The guilty pleasures are usually related to those small indulgences we decide to give ourselves in the form of unhealthy food, from a chocolate bar to a pizza. Jaume Betrian, Juan Umbert, and Adrià Colominas want to turn that concept around, making sure that pleasure is no longer always associated with an unhealthy product or one that makes you feel guilty. They do it with PLESH, the startup of chocolate snacks with no added sugars founded by these entrepreneurs in April of this year.
"When we think about rewarding ourselves, we always associate it with products that are more than 50% pure sugar and that, therefore, are by no means a reward for our body," laments Jaume Betrian. For this reason, its founders set out to create a product that was "just as pleasurable and tasty but without causing that unhealthy glycemic spike for our body."
Thus, they decided to dedicate more than a year to researching a new recipe that would eliminate added sugar from the equation and, at the same time, seduce the palate by emulating the flavors of those bars and snacks enjoyed since childhood. The recipe, designed by Lluc Dalmau —recognized for his work in high-end pastry—, is based on a mixture of vegetable fibers that replace sugar and provide 20% more prebiotic fibers and between 10% and 18% protein.
"With this recipe, we manage to trick the brain, generating substances like dopamine or serotonin related to happiness, but without these having been generated by a large amount of sugar in our body," Betrian defends. Thus, through their own recipe and their own production processes, they manage to crystallize these vegetable fibers to simulate the crunchy texture of sugar and create a healthy caramel.
"Not only do we manage to make the body generate the same sensations as with sugar, but we also ensure that it does not have to metabolize that large amount of sugar which, in excess, is associated with cardiovascular diseases or obesity," adds Betrian. Likewise, and despite the fact that the main objective is always flavor and texture, being made with vegetable fibers, they also represent a good option for celiacs, lactose intolerant individuals, or vegetarians, and even for diabetics who cannot ingest foods that generate a high glucose spike in the body.
For all these reasons, Betrian defends that innovation is intrinsic to PLESH's DNA. In addition to their disruptive recipe, they also use cutting-edge technology, for example, using 3D printing to give their bars a personalized and unique shape in the market. However, despite their novel recipe, the founders did not want to be relegated to high-end pastry and have decided to opt for competitive prices to reach the general public, from children to adults.
All this, without forgetting local production (in three Catalan factories) and with proximity products: Largueta almonds from farmers in La Franja and salt extracted from the mines of Cardona. Likewise, the product is produced in two Catalan factories, although the goal would be for them to have their own factory in a still distant future.
For now, they have launched four products in two different formats —chosen for being the majority formats and the best-selling among snacks—: dragees (small almond gems with dark chocolate and sea salt, and with milk chocolate and salted caramel); and bars (dark chocolate with almond and milk chocolate with caramel).
In the future, and in line with the company's innovative spirit, they do not rule out exploring new formats such as chocolate bars or wafers. They also want to continue improving their recipe, with the idea of being able to eliminate, for example, the polyalcohol that their chocolate now incorporates as a sweetener. The goal would be not to depend on this chocolate bought from a third party, but to have the capacity to directly produce their mixture and recipe from imported cocoa to offer an even healthier product without raising its prices.
These snacks can now be acquired both online, on the company's platform, and in all Esclat supermarkets of the Bonpreu group in Catalonia and Cal Fruitós stores, as well as in the airports and train stations of Barcelona, Madrid, and Alicante through Areas. However, Betrian emphasizes that these distribution points are just the beginning of a long journey, and assures that they are already in very advanced negotiations with other distribution chains to grow first in Catalonia and make the leap to the national market between the end of this year and the beginning of the next.
To do so, PLESH also hopes to close another round of financing between this last quarter of 2025 and early 2026. They will do so after raising one million euros at the end of 2024 in their first round, in which venture capital funds such as Denium or BStartup from Banco Sabadell, entrepreneurs from companies such as Incapto, Matcha & Co or Grupo Confitería, and even renowned personalities such as athletes Marc Gasol, Rudy Fernández and Gerard Piqué participated.
The success of this round is explained not only by the novelty of the product, but also by the consolidated trajectory of its three founders, with Jaume Betrian having founded and directed Ofertia until its successful acquisition, and Juan Manuel Umbert Rosselló and Adrià Colominas being the founders of Makeat, the innovation, design and product development studio focused on the gastronomic sector.
But its founders do not seem willing to stop here and contemplate various ambitious plans, such as international expansion to countries like the United Kingdom, France or Holland, starting in the last quarter of 2026. For now, the startup expects to close its first year of activity, after the product was launched in April, with a turnover of around one million euros.