The 35-year-old started her health business, Locako, almost four years ago with just $2000, while also juggling her role as a busy mum.

The idea came about when she went on a trip to America and uncovered all the options for keto, a diet based on very low carbs, that she started because of health issues and insulin resistance.

Collagen was being used in many options she hadn’t seen in Australia, so she returned home determined to start a business centred around the keto diet.

“My little boy he would have been one at the time, I had a second boy and I went back to my full time job when he was six months old. Before I started the business I was dropping him off at 7am and coming back at 5pm,” she told news.com.au.

“I worked for a health food business and our budget was $1 million. I was sick of making millions for a different company and watching my boy be in care all day, every day.”

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The Sydneysider made Locako’s first product in the kitchen of her home, which was a coffee creamer with coconut milk powder and collagen, selling them at the Bondi markets.

She then moved into collagen snack bars with her first two products a salted almond butter and a peppermint flavour.

But it wasn’t until the pandemic hit that the collagen bars really took off helping the business grow to a $1 million turnover and landing her the deal with Woolies.

Ms Mellor created two new flavours for her Woolworths range of collagen snack bars, which retail for $4 each and said it was “nerve-racking” to see them on shelves, but she’s excited to get thousands more eyes on her brand.

The two new flavours are chocolate hazelnut and chocolate caramel and contain 4g of pasture-raised collagen, MCT oils, less than 9 per cent carbs, probiotics, are dairy-free, gluten-free, low-carb, keto friendly, and have no added sugar.

Locako also has a new inner beauty range, with the Beauty Collagen Brownie Bite in berry white chocolate appearing in Woolworths and containing 4g of pasture-raised collagen and vitamin C.

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She said she saw a change in people’s attitude to health when the pandemic hit.

“I think what happened last year is what I saw is that people stopped being so diet-centric but they started being a bit more wellness-centric and interested in health and wellbeing and not necessarily in weight loss,” she said.

“Collagen is the most abundant naturally occurring protein in our bodies but reserves decline as we age, resulting in wrinkles, weaker nails, brittle hair, joint degeneration, muscle loss and digestive issues. Studies have shown that dietary collagen is resorbable so consuming a few grams of collagen each day may help strengthen nails, bones, joints and muscles, assist with digestive and gut health, and support healthy, plump skin.”

While some studies have suggested there might be potential benefits to collagen such as improving skin elasticity and its collagen density, eating more collagen doesn’t make our bodies build more, according to Emma Beckett, a food and nutrition scientist at the University of Newcastle.

She said the majority of Aussies would be getting enough protein to make their own collagen.

Meanwhile, Locako has big future plans, having just launched in UK and Dubai, and a range of new products in the pipeline including a keto cookie, a chocolate coated peanut cookie.