The Beauty Diary: Meet Keira Rumble, woman behind ‘Beauty Bites’ on Coles shelves

Keira Rumble created a snack bar after being “betrayed” by “healthy” options on shelves. Now her side hustle is in Coles and worth millions.

A woman who created a range of good-for-you treats after discovering the “healthy” snacks she was eating were full of sugar has landed a multimillion-dollar deal with Coles.

Keira Rumble, from Sydney, said she felt “betrayed” after uncovering the truth about the snacks she had been eating, which contributed to her gaining 25kg and being diagnosed as pre-diabetic.

At the same time, the former professional skier and beauty lover was also spending “lots of money” on supplements to boost her skin and gut health, sparking an idea to create an all-in-one bar with health and skincare benefits.

“I was shocked when I calculated what I was actually spending on each of these supplements,” the 30-year-old told news.com.au.

“Then on top of this I was buying healthy snacks that seemed to be loaded full of hidden sugars.

“I knew there had to be an easier way to get my collagen and gut health supplements into a more enjoyable experience.”

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Keira Rumble has landed a Coles deal to stock her ‘Beauty Bites’ across the country. Picture: Supplied

Keira’s frustrations birthed Krumbled Foods, a range of “beauty bites” that not only kill your cravings – but are packed full of a range of benefits, including collagen, vitamin C and E, prebiotics and probiotics.

Scientific research shows collagen is not only anti-ageing and good for skin, but also has incredible health benefits such as aiding muscle recovery and helping heal the digestive system. While good bacteria, found in prebiotics and probiotics, is proven to boost energy as well as help digest food and keep the gut healthy.

But as Keira – who is also a qualified nutritionist – notes, getting them all in can be tough, involving capsules, powders, tablets and liquids.

“Convenience was one of the biggest driving factors for me. I wanted something that you can pop in your handbag and away you go, but I also wanted to replace what I was eating with my morning coffee,” she said.

They are low in sugar and contain five health benefits. Picture: Supplied

The first attempts at Krumbled’s Beauty Bites were cooked up in Keira’s kitchen, with a focus on creating something “delicious”.

She then worked with a team of experts to formulate the recipe to meet food standard regulations, making sure it has an adequate shelf stability, the right texture and flavour profiles.

By the time the product launched in 2019, the recipe was perfected to have five anti-ageing and gut health ingredients bundled into one low sugar healthy bite.

“We have 3800mg of hydrolysed collagen peptides, which is more than most of the collagen sachets on the market, which tell you to have 2 or 3 sachets per day when you read the fine print. So we are more cost effective too,” she said.

Each bar also contains 8g prebiotic fibre which nourish the good bacteria and 1 billion CFUs of probiotics as well as vitamin C and vitamin E to help repair and protect skin.

“One of our biggest point of differences is actually also our sugar content,” Keira added.

“I started a health food company to create a truly healthy offering that wasn’t loaded full of hidden sugars because studies have proven that if you have a high sugar content in a collagen bar or ball your body actually favours sugar before it does the benefits.

“So essentially, a high sugar content nullifies the absorption of collagen and vitamins.”

Her business Krumbled Foods is now worth $5 million. Picture: Supplied

The bars were a huge success, far exceeding Keira’s expectations, leading to them appearing on shelves in Priceline last year.

Most recently though, Keira has cemented the brand as a leading healthy snack with a deal in Coles that sees them stocked instores across the country.

“We launched into Coles in the middle of a pandemic, which was extremely nerve-racking,” she said.

“Walking down the supermarket aisles and finding my products was so surreal.”

In the first few months of being stocked, Coles stores are regularly reporting stock has completely sold out.

“Coles sold out of Beauty Bites in more than 50 per cent of its stores in July,” she explained, adding she’s regularly sent videos from customers “quite literally taking the display boxes off the shelf and putting it into their basket”.

The bars launched in Coles in April during the pandemic. Picture: Supplied

As a result of the Priceline and Coles contracts, Keira said Krumbled Foods is now well on its way to hit its second year forecasted target of $4-5 million.

It also recently added a new flavour of the $4 bar, the Choc Cherry Coconut, joining the already popular White Chocolate Raspberry, Lemon Coconut and Apple Cinnamon.

Now Keira is planning to add a few more flavours to the line-up.

“Krumbled Foods has a very exciting 12 months ahead of us,” she said.

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