Nutreat Produces Tasty, Nutritious Superfood Desserts

By David Durrett – a current intern at GreenStar Food Co+op, David Durrett is a lifelong resident of Ithaca as well as a graduate of Ithaca College. He is a freelance reporter whose work has also appeared in Tompkins Weekly and The Ithaca Voice, among other publications. 

Try Nutreat at GreenStar Food Co+op’s 770 Cascadilla St. store on Saturday, March 12, 3 – 6 PM.

Nutreat is a locally produced superfood snack that’s delicious as well as nutritious.

The business was founded by Catia and Rodolfo  Coelho, shortly after the couple came back from Australia in 2018. They had moved to Australia for Rodolfo’s job with Kraft Heinz at that time.

Catia, who has a background as a clinical psychologist, was unable to practice in Australia due to licensing issues. She thus spent her time in the country doing research on nutrition, since it is part of the integrated approach she used for psychology. Eventually, her research led her and Rodolfo to start Nutreat with a goal to improve people’s health through preventive nutrition.

“Catia saw first-hand the benefit of food as medicine,” Rodolfo said.

After returning to the United States, Rodolfo and Catia sent prototypes of their product, a highly nutritious superfood dessert, to Cornell, which invited her to develop the product at their research and development facility at Cornell’s campus in Geneva, New York. Rodolfo and Catia now manufacture the product at this location.

The couple spent the first two years of Nutreat’s existence developing their product, working on its nutrition aspects and running clinical trials. The result? A shelf-stable product without any “nasty ingredients.” Their products have no added sugar, dairy, gluten or allergens besides coconut, and contain prebiotic fiber and good fats.

“Our mission is to produce without sugar, without preservatives, without any nasty ingredients,” Catia said.

In order to develop the product, Rodolfo and Catia worked with Cornell faculty, staff and students. Some Cornell food science seniors worked with Nutreat as part of their capstone project, in which they work with actual companies to improve products. This is the third year Nutreat has partnered with Cornell students.  They perform research to help develop Nutreat’s products, which complements Catia’s research.

“I think it’s a collaboration,” Catia said. “They help us, we help them with their learning.”

In June, Nutreat launched its first scalable product. Nutreat’s superfood snack desserts are made with organic ingredients and come in three delicious mainstream flavors – chocolate, coconut and berries. The packages contain all relevant information on the products in the interest of full disclosure.

“I think it’s important to give consumers all the information, so they can make informed decisions,” Rodolfo said.

Rodolfo said the science involved in the production of Nutreat makes their products unique. He described Nutreat’s products as preventive nutrition, in that it supports consumers’ health, hopefully preventing the need for pharmaceuticals or surgeries.

“When we see our consumers benefiting from our product, and sharing that with us, that’s what gives us the energy to continue pushing, to continue working hard to deliver the best nutrition possible in convenient and delicious ways,” Rodolfo said.

Nutreat employs three full-time employees, including Rodolfo and Catia, and employs four more at its Geneva plant when it is producing. Additionally, they have five or six contractors across the United States.

“We try to be nimble, we try to be frugal, we like to simplify things,” Rodolfo said, ” we have some experience in the food and beverage industry, which makes things easier for us, but as we grow, our intention is to increase  our presence in the Finger Lakes.”

Nutreat launched its product during the pandemic, which was a daunting time to begin the business, since they could not hold demos or interact with consumers. They will hold their first product demo at GreenStar on March 12.

“We’re happy things are going back to normal,” Rodolfo said.

Nutreat sells its product on its own website, https://www.nutreat.com/ and Amazon.com. GreenStar is the first retailer to sell Nutreat’s product. Nutreat first got in touch with GreenStar at the end of January of 2022 and began selling its product in the second week of February.

“I think it’s an amazing way to interact with a very tight community,” Rodolfo said about GreenStar. “Their members care about the store, care about what they eat, care about the environment. We think it’s a great opportunity to get closer to clients that are aligned with what we do at Nutreat.”

Rodolfo praised what GreenStar had to offer their customers, saying the product caters to people of all dietary needs, from vegans to people with specific health needs.

In addition to appreciating GreenStar’s selling their products, Catia admires their initiatives for community outreach, environmentalism, recycling and other causes, with members voting on which nonprofits will receive the store’s quarterly donation in the Partners for Change program.

“Those community programs are extremely  important and very unique, I think, for a store like GreenStar,” Catia said.

Rodolfo is happy to be selling his product in Ithaca.

“We’re truly excited to be part of the Finger Lakes food ecosystem,” Rodolfo said.