It’s noon on a Sunday and before my sister and I enter Brandless’ NYC pop up, I stop to read the brand’s mission printed on the clear glass in the front: “Here at Brandless we put people first, which means value and values stick together. Better stuff, fewer dollars, and no nonsense. Join us.”

As I peer through the glass window the white letters are printed on, I see an exciting sign within the venue — “Snacks.” Underneath the sign is a snack lovers paradise – a two-sided installation featuring several self-service dispensers where you can preview some of Brandless’ food offerings, ranging from chocolate covered quinoa bites to truffle popcorn – all for free. Naturally, this was one of our first stops. We gratefully accepted a Brandless paper plate and loaded up on all the goodies we wanted to try. As a nice touch, each station was labeled with any dietary restrictions: vegan, gluten free, non-GMO, organic…etc.

The pop-up itself was designed to provide a deeper exploration into Brandless values with lots of Instagram photo opportunities. Next to the snack bar for example, was a bamboo forest installation to highlight how the brand uses bamboo and sugarcane to make tree-free paper goods such as toilet paper and napkins. To the left of this was a fair-trade coffee bar that highlighted the importance of supporting fair wages and safe working conditions for coffee farming communities. There was also a pseudo store aisle where guests could browse some of the brand’s offerings, all of which, by the way, is just $3, and that includes everything from clean beauty products to cookware.

Other fun activations included signs with the headline “Take What You need” with options such as “peace” and “passion” to pull off. There was also a place where you can write down what you are grateful for and decorate it with colored pencils and stickers before hanging it on the rail. And, if you weren’t full enough from the snack bar, there was a taste testing station set up to try some of the brands nut butters, salsa and associated condiments.

Every time someone makes a purchase on Brandless.com, the company donates one meal in partnership with Feeding America. And, for every social post using #BrandlessLife throughout the duration of the NYC pop-up (it runs through Nov 4) they’ll donate an additional meal.

To see some of the photos we took, visit my Instagram @mixedego. And, of course, we used the hashtag.