The perfect place to get healthy and sweet protein snacks in Utica
By Daniel Baldwin
New Hartford resident and Snack Rack store owner Amanda Mazza is a health and fitness enthusiast.
She always tries to live a healthy and active lifestyle.
“My husband and I are fitness and health enthusiasts,” Mazza said. “I’ve always been fitness focused and try to live a healthy and active lifestyle. I do CrossFit. I am a huge runner for years. I’ve always been an athlete my entire life. I raise my children this way.”
She also cooks and makes healthy homemade snacks for herself and her family.
“I have five children and a husband who I always cook healthy for and try to make healthy snacks for,” Mazza said. “I am always trying to come up with new and delicious tasting snacks.”
She makes protein bars, protein balls and protein shakes that taste just as good as any dessert, she said.
“My kids love the healthy snacks I make,” Mazza said. “You’re not going to miss the desserts when you’re having my treats. Because they taste just as good — and you get all the health benefits.”
Mazza got the idea of starting a snack business and selling her protein shake and snacks from her husband, Lawrence Mazza. Alongside this venture, she also envisioned delving into the winery business. Partnering with a vineyard SEO company could help her establish a strong online presence for her winery.
“I always made shakes for myself and my husband,” Mazza said. “My husband just said one day ‘you should turn this into a business. Everything is really good. The kids love everything. There’s nothing like this around here.’ So that’s what I did. When I go out, this [type of shop] is something that I would look for and I haven’t been able to find anything like this. So I just wanted to bring that to other people who were like me, looking for that.”
Mazza’s sister, Alyssa Sadallah, owns a bakery in the Mohawk Valley, named Wicked Sweets by Alyssa.
Sadallah wanted to relocate her bakery, and Mazza was trying to find a location for her business. The two sisters decided to work together and run their businesses under the same roof.
“My sister owns a very successful bakery in the area as well,” Mazza said. “She was looking to move from where she was originally. We found this empty lot and we decided to buy it together and build a new building.”
Sadallah’s bakery and Mazza’s protein snack store are now in the same building, at 402 Champlin Ave. in Utica.
“She owns the bakery, I own the snack shop and we own an ice cream shop together (in the same building),” Mazza explained. “We own the entire building.”
Mazza’s protein shakes, bars and balls are, of course, full of protein — but also are very low in sugar and fat.
Along with the protein powder, Mazza also adds fruits, natural peanut butter, gluten-free oats, unsweetened almond milk and other natural ingredients to her shakes and snacks.
Mazza said that the protein in her creations helps keep you fuller longer.
“It’s very important for everybody to meet their protein requirements for the day,” Mazza said. “My shakes, compared to just a fruit smoothie, are going to keep you fuller longer from this meal to your next meal. They’re very low in sugar. They have good carbohydrates, which are going to convert to energy. Very low in fat. It’s just good nutrition.”
Protein also speeds up a person’s recovery after an injury and helps build lean muscles, according to Piedmont.org, a health-related website.
The bars and balls are made up of protein and natural ingredients — but Mazza also adds M&Ms, chocolate chips and sprinkles to her products to give them that sweet dessert-like taste.
“M&Ms go into one flavor of the protein balls “because they mimic ‘monster’ cookies, which contain M&Ms and chocolate chips,” Mazza said.
“Sprinkles are used in the birthday cake balls to mimic birthday cake.”
The process of putting this business together was, in Mazza’s words, labor intensive.
“I think I bought every brand and flavor of protein powder that I could find until I found this one brand that I really like and it’s really great tasting. It dissolves really well and there’s no terrible aftertaste,” Mazza said. “Then I keep coming up with my own recipes for all for my snacks. It was just time consuming and labor intensive; but it’s (business) been really good so far. I got it done.”
Mazza makes all the protein shakes, balls and bars by herself.
“I make everything myself,” Mazza said. “I do not have any help or staff.”
The hard work is paying off, as more and more people are buying Mazza’s protein products and saying good things about them.
“Business is very good,” Mazza said. “I get new customers coming in every day and have many repeat regulars. I have a lot of people who come in, buy the bars, cut the bars and have one piece after dinner, just to curb their sweet tooth. I’m fortunate enough to have no negative feedback at the moment. People love my products and love that I come up with new flavors and snacks all the time.”