IGOR’s new line of dessert snacks from Saputo Bakery Division are individually packaged treats that are the perfect size for kids’ lunchboxes. The new line includes two varieties of granola bars – Bongo milk chocolate, and yogurt and berry – with DHA; Bag a loo drinkable applesauce in individually resealable pouchs; Canoo snack cakes in strawberry and hazel nut-cocoa flavours; and Conga snack cakes, featuring real chocolate filling in either chocolate bar or chocolate chips varieties. The line contains natural ingredients, with no artificial colouring, and each is packaged individually in boxes of five snacks, retailing for $3.49 per box across Canada.
Male, 40-something, editor
Conga chocolate chip cake, Canoo hazel nut-cocoa. “Okay, this surprised me. It was moist and tasty and definitely something I would purchase again. Yummy. Not overly sweet – but still a decent snack. At 130 calories, it’s an acceptable indulgence. Packaging was easy to open, but there is very little visually to differentiate it from other products in this line. The hazel nut-cocoa was another tasty treat. Not as good as the chocolate chip cake, but that’s just me and my preferences. It was slightly dry – but that may have been because the outer packaging (carton) showed a hazelnut that was “wet” implying a more gooey treat. The hazelnut was solid. Expectations hurt, in this instance.”
Female, 30-something, teacher
Igor Bongo Milk Chocolate Granola Bar with DHA. “I have a three-year-old son, so seeing that the company has added DHA or omega-3s is a big sell for me. I’d love to know if it’s from a fish source or plant source – all you hear now is that the fish source is what you should be looking for. I’m always on the lookout for ways to get omega-3s into my son since he won’t eat fish. Also the Nutrition Facts Table looks pretty good. There isn’t too much sugar, though I’d prefer these bars if there were less. And one drawback is there isn’t a lot of fibre (I’d much prefer it if these bars had more). When you open the package you do smell the milk chocolate – yum! And the first ingredient is granola, which is a big plus. And to be honest, I love the size (each bar is 25 g) – for myself and my son. For myself, it’s just enough of a mid-afternoon chocolate treat without feeling too guilty about it afterward. Though if I bought them they probably wouldn’t be my first choice of snack. For my son, I love the size just because it’s small. I don’t mind giving him chocolate but I don’t want to give him a huge portion of it. And I think the size is enough to tide him over until dinner. The texture is a little grainy, but the chocolate is smooth and does taste like real milk chocolate.”
Female, 10
Canoo hazel nut-cocoa cake, Conga chocolate bar cake, Canoo Strawberry. “Tastes sweet, chocolately and spongey. It tastes great! The second one [Conga cake] is good, but too sweet. It has too much chocolate on it. I really like the strawberry one the best. The only thing is that there’s not as much jam in it as it looks like on the box.”
Female, 40-something, sales rep
Conga Chocolate Chips Cake, Canoo Strawberry. “The Chocolate Chips Cake was a pleasant surprise – not too sweet considering all the chocolate on the bottom, with a nice light flavour. Pretty greasy looking though, and at 130 calories and 11% fat I wouldn’t eat this as an everyday snack. By comparison, the Strawberry cake was really, really sweet, but had less calories and fat. I didn’t like it as much, but I’m assuming I’m not the target market!”
Female, 12
Canoo hazel nut-cocoa cake. “I like it. It tastes like Nutella, really good. The box is cute.”
Male, 40-something, editor
Bongo granola bar, yogurt and berry, and milk chocolate varieties. “The yogurt and berry bar was an absolute treat to eat! Very tasty, moist and was only 110 calories. Although larger than the average bear, the granola bar did sate my hunger. I’m unsure of the purpose of coating the bar with yogurt, as I thought the beneficial properties of yogurt came from the live bacteria…The packaging is bright and colourful, though it is NOT overly obvious that it is a granola bar. As this product was given to me to sample, I had no idea what it was until I opened it – oh, granola. Perhaps bigger lettering would help. While I’m sure I’ve eaten wheat and chocolate together, I’ve never thought about how odd a combination it appears to be until I looked at the photo image on the packaging. Regardless, this variety was also very tasty, not overly moist or dry, and contained 110 calories. Packaging-wise, the lower third of it is in a different colour from the other flavours. While the yogurt flavour was a creamy yellow-white packaging trim colour, this chocolate flavour was blue – and a dark, difficult-to-read-blue, at that – I’m unsure what the colour has to do with the flavour. Decent taste (I craved more) but it loses because of the packaging colour choice and calling both products tested here IGOR Bongo. Is this the granola bar version of Captain Crunch or Captain Highliner? Maybe change the name to Captain Bongo, not that it seems to have a relationship to the product like the other brands convey.”
Male, 9
Bongo granola bar, yogurt and berry. “This is awesome! I really like this. The monkey on the package looks kind of weird.”
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