Our Lena speaks to Voria

Our Lena speaks to Voria about Lavtoken and her love for almonds

Her personal need to seek out healthy snacks and her love for the primary sector led Lena Apostolidou to a career change, creating a company that makes almond butters and dark chocolate-coated almonds

From banking to almond trees, the path was filled with many signs… of love. At least that’s what the name LAVTÓKEN suggests (a play on “love token”)—a company from Kozani producing almond butters and dark chocolate-coated almonds, founded a few months ago by former banker and primary sector enthusiast, Lena Apostolidou.

A health issue that pushed her to seek healthier dietary choices, along with her long-standing love for the primary sector and for creating products from the earth—something that led her and her husband to start cultivating almond trees—were the driving forces that led Lena Apostolidou to a career change after ten years in the banking sector.

Growing up in a household where entrepreneurship was ever-present—both of her parents were merchants—she always wanted to create something of her own, with business instinct running in her DNA. So, LAVTÓKEN was a natural next step, based on an idea that predated the pandemic but only recently came to life. For Lena Apostolidou, almonds had always been tied to a symbol of love—her family would always offer almond-based treats during happy moments and special occasions—so she wanted to bring that same connection into her company and infuse her almond products with a sense of love.

Greek raw materials

Today, LAVTÓKEN, which bases its production on Greek raw materials, offers the market almond butters in five flavors—classic with 100% almonds, with carob honey, with grape molasses and a hint of cinnamon, with honey and mastic oil, and with agave and mastic oil—as well as dark chocolate-coated almonds in various variations, including coffee, mastic oil, orange aroma, and salt. At the same time, a new product is in the works: a snack bite based on almond butter. “On this journey, the biggest challenge for me—given my professional background—was the food industry itself, which I had to discover from scratch,” Lena Apostolidou tells Voria.gr.

LAVTÓKEN is already stocked in delicatessens in Kozani and Thessaloniki and is now beginning its expansion into Athens, with the rest of Greece to follow. After all, as Lena Apostolidou says, her goal is to have a point of sale in every city. At the same time, believing she has a fully exportable product in her hands, she is also interested in international markets, having already made her first contacts in Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, and Israel.

LAVTÓKEN is based on a farm with various crops, and there are even thoughts of eventually making it open to visitors.