From a flurry of keto snacks and functional-but-fun beverages, to firms making more proactive claims about their impact (or lack thereof) on the environment, check out our first trendspotting gallery from the Natural Products Expo West show in Anaheim, CA.
Launched last year and now in around 700 stores, Odyssey organic mushroom elixirs and brews feature meaningful amounts of Lion's Mane, Cordyceps, Reishi, Chaga, and Turkey Tail extracted from mushroom fruiting bodies, combined with tea, coffee, or sparkling water, says founder Scott Frohman, who said sales have "exploded," buoyed by growing interest in adaptogens and immunity.
The beverages are billed as promoting energy, endurance, sleep, focus, immunity and mood.
Founded by Brazilian drinks industry veteran Bernardo Paiva and run by Startup CPG founder Daniel Scharrf, Machu Picchu Organic Energy (strapline: 'Feel good. Do good'*) is fueled by maca root extract, B vitamins, and 120mg caffeine from green coffee beans (Machu Picchu energy seltzers contain 40mg caffeine).
The brand (SRP $2.99) - which has secured listings at Erewhon, Central Market (H-E-B), and Gopuff, with UNFI and KeHE now on board to distribute - checks all the right boxes for label readers (organic, no preservatives, no artificial flavors, colors, sweeteners etc), but has been a hit with buyers and consumers because it delivers on taste, claimed Scharrf.
"Even if you don’t care that it’s organic and natural and doesn’t have preservatives, it just tastes better than anything else that's out there."
* Machu Picchu Energy partners with several organizations dedicated to improving the lives of children in the US and overseas. It is also is a founding member and backer of the 2030 Cultural Pact, a partnership with UNESCO in Peru to preserve cultural sites, including Machu Picchu.
A new category is emerging in the soda aisle promising fun and functionality, says Nantucket Nectars founder and beverage industry veteran Tom First, who is combining familiar flavors (berries, ginger lemon, watermelon) with a culinary twist (basil, rosemary, chili, juniper) and the probiotic strain Bacillus Subtilis DE111 to create Culture Pop.
The brand, which is available in seven regions of Whole Foods, is made with 23-24% organic juice, herbs and spices, with 40 calories and 6g sugar from fruit juice per can, says First, who is speaking at FoodNavigator-USA's 'Feeding the Gut Microbiome' webinar on Thursday morning.
Chicago-based Joy Milk Tea - which combines milk, brewed black tea (delivering 130mg caffeine in a 11.5oz can), cane sugar and gum acacia in a shelf-stable format - is generating strong repeat rates, says founder Max Blessen, who says fans “love to drink it as a morning pick me up or instead of coffee as an afternoon pick me up.
“We’re merchandised next to RTD coffees and other premium beverages and we have great velocities of 12 to 18 units per week and some up to 60 units per store per week.”
While the lack of clarity at a federal level over the regulatory status of ingestible CBD has thwarted growth, several CBD-infused beverage brands exhibited at Expo West, from UK-based TRIP to Sati CBD Soda, and insist that consumer interest remains strong.
Recess, one of the early entrants to the hemp-infused beverages space, says large markets such as California and New York are now opening up to CBD products following the passage of state-level bills, but says its strategy of building a brand around a feeling, not an ingredient, has paid off, with its new line Recess Mood (sparkling water infused with magnesium and adaptogens) now accounting for 20% of total sales and approaching 50% of e-commerce sales.
Waterdrop – an Austrian startup that has gone from zero to $100m in revenue across 12 countries in five years with dissolvable plant- and vitamin-packed sugar-free cubes (‘micro-drinks’) you can drop into tap water – plans to aggressively ramp up its US presence this year.
Billed as a 'climate-friendly' brand, Moonshot Snacks - now in around 1,200 stores including Sprouts, Giant Foods, and Wegmans - sources its key raw materials from farmers that factor soil health into their cultivation methods, and addresses "unavoidable" carbon emissions through offsetting.
Post Holdings subsidiary Bright Future Foods is also engaging directly with shoppers over the carbon footprint of the foods they consume via Airly Foods, which references 'climate-friendly snacking' on its packaging, and deploys oats grown using 'carbon farming' in its snack crackers, which co-founder Kris Corbin says locks in more CO2 in the soil than traditional farming.
Practices at partner farms include no till farming, planting cover crops, rotating crops, precision digital farming, and rigorous farm-level lifecycle assessments to quantify carbon capture, said Corbin, who has secured listings at more than 1,000 stores for Airly crackers as retailers increasingly seek out brands that are serious about reducing their environmental impact.
