Rip Van makes lower-sugar sweet snacks, beginning with Dutch stroopwafels and expanding into wafers, cookies and confections. Co-founders Rip Pruisken and Marco De Leon started the company in 2010 by baking hundreds of stroopwafels by hand in a Brown University dorm room, drawing on Pruisken’s Dutch coffee-and-waffle ritual. Today, Rip Van’s treats use real ingredients and prebiotic fiber, with the brand available in more than 20,000 stores across the country.
Harken SweetsFounded by lifelong candy fan Katie after a colon cancer scare prompted her to rethink sugar and fiber, Harken Sweets makes date-caramel candy bars that recreate old-school treats with plant-based ingredients. Its bars are naturally sweetened with dates, contain no added sugar, and pack 14 grams of prebiotic fiber, offering a gut-friendly take on familiar chocolate-candy flavors.
FichiInspired by an Italian family recipe from Cosenza, Fichi makes fig-and-nut bites from just two ingredients. The Hudson Valley company uses California-grown figs and nuts to create naturally sweet snacks with no added sugar, a simple approach that works equally well for everyday snacking or a charcuterie board.WAPPINGERS FALLS, NY
The Famous 4th Street Cookie CompanyFor more than 40 years, The Famous 4th Street Cookie Company has baked Philadelphia’s hometown cookies from a treasured family recipe, including its signature big, thick chocolate chip cookie. Rooted in the former 4th and Bainbridge Streets location and now baking at its East Falls bakery, the company uses all-natural ingredients without preservatives or artificial flavors. Cookies are baked and shipped the same day so they arrive soft and homemade-tasting.PHILADELPHIA, PA
StroopiesFounded in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 2008, Stroopies makes handmade Dutch stroopwafels—cinnamon waffles filled with homemade caramel—at a rate of roughly 18,000 a week. The company’s distinctive mission is to provide meaningful employment, English classes, and a welcoming workplace for resettled refugee women, with the Lancaster-made treats sold locally and shipped throughout the United States. Stroopies is owned by Jonathan and Jennie Groff, who joined the business in 2010.LANCASTER, PA