Haverhill Baker Expanding GoodieKrunch Snack Line With Eye on Market Basket Placement

Haverhill baker HamdAllah Olona sells her GoodieKrunch snacks at the farmers market every Saturday. (Courtesy photograph)

Haverhill baker HamdAllah Olona sells her GoodieKrunch snacks at the farmers market every Saturday. (Courtesy photograph)

Haverhill-based HamdAllah Olona has been a mainstay at this year’s downtown Farmers Market, selling her coconut snack GoodieKrunch to residents, but as the married mom tells WHAV, she has her eye on a much bigger goal: Placement in Market Basket locations across the Merrimack Valley.

“Getting into Market Basket is my greatest dream,” Olona told WHAV during a break from baking in her commercial home kitchen. “I still have three more products to add to this original GoodieKrunch and I want Market Basket to carry my products. That’s my life dream.”

Every Saturday since early June, the 10-year Haverhill resident has set up shop at the Merrimack Street Goeke parking deck to sell the coconut and raisin snack she grew up eating in West Africa. Under the company Yvesta D’Or, she also sells at farmers markets in Lowell and Salem, N.H., and at the Rockingham Mall.

A key selling point, Olona tells WHAV, is the fact that her snack features five simple ingredients that can all be pronounced: Coconut, raisins, salt, sugar and vanilla extract. The baker recommends eating the GoodieKrunch snack alone or using it to mix into yogurt or top ice cream.

Her whole product line is gluten and dairy-free, which Olona prioritized due to her own gluten intolerance.

“I have been entertaining friends and family with it during Thanksgiving or during any occasion and people were like, ‘HamdAllah, you have to share this with the world. You can’t keep this in your kitchen: It’s too good.’ So in 2017, I took that advice and GoodieKrunch was born.”

Currently running a special at the Haverhill farmers market and selling the treat for $1.50, Olona tells WHAV she’s hard at work on the other snacks to add to her line and plans to make them available online through Etsy and her company website.