lu would offer snacks across all dietary preferences, leveraging our operational knowledge and brand equity to capture the entire Luxembourg online snack market.
The concept included subscription boxes, corporate partnerships, and eventual expansion into neighbouring countries. We envisioned becoming the go-to platform for discovering premium snacks across Luxembourg and its surroundings, with VegaSnacks serving as proof of our curation capabilities. The rebrand would maintain our quality standards while dramatically expanding our addressable market.
However, this vision required significant capital investment, full-time dedication, and stronger initial traction than we'd achieved. The timing coincided with our various academic and personal transitions, making the strategic pivot impossible to execute properly.
The Impact
Brand coherence across every touchpoint became second nature for me. Team dynamics with Manu and Luka reached new levels of efficiency. The satisfaction of building something from market research to live business operations. Most importantly, entrepreneurship demands both creative vision and operational excellence. Ideas alone mean nothing without flawless execution.
