CT Entrepreneur Award Finalist, Now on Amazon

The new year is off to a great start for a rapidly growing local entrepreneurial business. Bare Life Coconut Hot Cocoa Mix is having a hot winter, with new retail locations, new recognition, and new milestones achieved – as the popularity of the signature hot cocoa mix continues to accelerate.

Bare Life and its founder Ali Lazowski continue to receive recognition for their gluten-free and dairy free coconut hot cocoa. Both have earned a place as finalists for the CT Entrepreneur Awards. Public online voting is now underway (through March 8) at www.ctentrepreneurawards.com

Now Available on Amazon

Bare Life’s coconut hot cocoa mix is now available for the first time on Amazon. Both the 10 serving pouch and the specially-designed box of 10 single serving pouches are available from Amazon, featuring the newly redesigned packaging that is environmentally friendly.

Additi0nal Retail Locations

As of this month, Bare Life coconut hot cocoa mix has been shipped to individuals in 42 states – as word of the product continues to spread. In addition, the retail market in New England is growing, now extending beyond Connecticut for the first time.

The first out-of-state retail location is at the Flatbread Company in Bedford, MA, northwest of Boston. Plus, three new on-site locations have been added to the retail roster in the company’s home state of Connecticut. Consumers can now purchase Bare Life hot cocoa mix at the Manchester Parkade Health Shoppe in Manchester, Fitzgeralds’s Foods in Simsbury and It’s Only Natural market in Middletown.

Other in store-locations throughout Connecticut include: ShopRite in Canton, The Crown Market in West Hartford, New Morning Market in Woodbury, Essential Health in West Hartford, Omar Coffee in Newington, CT Farm Fresh Express in East Haddam, and Liquid Nirvana in Avon and Glastonbury.

Recipes on the Web, Tasting on the Road

Bare Life will also be at the Asbury Park Vegan Pop-Up in New Jersey on February 16, and at Gluten-Free New England’s Greater Boston Expo on April 26. The Bare Life website, www.eatbarelife.com,

also features a variety of tasty recipes featuring the coconut hot cocoa mix. A new recipe is added every month. Among the easy-to-prepare recipes currently on the site: Kristina's Coconut Hot Cocoa Brownies, Hot Cocoa Protein Muffins, Bare Life Hot Cocoa Pancakes, and Hot Cocoa French Toast.

Award-Winning Cocoa Mix

Bare Life was recently awarded the Best Allergen Friendly Cocoa Mix in the NorthEast region of the United States by Lux Life magazine’s Food and Drink Awards. The magazine selects recipients for awards in the categories of beauty, health, travel, and food. In describing the Bare Life hot cocoa, Lux Life noted that Lazowski “created a delicious, five ingredient, and allergen friendly, coconut hot cocoa that’s gluten free and vegan, that everyone can enjoy!”

“My goal in starting Bare Life was to create foods, like our Coconut Hot Cocoa mix that worked for people living with allergies and sensitives and actually tasted great, so that having allergies would no longer mean missing out on delicious treats. So it’s so humbling to receive recognition, as we continue to reach more people - that means we’re achieving our mission!” Lazowski said.

Beginnings

Since launching the company in 2017, Lazowski has been featured in the Fempire Podcast, which features women entrepreneurs nationwide, as well as locally on CT Live on NBC Connecticut, Better Connecticut on WSFB, and FOX61. She also appeared at two food festivals, in Boston and New Jersey, last fall and was recognized as one of the 40 under Forty in 2018 by the Hartford Business Journal and in Connecticut Magazine. Bare Life even had a cameo during the holiday season in a Lifetime move filmed in Connecticut.

Lazowski started the company after being diagnosed her junior year of college with cancer and Lyme disease that caused her to re-evaluate her diet. She needed foods that were gluten-free, dairy-free, refined sugar-free - and that actually tasted good. Developing the original recipe began in her kitchen.

Bare Life’s Coconut Hot Cocoa Mix is made with only five organic ingredients; coconut milk, coconut sugar, cacao powder, ground vanilla beans, and kosher pink Himalayan salt. The company sources its ingredients from fair-trade friendly companies, ensuring all their products come from sustainable businesses that offer fair market or living wages to their employees.

Statistics show that many Americans live with chronic illnesses, allergies and sensitivities:

• 133 million Americans (40% of the population) live with chronic illness, and even more are affected by them
• 15 Million Americans have food allergies
• 22% of the American population have food sensitivities, and that has us tied for the highest food sensitivity rate in the world

More information about Bare Life is available at www.eatbarelife.com.