"We use a third party to conduct a full life cycle analysis of all activities to produce Airly products, from growing all of our ingredients, to baking, to packaging and transportation to our customers."
While a sizeable chunk of ‘ugly’ or ‘imperfect’ produce that isn’t pretty enough for grocery retail markets goes into industrial food processing markets, there's a third category of produce that for various reasons doesn’t get into either stream, and ends up as animal feed or waste, says Dwight Zimmerman at Dieffenbach’s Snacks, which owns the UGLIES Kettle Potato Chips brand, which has recently undergone a brand refresh.
"Some potatoes are too large or too small, some are the wrong color, some have the wrong sugar content, some are slightly blemished, and some are just farmer surplus."
The key – as more brands tap into consumer interest in reducing the environmental impact of the packaged foods and beverages they buy – is ensuring that claims are underpinned by hard data and, where relevant, third party certifications, said Daniel Kurzrock at ReGrained, which has developed proprietary techniques to upcycle spent grains from brewing.
“That’s where the upcycled certification is really important to verify that companies are not just greenwashing because that side of it is the biggest risk, in my opinion, for being co-opted for marketing purposes as opposed to authentic impact, which is the risk with everything with sustainability.”
Mooless, one of a flurry of new brands featuring Perfect Day's 'animal-free' whey protein (made in fermentation tanks by microbes, not cows) is launching this year direct to consumer and at Vitamin Shoppe, says brand owner Natreve, which markets a variety of vegan protein powders.
While some commentators believe there's a faddish element to the keto craze given the challenges of sustaining a high-fat, moderate protein, ultra-low carb diet for any length of time, CPG companies touting their keto credentials at Expo West said the trend is here to stay.
Brainiac Kids – the brainchild of Bay area-based start-up Ingenuity Brands - is rebranding as Brainiac Foods, with new products and packaging designed to reach a broader audience seeking out ‘brain food’: everyday foods with meaningful amounts of ingredients such as choline and DHA, says co-founder Jonathan Wolfson.
Montreal-based 'functional chocolate' startup Mid-Day Squares - which is punching above its weight in the emerging refrigerated snacking segment thanks to its grasp of social media and talent for publicity - self-manufactures its bars, which combine semi-sweet dark chocolate and on-trend ingredients such as pumpkin seeds, sacha inchi protein, maca root, hemp protein, and prebiotic fiber from Jerusalem artichoke.
Available online and in 1,500 stores in Canada, the brand is steadily gaining traction in the US with listings at retailers including Sprouts, Erewhon, and Central Market (H.E.B.), says co-founder Jake Karls (more to come in FoodNavigator-USA next week).
San Francisco-based healthy Mexican food brand Tia Lupita Foods is seeing growing demand for its hot sauces, and tortillas and tortilla chips made with Nopales, a drought resistant cactus popular in Mexican cuisine. Its latest innovation is Salsa Macha, made with a variety of chili peppers, fruits and nuts, and pepitas (pumpkin seeds).
London-based Pots & Co - which is looking to make a splash this side of the Atlantic with founder Julian Dyer's upmarket desserts - got its first break at Costco, and has recently entered Kroger, says Dyer, who is exploring manufacturing options in the US market for his individually-packaged desserts, from chocolate fudge lava cake, to salted caramel & chocolate pot de crème in signature ceramic pots.
New Orleans-based Brass Roots launched direct to consumer, where founder Aaron Gailmor quickly learned that the nutritional profile of his star ingredient - Sacha Inchi seeds - was attracting keto fans looking for healthy fats, protein and fiber, and zero net carbs.
The brand - spanning Sacha Inchi seeds, butters, and extruded puffs - has since expanded into brick & mortar retail, with Sprouts picking up all three products; Wegmans picking up the puffs; and Whole Foods picking up the seeds and butters.
While Sacha Inchi seeds are often referred to as ‘Inca Nuts,’ Gailmor sources his seeds from Thailand, where he struck a deal with a supplier that shared Brass Roots’ youth empowerment mission: “We just connected and shared the same values; he understood what we were trying to do.”
While keto fans are early adopters, Brass Roots is also attracting interest from parents that want allergy-friendly alternatives to nuts and nut butters for their kids to take to school, said Gailmor, who is gearing up to launch a keto-friendly snack bar.
