Earlier this year, I shared the story of Nashville-based chicken chip company WILDE and how it was taking advantage of a huge influx of capital to grow its business. Recently, another local supplier has seen its business take off with a major fund raise, and now Daily Crunch is putting Nashville on the map as Snackville.
I first discovered both of these brands during our Hot (Not) Chicken tasting experiment, in which we rated both favorably in the “other snacks” category. What I didn’t know at the time was the fascinating story behind Daily Crunch. The brand was founded by Laurel Orley and her aunt Diane Orley. Diane had discovered sprouted nuts as a staple in India, and her homemade versions of the snack were popular among friends and family. Laurel had extensive experience in media strategy for companies like Lipton Tea and Hellman’s, so she convinced her aunt to move forward with the new business.
A friend who was a member of the local entrepreneurial group EO Nashville introduced Laurel to Dan Stephenson, who would become the third co-founder and COO of Daily Crunch. Stephenson brought his business acumen as a former financial analyst with Ingram Barge and his culinary experience as an entrepreneur, which he developed in his side hustle, Dan’s Gourmet Foods — a mac-and-cheese company that was a big favorite of the Scene’s writers (including me) a decade ago.
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In the early days of the company, Stephenson concentrated on taste, texture and flavor of the product line. Instead of taking the traditional route of working with a professional flavor lab to develop recipes, he prefers to create everything from scratch.
Daily Crunch earned a patent this year for its process of soaking almonds until they begin to sprout, which activates enzymes that break down phytic acid inside the nut; they then dehydrate them instead of roasting them. The proprietary method makes the minerals inside the almond more accessible to the body, offering more bioavailable nutrients than traditional roasted nuts. This also makes them easier to digest along with offering 20 percent more protein and 50 percent more fiber than raw almonds.
The low-temperature dehydration creates a crunchy texture while protecting the integrity of the nutrients that would be altered by roasting at higher temps. The result is a snack that Laurel Orley promises “satisfies crunch craving in a clean way.”
The startup had several things going against its early success. Laurel describes the trail mix/snack nut category as “trusty but dusty.” Also, the company launched in March 2020 — the scariest business climate of the early pandemic years. Knowing that they were starting with an anchor around their necks, the trio of founders leaned into direct-to-consumer early on. “Stores weren’t functioning normally at that time," Laurel says. "Whole Foods and Sprouts weren’t looking for new products."
Initially promoting Daily Crunch’s use of non-GMO ingredients, no seed oils or processed sugars, the company began to earn fans through online sales back when that was how people were just starting to do their grocery shopping. Their initial offering was three flavors: Original, Cherry Berry and Coffee. Coffee fell by the wayside and was replaced by a quartet of new flavors over time: Turmeric + Sea Salt, Cacao + Sea Salt, Nashville Hot and Dill Pickle.
Soon retail outlets began to sign on, including a national relationship with CVS and placement in regional supermarket chains like Meijer, Wegmans and Publix. Through lots of hard work by a growing team of employees working remotely around the country, Daily Crunch became the fastest-growing player in the almond subcategory, with 82 percent year over year in 2024.
This growth also earned them a spot on this year’s Inc. 5000 list, a measure of sales growth over the trailing three years. It also established Daily Crunch as the highest-ranking Nashville company on the list. Not wanting to rest on their laurels (no pun intended), Daily Crunch has simultaneously been raising investment capital for future growth, recently completing a series-A round in September that brought in $4 million to throw a little fuel on the fire.
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Part of Daily Crunch’s investment has gone to securing relationships with two different co-packers in Wisconsin and Connecticut that offer easier nationwide fulfillment and distribution as well as expanding their future production capacity fivefold. Sourcing their raw ingredients from a sustainable almond farm in Northern California ensures stable supply for future growth, and the series-A funding should give them a financial runway for the next three to four years.
The next big announcements are a new flavor and a national relationship with Whole Foods. In addition to expanding to more than 500 Whole Foods locations, the company continues to grow with Publix.
Whole Foods will have first dibs on the rollout of Daily Crunch’s newest flavor, Sweet & Spicy Sichuan Cashews. This tongue-tingling concoction represents the company’s first foray into non-almond products, but the sprouting and dehydration process is the same. The addition of crispy edamame to this Asian-inspired snack makes it a crunchy and craveable treat that should be served as a bar snack across the country, IMHO.
What’s next for this nut-powered rocket ship of a business? Only time will tell, but based on the current trajectory, you can expect more big things from these locals.
