All natural, organic, dairy free and complete protein products made with cricket powder. This is the promise made by Byron Bay (Austrailia) based company Grilo. Grilo means “cricket” in Portuguese.
On their site, they write, “According to the dictionary, a cricket is a brown or black insect that makes short, loud noises by rubbing its wings together. For us it means much more than that.” I love it.
Martina, a member of the Grilo family, reached out to me a few weeks ago and kindly sent some bars my way to try out. I was not disappointed. From the packaging, to the bar look and texture, and especially to the taste, Grilo is a solid choice if you want to experience bugs in a comfortable and delicious way.
Their site offers cricket blends and bars. The organic cricket bars come in Raw Cacao Fudge and Banofee Pie. Let’s dive into the review!
The Packaging
I’m all about the packaging. When you’re walking through a supermarket aisle, you have a mere split-second to form a judgment about a produce. Most of these decisions are based on implicit associations: automatic thought concepts linked in the brain. Packaging matters a great deal in these choices. Subtle elements such as color, shape, and texture provide customers with many clues.
Grilo’s packaging does a great job, in my opinion. I’ve seen a trend in cricket protein bar packaging over the past few years. Many companies tried to normalize the crickets by minimizing them on the bar’s packaging. Bars would mimic the styles of other traditional protein bars. We found, however, that if a customer is going to eat a cricket protein bar, they’re dang proud of it, and want that badge of uniqueness/sustainability/health prominently displayed on the packaging.
Grilo’s packages clearly state what they are: Cricket Protein Bars. Their color selection does wonders to make the bars seem clean and healthy. In western society, blue and white are associated with cleanliness. Yellow sparks feelings of pleasure, convenience, and tastiness. These are the three main colors on the Grilo bar. Their color choice resonates well with the necessary interplay between the implicit association, product category, and target market.
The natural landscape image on the bar is simple and straightforward. Not too cluttered. I would almost recommend an image that gives customers a peek inside the bar – a clear portion of the package or an image of the bar itself.
Bar Look & Taste
Grilo bars look and feel just how I expect a protein bar to. They are dark and textured. I prefer the grainy look of their bars to something that feels more manufactured (like a Laffy-taffy texture) for cricket products because it gives customers a familiar trail-mix vibe. The texture is pleasant. All in all, the bars fall right in line with my expectations.
The same can be said of the taste. The Raw Cacao Fudge is flavorful but not too sweet. All in all, the taste is great.
Consumer Acceptance
Now that Grilo has a killer product, the next hurdle will be educating the average consumer on the benefits of eating bugs. That’s where cheerleaders like Bugible come in and other supporters like digital influencers can be a big help. I’m thrilled that YouTubers like Culture Crash have agreed to promote edible bugs in videos like the following (where Grilo gets a great review!)
Why Crickets?
- Crickets have twice as much iron as beef, gram for gram.
- Crickets have twice as much potassium as spinach.
- Crickets have as much calcium as milk.
Crickets are also one of the most sustainable proteins on earth. They require less land, water, feed, and energy than many other popular protein sources including beef, chicken, or pork.
That’s all for now folks! To support Grilo and the awesome work they are doing to push sustainable protein forward, please visit: https://griloprotein.com.au/
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