About US

From The Founder:

Hi, I am Izhar Groner, the founder of Plantraw®.

As a kid I saw family members gaining weight and getting sick with the modern-day scourges of high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease. 

Determined not to go there, I studied everything I could about nutrition and health--from biology in college, to books, journals, and professional podcasts.

As someone who used to crave refined carbs I had to find satisfying alternatives that I could stick to--real foods that I could indulge in without harming my body.

For snacks, I would prepare for myself healthy treats which I couldn't find anywhere, and I used dates instead of sugar.

Friends and family loved my creations, kept asking me for them, and were telling me that I should consider producing and selling them in stores. Since I cared about health, and wanted to improve people's wellbeing, this was exciting feedback. I decided to follow this passion and in 2016 I started Neoliv Foods, which later became Primeraw Foods, now Plantraw®.

Before this venture I was in finance. I hold an MBA from NYU with majors in both finance and economics, and I am a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Hofstra University, where I also took biology. And I am a graduate of Cornell University's Plant-Based Nutrition Program.

My Mission - Nutritionally-Dense, Superb Snacks

I craft vegan, gluten-free, grain-free, and keto snacks that are as delectable as they are wholesome and nutritious.

I set up my own production facility and spared no effort in sourcing the very best ingredients so my customers may enjoy peerless treats.

All my processes revolve around preserving the nutritional value of my products.

I dehydrate my crackers and chips instead of baking them, to preserve as much of their nutrient content as possible.

I soak my almonds to deactivate the phytates and other anti-nutrients that naturally occur in them. This process, also known as "sprouting," enhances mineral absorption so the nutrients in my products are as bio-available as possible.

I don't heat my cocoa-date truffles or my Ice Crage™. Since they are not denatured, you can benefit from the flavonoids, antioxidants, and other micronutrients that naturally occur in raw, unsweetened cocoa paste.

My non-keto products are sweetened with whole organic dates, the fiber of which slows down carb absorption, buffering any potential glucose spike.

Does that mean that the glycemic loads of my non-keto products are universally permissible? Well, if you allow yourself dates, pineapple, mangos, and blueberries then you can enjoy my non-keto products.

The History of Plantraw®

I founded Neoliv Foods, the precursor of Primeraw Foods/Plantraw in 2016. During my initial couple of years in the market, I received customer feedback that was so consistently strong and encouraging that I decided to build my own factory.

After searching throughout Northern and Central New Jersey I found the right spot: An industrial space that had been used to manufacture mattresses, relatively clean, without any chemicals, large enough to house my expected machinery, and not too far from New York City. This is how it looked when I first entered the space with the real estate agent. 

My search had taken longer than I expected and my machinery started arriving before the facility was built out.

With no extra storage space, I had to work around the packed machines and move them back and forth from different parts of the facility as I fitted it out.

My machinery team started assembly as soon as it could, while my construction team was still working on the space.

The space in this picture would be my future packing area.

After many months of work the facility was finally finished.

This is the packing area today.

In the production area I moved from a Robot Coupe...

...to a bowl cutter...

...and assembled other production machinery, like my depositor...

Then, after passing all the required inspections and obtaining all the required permits and certifications, I finally hired people and started production...
 

Product Development

My first product was Chocolith®, later known as Cocoa-Date Truffles.