Nonfoods
Health, Beauty & Wellness
Consumers who use sports nutrition products use them every day, so they want variety. Retailers need to offer a variety of delivery options and flavors.” —Eric Golman, Javazen
Standing Out in a Crowd Also at Natural Products Expo, Amazing Grass launched a threeSKU Protein Superfood line of all-in-one plant-based protein nutrition shakes in three flavors. “Protein products have gotten so big, retailers are looking at the category twice a year,” observes Tom Tierney, EVP of sales at Newport Beach, Calif.-based Amazing Grass. “It’s a crowded category, and more channels are increasing the space they give to the products. Two years ago, Costco didn’t carry protein powders, and now they carry around 10 SKUs. One supermarket retailer added 30 percent more products to the category. Consumers tell us they want to buy the products at stores where they are shopping, and the channels of distribution for the category are blurring.” The category’s expansion in supermarkets means that more niche products such as Chantilly, Va.based Javazen, a blend of coffee and tea promoted as a pre-workout energy booster, are being added
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to retailers’ selections. “Consumers who use sports nutrition products use them every day, so they want variety,” explains Javazen CEO Eric Golman. “Retailers need to offer a variety of delivery options and flavors.” The company will add a pumpkin spice variety to its three existing flavors this fall and will offer in-store product samples this summer. Manufacturers say a good product mix includes protein powders, energy/meal replacement bars, and ready-to-drink energy and protein shakes, as well as new formulations. Rochester, N.Y.-based Wegmans Food Markets, for example, merchandises bars next to powders and adjacent to ready-to-drink beverages, identifying the category as “sports nutrition” with signage. Novato, Calif.-based Navitas Naturals recently introduced Superfood + Bars, gluten-free bars that don’t contain whey, artificial sweeteners, fabricated proteins or dairy. Organic simple-ingredient products are having an impact across the category.
Organic Growth Organic products are some of the fastest-growing products in the $312 million ready-to-drink protein-based sports beverage category, including Organic Valley Organic Fuel and Organic Balance. “The category has seen huge increases in usage over last year,” affirms Nicole Mydy, marketing manager at CROPP Cooperative, marketer of the La Farge, Wis.-based Organic Valley brand. “People who use the products use them 100 times a year, and they are buying three at a time, so it’s important that retailers have products in singles and in multipacks.” “There’s been a lot more investment in organic brands,” says Richard Laver, founder of the Kate Farms brand of superfood meal replacement beverages, based in Santa Barbara, Calif. “Beverages have quicker absorption than bars, and a lot of people want liquid nutrition, especially from an organic product loaded with superfoods.” Sometimes category innovation outpaces even industry knowledge. “When we introduced our fruit and protein pouches, we had to explain them to retailers,” notes Krystle Orlando, marketing coordinator at Natick, Mass.-based Fuel for Fire, a line of snacks invented by Iron Man triathlete Rob Gilfeather. “Now that the category is growing so rapidly, we don’t have to do that anymore.” According to Orlando, consumers as varied as moms on the go, firefighters, EMTs and cancer patients are turning to the product as a quick energy booster. “The possibilities are endless,” she says. PG