Yanni and Leo on Building a Better-for-You Snack Brand in Thailand

In Episode 41 of The Exponential Show, host Mayank Singh sits down with Yanni and Leo, founders of OLY Snacks, for a conversation on building a healthier snack brand in Thailand, changing consumer preferences, product development, community-led growth, and what it takes to compete in a crowded food category.

OLY is a high-protein cereal snack brand built around a simple idea: snacking can be healthier without becoming boring. With complementary backgrounds across food science, nutrition, fitness, branding, and design, Yanni and Leo are creating products that combine taste, convenience, quality ingredients, and better nutrition.

The episode is supported by True Digital Park, Thailand’s most comprehensive soft-landing platform for international individuals and companies. True Digital Park brings together workspace, community, and ecosystem support to help businesses and talent launch, grow, and scale in Thailand.

From Complementary Skills to a Shared Product Vision

OLY started with a simple observation from Yanni and Leo’s own lives.

Both founders were health conscious, active, and interested in building something together. Yanni brought a background in food science and nutrition, while Leo brought experience in branding and design. Those skills naturally complemented each other, but the idea for OLY came before the formal business plan.

They began by asking what kind of product they wanted in their own lives.

The answer came down to three things: health, convenience, and enjoyment.

Living in Bangkok means people are often on the move, stuck in traffic, or looking for quick options that fit into busy routines. At the same time, Yanni and Leo wanted to build something that did not feel overly clinical or restrictive. The product had to be nutritious, but it also had to be fun, tasty, and easy to enjoy.

That is how the idea for OLY began to take shape.

Why Consumer Preferences Are Changing

A major part of the conversation focused on how eating habits have changed in Thailand.

In the past, healthy eating was often associated with cutting calories, eating plain food, or following very restrictive routines. Today, consumers are becoming more informed. Many people read nutrition labels, track protein intake, exercise regularly, and think more carefully about what they put into their bodies.

For Yanni and Leo, this shift was visible in their own community.

They noticed that people wanted something quick and nutritious, but many of the available options were either not healthy enough, not enjoyable enough, or not convenient enough. Traditional breakfast cereals were often high in sugar, while healthier alternatives sometimes lacked taste or excitement.

OLY was created to sit in that gap.

The goal was not to make a product that only appealed to hardcore fitness enthusiasts. It was to create something that worked for modern consumers who wanted better snacks, better ingredients, and better nutrition without giving up taste.

Creating a Product That Balances Taste and Nutrition

OLY launched with two core flavors: Wild Honey and Cocoa.

These were designed to bring a sense of nostalgia while still offering a better nutritional profile. The products are high in protein, low in sugar, and made without fillers, preservatives, or artificial flavoring.

The protein source in the original range is whey protein. According to Yanni, working with protein changes the texture and structure of the product significantly. Instead of creating a cereal that becomes soggy quickly, the team wanted a product that could hold its crunch and feel more satisfying.

That texture matters.

A denser, crunchier cereal can help people feel fuller and more satisfied without needing to eat too much. For OLY, the product is not just about the nutrition label. It is also about the full eating experience.

The brand later introduced OLY Go, a plant-based range with flavors including Matcha and Strawberry. These products were developed as a more modern, on-the-go format, with added vitamins such as vitamin C and B12.

The newer range also reflects customer feedback. Some customers wanted bag-sized packaging. Others wanted flavors that could pair well with the original cocoa and honey products. Strawberry complements chocolate, while matcha pairs naturally with honey.

Competing in a Crowded Snack Market

Building a new food brand is rarely easy, especially in categories where large FMCG players already dominate shelf space and consumer habits.

Yanni and Leo acknowledged that sitting near major cereal brands can feel intimidating. But OLY was not built to compete with legacy brands on their own terms. The goal was not to beat large cereal companies at mass-market cereal. Instead, OLY is serving a different type of customer.

Traditional cereal has usually been about taste and convenience. OLY adds another layer: nutritional value.

The brand is aimed at shoppers who are already walking down the cereal aisle but looking for something different. They may still want a tasty and convenient snack, but they also care about protein, sugar content, ingredient quality, and how the product fits into their lifestyle.

That positioning helped OLY find space in the market.

Being one of Thailand’s first high-protein cereal snack brands also helped open conversations with retailers. Supermarkets and stores were already looking for healthier, more differentiated options, which made the product easier to understand and more exciting to introduce.

Building Through Community and Collaboration

Community has played an important role in OLY’s growth.

As a boutique brand, Yanni and Leo did not begin with a large marketing budget. Instead of relying heavily on paid advertising, they focused on meeting people directly and building trust through face-to-face interactions.

They showed up at wellness events, worked with gyms, connected with expat communities, joined group events, and collaborated with complementary brands.

Those collaborations have included activewear brands, milk brands, and more unexpected partnerships. One example they shared was working with a student racing group, where OLY appeared on electric race cars during a Grand Prix-style event. For the founders, these collaborations are not just about visibility. They are about showing how OLY can fit naturally into different moments in people’s lives.

This approach also reflects a broader trend in health and wellness.

People are not only buying products. They are buying into lifestyles, communities, and values. For a brand like OLY, being part of fitness, wellness, and active communities helps the product feel more relatable and trusted.

Thailand as a Base for a Health-Focused Consumer Brand

Thailand has been an important part of OLY’s story.

The founders see strong demand from both expat and Thai consumers, but they also noted that the Thai market has evolved significantly. While cereal may have traditionally felt more Western, Thai consumers are increasingly adopting more international breakfast habits, on-the-go routines, gym culture, and protein-focused diets.

This shift is not limited to Bangkok.

OLY has seen demand grow beyond the capital, including in Thailand’s island communities, where fitness, wellness, and health-conscious lifestyles are especially strong.

At the same time, education remains a major part of the work. When OLY launched, high-protein cereal was still a niche idea in Thailand. Many consumers associated protein with gym supplements or protein powder. The team had to explain what high-protein cereal was, why protein matters, and how the product could fit into everyday routines.

That education is becoming easier as more health-focused brands enter the market.

Fitness events, wellness communities, Hyrox, gyms, and other active lifestyle movements are all helping consumers understand the broader category.

Building a Brand That Looks and Feels Different

OLY’s branding was also a deliberate choice.

The packaging uses a more international, premium visual language, with much of the front-facing marketing content in English while still including required Thai product information. For Leo and Yanni, this was part of making the product feel different from standard snack and cereal options on the shelf.

The goal was to create something that felt modern, premium, and aligned with the lifestyle of consumers who are already engaging with international fitness, wellness, and nutrition trends.

That attention to branding matters because the product is asking consumers to rethink a familiar category. It is still cereal. It is still a snack. But it is also positioned as something more nutritious, more intentional, and more suited to how health-conscious consumers live today.

What’s Next for OLY Snacks

OLY has already moved from its first two flavors into new formats, new formulations, and new customer segments.

The brand began with Wild Honey and Cocoa, then expanded into Matcha and Strawberry through the plant-based OLY Go range. Along the way, Yanni and Leo have continued to listen to customer feedback, improve the product, and explore new ways to make healthy snacking more accessible.

Their larger ambition is to help make better-for-you products more exciting in Thailand.

They saw a market where healthier products did not always have strong branding, and where well-branded products were not always as healthy as they looked. OLY is trying to bring those worlds together: better ingredients, better nutrition, and better design.

The message they leave for consumers is simple: be conscious and read the label.

Branding matters, but ingredients matter too. A product may look healthy from the front of the pack, but the real story is often on the nutrition label and ingredient list. For Yanni and Leo, helping people make better choices starts there.