Learn as much as you can about the business you are about to start in. I did not know anything about the food business before I started and I think that if I had spent just a little more time getting to know the business beforehand, I could have avoided some early stupid mistakes.
Intoday’s fast-paced world, snacking has become an essential part of our daily routine. However, not all snacks are created equal, and many options available are unhealthy. Fortunately, there are companies dedicated to creating and promoting healthy snacks and treats that are not only delicious but also nutritious. As a part of this series, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Pierre Johnsson.
Pierre Johnsson, born on February 7, 1984, in Karlstad, Värmland, is a former professional ice hockey player who concluded his career with Frölunda HC in the Swedish Hockey League. He transitioned into coaching and has achieved significant success, including winning the Swedish national league with Skellefteå in 2024 and securing a silver medal at the Junior World Cup with the Swedish junior national hockey team, also in 2024. Alongside his wife Linda, Pierre has co-founded RE:DO Foods, a company specializing in plant-based protein products.
Thank you so much for joining us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’?
Sure! I was born and raised in a small town in Sweden called Karlstad, where ice hockey is a big deal. I have been passionate about hockey my entire life. I played professionally in the top Swedish league and even had a stint in the NHL. Unfortunately, my career ended abruptly due to an injury which led me to transition into coaching. Today I am a coach in the highest league in Sweden as well for the Swedish junior national ice hockey team. On a personal note, I am married to my high school sweetheart Linda that I met 23 years ago, and we have two wonderful children.
Can you share with us the most interesting story from your career? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘takeaways’ you learned from that?
The day I got injured was a pivotal moment for me, it showed me how quickly a dream can end. Everything I had worked for my entire life, the one thing I wanted to do — play ice hockey — was over in an instant.
When everything you know and everything you are is suddenly gone, you must completely rethink your path.
I learned that it is possible to create a new dream and achieve it, but you must be willing to try new things, step outside your comfort zone, and be prepared to work incredibly hard to reach it.
When I got injured and was offered the opportunity to start coaching, I was at first very hesitant. I have never liked standing in front of people, I even did badly in school because I disliked speaking in class. I have simply never liked being in front of a group in that way. So, stepping into that role was very hard, very hard indeed. But with support from my colleagues who believed I had something worth bringing to the table, and with support from my wife Linda, who has always been by my side, I made the transition. And today, 11 years later, I am coaching the current Swedish champions in the top hockey league in Sweden and have the privilege of representing Sweden with the national junior team. I have proven to myself that you can achieve your dreams if you are willing to push into the uncomfortable unknown and work hard enough.
You are a successful leader. Which three-character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
Honesty: Being 100% honest and open with my players at all times has been crucial. Many of the young players I have coached now play in the NHL, and a significant part of their success comes from the honesty I have maintained with them about what they need to improve. Whether it is about eating better, training harder, or any other aspect, being straightforward has helped them grow tremendously.
Clarity: It is important not to beat around the bush when trying to convey a message or explain something. Be clear and to the point. Nothing makes people as insecure and unwilling to show initiative as unclear instructions.
Compassion: This is the foundation for honesty and clarity. You need to genuinely see and care for the person behind the player. As long as they truly know and feel that you care about them, you can say what needs to be said when it needs to be said. It is essential to get to know each player individually to manage them in the way they need to be managed so every one of them can reach their own individual potential.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that might help people?
Yes, I plan to go back to school this fall! I am going to study leadership at the university, so I guess I will finally become a scholar after all.
I believe this will help me transform what I intuitively know and have learned the hard way into a more formal understanding of the craft. From basic pedagogy to presentation techniques and much more, I think it will allow me to refine my skills and, in turn, help others more effectively.
Ok, thank you for all that. Now let’s shift to the main focus of our interview. What inspired you to focus on promoting healthy snacks and treats?
It all started when Linda and I were living in Gothenburg, a city on the west coast of Sweden. At the time, I was still playing ice hockey in the highest national division in Sweden as well as for the Swedish national hockey team. Every morning, I struggled to get a proper breakfast down before training, I have never been a big breakfast person. Adding to that, being lactose intolerant in a country that, together with Finland, consumes the most dairy in the world is a challenge.
I wished for a magic pill that could give me a healthy breakfast equivalent to a bowl of oatmeal and an egg. So, I turned our family kitchen into a makeshift laboratory, experimenting with ingredients that could provide the nutritional equivalent of that breakfast. The concoction I created was far from appealing, a blend that looked as chaotic as the process itself. Linda, my dear wife, remembered the first time she saw it; she jokingly urged me to please find a pre-made alternative. Little did we know that this was the beginning of RE:DO Foods.
Then we had kids, and the challenge persisted. Our son Douglas grew, reaching the energetic age of eight. Like me, he juggled a demanding schedule of school and sports training, and like me, Douglas was lactose intolerant and found breakfast a challenging meal. This parallel sparked a realization: there was a need for a convenient, nutritious solution not just for athletes like me, but for active kids like Douglas too. And, of course, it needed to be dairy-free and plant-based, for both people and the planet.
We started out completely bootstrapped, with no money, no knowledge, only a small team of dedicated people with Linda and me at the center. We are still a small, tight-knit team, and do all the work ourselves.
How do you ensure that your products remain both healthy and delicious?
We are constantly developing our products in collaboration with our producers and in dialogue with our customers. We are always looking for ways to make the products better and increase the value we can deliver to our customers; it is after all for their sake we are doing this.
We have a very clear vision and strong values in RE:DO Foods. Our products are made with honest, high-quality ingredients. We prefer to buy more expensive raw materials and raise the price if needed so that the customer receives the best possible product, rather than compromising and creating a cheaper inferior one.
