Distribution Roundup: Banza Pizza Debuts at Retailers Nationwide; OmniFoods Launches at Sprouts and Whole Foods

 
Banza Pizza Debuts at Retailers Nationwide

Banza announced its chickpea-based frozen pizza line has launched in Walmart stores across the country. The company, which also produces shelf-stable chickpea based pasta and rice-alternatives, launched the pizza line late last year at Whole Foods Market, Wegmans and Target.

“We’ve been thrilled by the reception from both retailers and consumers,” Mike Tarullo, Banza’s COO said. “While we’re excited to see distribution growth driven by organic interest in a great product, we’re still a small company and know there’s a long road ahead, so we’ll be intentional and patient with our sales strategy, in the same way we were with our pasta, mac & cheese and rice.”

The news comes on the heels of the line’s entrance into Stop & Shop, Kroger, Albertsons, Safeway and Meijer locations nationwide. Banza has also reached deeper into the frozen aisle through a co-branded meal launch with Lean Cuisine earlier this year.

In addition to new retail placements, Banza also has been working to extend further into food service, most notably signing a partnership with Oath Pizza. The brand’s chickpea crusts are currently available as an option for customers at the chain’s New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Virginia locations, with plans to expand nationwide.

Tarullo said the brand has been in conversation with additional foodservice partners and hopes to continue developing relationships with brands that align with their mission to inspire increased consumption of “chickpeas and other beans.”

“There are still a lot of people who don’t know that frozen foods can be just as healthy and delicious as fresh ones and need new products to encourage them,” explained Tarullo. “Since we launched Banza Pizza in grocery, we’ve found that over 50% of people who are buying it are brand new to frozen pizza, and it’s 70-80% incremental to the category in dollars. This shows us that for many people, existing better-for-you options left something to be desired.”

Banza Pizza is currently available at approximately 8,000 retail locations nationwide and on e-commerce platforms such as Thrive Market, Fresh Direct and Amazon for a suggested retail price of $8.99.

OmniFoods Launches at Sprouts and Whole Foods

OmniFoods announced this week its plant-based pork alternatives will be sold at Sprouts Farmers Market stores across 23 states and at select Whole Foods locations. Sprouts will carry the Hong Kong-based brand’s OmniPork Ground, OmniPork Strips and OmniPork Luncheon varieties while Whole Foods will offer the Ground and Pork Strip formats.

“ [Our new distribution] empower[s] more and more people to go plant based with our ‘omnilicious’ products,” said David Yeung, Founder of Green Monday Holdings and OmniFoods. “We believe Whole Foods and Sprouts Market customers will appreciate OMNI’s nutritional profile, taste and versatility very much, which in turn will set a great foundation to a broad entry in reaching U.S. consumers.”

A subsidiary of food tech, business, investment and advocacy group Green Monday, OmniFoods’ pork alternatives are made from a blend of soy, peas, shiitake mushrooms, and rice. The company also recently debuted its OmniSeafood Series of fish fillets, burgers and flaked tuna varieties, which, according to Yeung, the company plans to also introduce to the U.S. market later this year.

“With our OmniPork and OmniSeafood series, we think we fill the void very nicely in terms of the two missing categories of protein,” added Yeung. “In addition, the fact that our products work so well in Asian and Global cuisines will broaden the plant-based horizon tremendously.”

Omni products are available across Asia, Australia, and the U.K. in about 40,000 locations spanning food service and retail. To help build brand awareness, OmniFoods also recently launched a new marketing campaign with 25 restaurant and chef partners in California and Hawaii and is hosting pop-up events throughout the Midwest.

AYO Foods Expands to Kroger Nationwide

West-African inspired food brand AYO foods announced this week it has expanded distribution of its Jollof Rice, Puff Puff, Chicken Yassa and Waakye entrees to the frozen aisle of Kroger. AYO launched in 2019 and recently launched its Chicken Yassa and Waakye meals through a new partnership with former Top Chef contestant Eric Adjepong.

“It has been remarkable to see the growing acceptance and excitement for a platform that was so personal to us,” Fred and Perteet Spencer, co-founders of AYO Foods said in a press release. “We’re excited to welcome consumers across the country into the AYO family in celebration of West African food culture, which is significantly underrepresented in the U.S. food and grocery landscape.”

AYO Foods recently expanded its portfolio beyond frozen foods with the addition of two hot sauce varieties — Shito and Pepper Sauce — both available online on the brand’s website in addition to its six SKU entree line.

Real Good Foods Partners With Kroger

The Real Good Foods Company announced this week that seven of its high-protein frozen entrees will roll out at 1,500 Krogers and Kroger-owned banners. The brand first launched at Kroger with three SKUs last year and is expanding on that partnership to include a variety of meals from different ethnic categories.

“The response to our groundbreaking low carb, high protein microwavable frozen entrees has been remarkable,” Bryan Freeman, executive chairman of Real Good Foods, said in a press release. “Consumers, more than ever, care about how food makes them feel and understand that entrees loaded with beans and rice and sugar and carbs are not good for you and make it harder to lead a healthy lifestyle.”

The new distribution will include Real Good Foods’ Chicken Enchiladas, Cheese Enchiladas, Steak Burrito Bowl, Chicken Burrito Bowl, Marinara Ricotta Cannelloni Spinach Ricotta Cannelloni, and Chicken Alfredo Cannelloni entrees. The brand’s product lines are available at over 16,000 retail locations across the country including in Walmart, Costco and Target stores.

Additional notable distribution expansions:

• Pasta sauces from New York-based The Vine partnered will now be sold in Meijer stores across Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois and Wisconsin.
• Organic nutrition bar maker LivBar launched its compostable-packaged bars at 400 Hy-Vee and Natural Grocers locations.
• Los Angeles-based confections company Maxine’s Heavenly introduced its Chocolate Chocolate Chunk Soft-baked “sugar-conscious” cookies at select California and Hawaii Costco stores.
• GoOats expanded distribution of its Apple Cinnamon, Maple Brown Sugar and Blueberry steel-cut oat bites to 500 Safeway area stores in Portland, Seattle and North California.