A Low-Calorie Bagel Is Not An Oxymoron

For 32-year-old Aimee Yang, her saga of trying to shake up the bagel industry with the launch of Better Bagel, a lower calorie bagel start-up, stemmed from her own personal experience. Yang said that in her twenties she vacillated “between her own personal pain points around diet and healthy eating.” But she always “craved something. If I ate, I’d feel guilty, and if I didn’t, I’d feel deprived.”

While studying at Wharton for an MBA in Strategic Management and Entrepreneurship and graduating in 2020, she studied food technology and focused on refined carbs. She decided that improving the bagel would become one of her life’s goals. Bagels, Yang noted, are “incredibly unhealthy, chock full of refined carbs and sugar.”

She raised venture capital funding of $1.2 million with a pre-seed round led by Verso Capital and launched Better Brand, which sells Better Bagel. Each bagel contains 160 to 180 calories instead of the usual 225 to 250 calories, and contains 5 net carbs, rather than 50 net carbs in a typical bagel and includes the benefits of more fiber and protein “that build antibodies that can help you fight illness,” she pointed out.

It is based in Santa Monica, Calif. and launched online at www.eatbetter.com on June 22, 2021, to collect consumer feedback and test its supply chain operation. It sold out twice in two months.

Better Bagel, a low-calorie bagel, is selling at major supermarkets nationwide, and could lead to a line of other additional healthier products.

Yang explains that most bagels are full of refined carbohydrates, which are the leading driver of obesity in the world. These pernicious carbohydrates “convert to simple sugars in your bloodstream, raise insulin levels, a fat storage hormone, while also triggering a part of your brain called the hedonic passageway, which ties food craving to a system of pleasure and reward,” she said.

Indeed Marion Nestle, an emeritus professor of Nutrition and Food Studies at New York University and author of Food Politics, noted that the “65 to 90 fewer calories could matter—help with maintaining weight—if the calories are not made up by eating more or something else.” Furthermore, if the amounts of fiber and protein are significant “that might help with satiety.”

However, she added that “Americans are hardly lacking in proteins” so the claims of building antibodies are “a bit far-fetched.” She’s also skeptical, saying, “It’s hard to believe that the differences matter to health unless people are eating a lot of bagels. But it ought to work great for marketing.”

But Yang is not deterred by Nestle’s feedback. She acknowledged that the “50 calories aren’t going to make a much larger difference. What matters is the nutritional components and what those calories are, instead of being empty calories from sugar. They’re calories that are nutrients-dense and come from protein.”

In August 2022 Yang reached a deal with Whole Foods Market where her bagels are distributed in every one of its supermarkets globally. It’s sold in packets of four for $12 (but costs $16 online to account for shipping costs). In addition to Whole Foods, it’s also available at Gelson’s, the Fresh Market and Sprouts.

By the end of the year, it will be sold in about 2,000 stores, and next year that number can multiply by five times, to 10,000 stores.

Yang says Better Bagel appeals to a wide demographic including “natural, clean eaters, low carb eaters, athletes and vegans who love the high protein count, and diabetics who like that we have no added sugar, and bagel lovers, for taste.”

Asked if she envisions opening a retail store selling Better Bagels, Yang replied, “Potentially. Imagine getting a bagel, egg and sausage on a menu that has the net carb equivalent of two banana slices. Imagine feeling great and not having negative consequences.”

Originally its bagels were shipped in a frozen state, arriving in two to three days. Consumers are asked to freeze the product once it arrives, which have a shelf life of about a week.

But innovative Yang isn’t ready to stop at bagels. Looking into the future, she sees “transforming multiple categories-think ‘The Better Pretzel’ and ‘The Better Pizza.’” She expects in the future to be competing against some of the largest consumer brands in the country including Pepsi-Cola and Nestles.

Yang sees the two keys to the future success of Better Bagel as: number one solving a lot of problems for the consumer and having a strong mission behind the product.