Our story

We're Hannah, Lucie, Cayden and Ava - four Harper Adams University students who met on the Young Enterprise Start-Up programme and discovered we were all a little obsessed with the same two things: great food, and not wasting it.

From Surplus to Snack Bar

Riff started with a banana problem. Our university runs a community fridge - unsold, perfectly edible food from local supermarkets, free for anyone to take - and bananas were consistently the thing nobody wanted. Bruised, spotty, a bit too ripe: they were heading for the bin by the dozen, and we couldn't just watch that happen.

Our first idea was simple: date and banana bars. What we didn't expect was how much the humble banana had to offer. Once we started digging into the fibre and nutrition locked inside it, we realised we could build something with real substance - a genuinely high-fibre, high-protein bar, no fillers, no nasties. From there we kept going, rescuing other surplus and "wonky" ingredients too - apple fibre from cider-making, cocoa husks from chocolate production - and putting the same care into flavour and formulation each time.

What Riff Is Actually For

Reducing food waste is why Riff exists - that's the whole point, not a side benefit. Closing the fibre gap most of us don't realise we have is the bit you can taste. And sustainability isn't a marketing line for us; it's how we run the business, from surplus sourcing to fully home-compostable packaging.

Three things anchor every decision we make: Sustainability, Integrity, Connection - with the seasons, with the people who grow, make and eat our bars, and with a food system that throws away far more than it needs to. Before anything ships, we ask the same three questions: is it good for the planet, is it good for the people, is it good for the business?

Because our bars are built from whatever surplus the season hands us, the recipe shifts with it - expect new flavours as the seasons change, always around the same fibre-and-protein backbone.

Award-Winning Beginnings

What started as a university passion project quickly turned into something much bigger. We're proud to have won the Young Enterprise UK National Final - and we're now off to represent the UK at the European Finals in Riga.

Thank you for snacking with us. Keep Riff-ing.