And yes, taste is crucial. A product can be incredibly healthy, but if it does not taste good enough people will not buy it. Therefore, we must ensure that our products are both nutritious and delicious.
What are some things you have done to educate consumers about the nutritional benefits of your products?
The biggest challenge has been helping people understand our product, as it is different and unique. We have created a whole new type of product with entirely new ingredients: a plant-based high-protein product that also contains the right amount and right type of carbohydrates to keep you going. Other products out there are either protein bars with zero carbohydrates, which is not practical — an active body needs carbs — or they are filled with sugar and lack protein.
We have a tight collaboration with the head coach of the Swedish cross-country skiers, and he shares our view that the biggest danger today is the fear of carbs. We have mistakenly put all carbohydrates in the same penalty box, but an active body, especially an active growing young person, needs the right kind and the right amount of carbohydrates in addition to protein to perform optimally.
So yes, it has been difficult to get this across, but we see that the who people try our products tend to stick with them, giving us a lot of very loyal customers.
And the biggest proof of our product’s quality so far is that we got the Swedish Olympic Committee’s stamp of approval as “good fuel”. That is a program the S.O.C runs in Sweden where sports nutrition experts select products suitable for athletes. We are the only protein bar with this approval which demonstrates just how beneficial our product truly is.
Have you experienced any challenges in changing consumer perceptions about healthy snacks? How did you approach that?
Yes, one was that plant-based products can’t contain enough, or good enough protein, people seem to think that protein derived from milk is the only way to go, and that is something we are still working on getting out there, that our plant-based products are on par, or better, than dairy products.
And then of course the part about the carbs again, there seems to be this widespread belief that protein products should not contain any sugars at all. But if you want a complete meal that keeps you going, you need to combine slow carbohydrates with protein, like a bowl of oatmeal and an egg, or a REDO bar.
We believe we are the superior choice for our target audience — active people who want sensible, smaller meals, and parents to growing youths who are active and sporty. To address this challenge, we focus on educating our consumers about the importance of balanced nutrition. We highlight how our products provide a mix of slow-release carbohydrates and protein, essential for sustained energy and overall health. Through collaborations with sports professionals and endorsements from reputable organizations like the Swedish Olympic Committee, we try to reinforce the credibility and benefits of our products.
What are your ”5 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Started”?
1 . Learn as much as you can about the business you are about to start in. I did not know anything about the food business before I started and I think that if I had spent just a little more time getting to know the business beforehand, I could have avoided some early stupid mistakes.
2 . How much time it would take? Everyone you speak to always tells you it is going to take double the time and double the money, but it is not until you try doing it yourself that you actually realize that it’s true. You need patience and also make sure to secure enough resources, so you have an economic runway that enables you to spend the time needed.
3 . How much work it would take. But that is something I wouldn’t want to know before I started. If I had known how high the mountain was up there behind the clouds, I am not sure I would have had the courage to start climbing in the first place. So, in this case, I would say my ignorance was bliss.
4 . How many incredible people I would get to know and work with. It has been, and is still, one of the main rewards of this project, getting to know so many talented and inspiring people. Like Hans-Anders who today is chairman of the board of RE:DO Foods, it’s much thanks to him and handful of very dedicated early investors that this came to be. And of course, my wife Linda, without her, none of this would have happened at all. She supported me throughout my hockey career, moving around with me and managing everything while I focused on playing and training. She then supported me during my career transition to coaching, all the way back up to the highest league. And now, as we started RE:DO together, she took on the role of CEO and head of sales. If I had known this (and number 5 below) I would have started earlier.
5 . How much fun it was going to be. Sure, we have had hard times, and we’re not out of the forest yet, we are still a small company taking on a multi-billion-dollar industry, but we try to enjoy life in the moment, and we appreciate each other. And nothing beats the pride and joy in seeing happy customers that discover our products and love them.
In a constantly evolving industry, how do you stay ahead of trends to keep your offerings innovative and appealing?
As a small company, we must work extremely hard to succeed, and communicate with each other constantly about what’s going on and what can be improved. Linda clocks in hundreds of travel days per year, visiting customers, attending trade shows, events, and more, and she always brings back new ideas and influences. Her dedication, vision, and relentless effort to stay connected with the market and our customers ensure that we remain innovative and appealing in this constantly evolving industry.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
Two things that I really care about are poverty and hunger, and they often go together. If you do not have enough money, you will not be able to feed yourself or your family either, which in turn leads to bad choices out of necessity, leading to the poorest eating the worst food. I would love to start a movement to help educate and feed people that cannot afford to themselves, we know nutrition after all, and I really think we could make a difference.
What is the best way for our readers to continue to follow your work online?
The best way would be to follow RE:DO online, on Instagram and LinkedIn (@redofoodsusa). I try to stay out of the limelight, I said from the start that RE:DO is never about one person, it is about the products and core values we live by.
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent on this. We wish you only continued success.
About the Interviewer: Wanda Malhotra is a wellness entrepreneur, lifestyle journalist, and the CEO of Crunchy Mama Box, a mission-driven platform promoting conscious living. CMB empowers individuals with educational resources and vetted products to help them make informed choices. Passionate about social causes like environmental preservation and animal welfare, Wanda writes about clean beauty, wellness, nutrition, social impact and sustainability, simplifying wellness with curated resources. Join Wanda and the Crunchy Mama Box community in embracing a healthier, more sustainable lifestyle at CrunchyMamaBox.com.
