Expo East 2023: Pitaya, Honey Mama’s Target C-Stores; Blue Zone Debuts New Frozen Line

As the NOSH staff heads off to walk the aisles of the final Natural Products Expo East, our team offers a preview of some of the news coming from the show floor, including Pitaya Foods first prepared foods item, how new frozen brand Blue Zones is hoping to encourage healthier (long lasting) eating habits, the next alt-dairy portfolio innovation for GOOD PLANeT, and Honey Mama’s smaller, on-the go bars.

No Blender Required, Pitaya’s Smoothie Bowls Nod To Convenience

At this year’s Expo East, Pitaya Foods is showcasing a five-SKU line of organic, frozen smoothie bowls launched exclusively in Walmart last month.

The five flavor combinations offer consumers unique functional experiences: Clarity (blue spirulina), Energy (acai), Immunity (vitamin C from mango and pineapple), Inner Health (probiotics from dragon fruit) and Recover (protein from sunflower butter). The six-ounce bowls retail for $4.99 and include a pre-blended frozen smoothie complete with a granola topping that is ready-to-eat out of the freezer in five minutes.

“We looked at every bowl on the market and felt that the current ready-to-eat offerings really fell short on quality,” Pitaya CEO and founder Chuck Casano said. Not only do the new products offer a new use occasion for its consumers but opening up a new subcategory hopes to lead the brand into new distribution channels.

Pitaya is hoping to fill some of the vacant shelves in the frozen category after the Tattooed Chef declared Chapter 11 on its heat-and-eat snack and entree business, Casano said.

After the 90-day exclusivity at Walmart ends, the brand is looking towards opportunities in the club channel – where Pitaya already has a partnership with Costco – and convenience where the brand sees opportunity in better-for-you snacks and meals, starting with a commitment from Costco to carry single-flavor 6-packs at San Francisco Bay Area stores in Q1 2024. Additionally, Pitaya Foods has also been selected from about 600 companies to present at the 7-Eleven Brands With Heart event in November where it could be selected for distribution in 7-Eleven, Speedway and Stripes locations.

Founded in 2008, Pitaya Foods has until now been on frozen smoothie packs (ready-to-blend fruit), freeze dried fruit powders and snackable cut fruit with an eye towards bringing the smoothie bar experience to the home.

The “evolution” of the brand into grab-and-go is part of founder and CEO Chuck Casano’s goal of offering a better-for-you frozen snack.

Though the new products offer an exciting prospect for the “15-year overnight sensation” company, Casano said, it comes with new challenges.

The value-added products are a dramatic shift for a company that has nearly exclusively operated internationally, sourcing and co-packing single ingredients for frozen retail. Using U.S.-based co-packers while still using international producers, Pitaya has had to rework its logistics and supply chain to account for the new production model

“Pulling off the Walmart initial loading was a huge undertaking,” he said. “We basically shipped the last order out just in time to make it to shelf.”

Blue Zones Brings New Take On Longevity To Frozen Case

Aiming to streamline “eating wisely” for time-pressed consumers, Blue Zones Kitchen (Booth #4288) has launched a new frozen meal platform that prioritizes clean ingredients and whole foods. The line will launch with four, chef-created plant-based meals – Minestrone Casserole, Sesame Ginger Bowl, Heirloom Rice Bowl and a Burrito Bowl – all of which are made without any preservatives or added sugar.

“Freezing technology, which is obviously not very new technology, has been completely underutilized,” stated Scott Marcus, CEO of Blue Zones Kitchen. “Even to this day, the vast majority of items you find in the frozen section are laden with preservatives, additives, added sugar, super high amounts of sodium”

Marcus brings decades of CPG marketing experience to the new brand, including a nearly six year stint at Vital Farms as CMO. Blue Zones Kitchen also counts Matthew O’Hayer, Vital Farms’ founder and current chairman, as a founder.

Writer Dan Buettner, who first coined the term Blue Zones back in 2004 and has authored numerous books around the concept, is also a co-founder and the broader organization he founded around the idea – which promotes lifestyle and eating habits from regions or cultures known for their extreme longevity – also holds an ownership stake in the new CPG brand.

Marcus said the company is already preparing to expand beyond its initial SKU count in 2024. The brand rolled out to Town and Country stores this week with additional distribution, primarily in the natural channel, to soon follow.

Blue Zones Kitchen sources all non-GMO ingredients directly from its farmers, rather than outsourcing that task to its manufacturing partner. The team has taken a page from Vital’s playbook and honed a focus on “conscious capitalism.” Marcus said the company meets with vendors and suppliers to make sure both their growing practices, as well as employee treatment, aligns with the brand’s values.

The plant-based meals contain up to 11 grams of protein and 5 grams of fiber and will be sold at a slight premium ($7.99 per 9 oz. bowl) to other items in the frozen aisle; Marcus said in comparison to fresh meals – which he believes the product is more comparable on a nutritional level – “a Chipotle Burrito is like $10 now, $13 if you are in New York City.”

GOOD PLANeT Intros Olive Oil To PB Dairy

At Expo East this week, GOOD PLANeT (Booth #1136) is expanding its dairy-free cheese platform with the debut of a new range that puts Olive Oil front and center.

The new set, made from a base of starches combined with olive oil, includes nine products in three formats: blocks, shreds and cubes. Block varieties include Italian-Style Mozzarella, Greek-Style Feta, and Mexican-Style Monterey Jack; cubes are available in Tuscan Herb Mozzarella, Spicy Monterey Jack, and Sharp Cheddar; and the shreds come in Mozzarella, Mexican Blend, and Cheddar. For flavoring, some SKUs also feature ingredients like bell peppers, tomatoes, olives, basil and other herbs.

The new line brings a differentiated product to GOOD PLANeT’s portfolio, which features a coconut-based line in standard varieties such as Pepperjack, Parmesan and Cheddar, as well as to the broader category. Founder and CEO Bart Adlam explained that making plant-based cheese from olive oil rather than the more common coconut oil means his product has a superior nutritional profile.

“That comes with benefits in taste and sustainability, but especially in heart health, with a fraction of the saturated fat versus dairy cheese… the flexitarian consumer clearly wants more than just a generic plant based alternative to cheese.”

The new refrigerated range is rolling out at Sprouts nationwide this month and will launch nationally at Whole Foods and other retailers later this Fall. The shred’s SRP sits between $5.99 and $6.99 per 7 oz. pack while the cubes and block formats range between $7.99 to $8.99, also for a 7 oz. pack. How does this line fit in among the crowded landscape of plant-based cheese options? Adlam says it comes down to simple ingredients, not science.

“There is a lot of discussion around precision fermentation right now, and while the science behind these products is quite impressive, these are genetically modified products,” he said. “We’re proud to be offering an array of delicious simple ingredient, non-GMO olive oil cheeses that were developed in a kitchen, not a lab.”

Honey Mama’s Deepens Mainstream Position with Truffle Treats

Honey Mama’s wants consumers to know it isn’t only for special occasions.

The honey bar brand showcased its new Truffle Treats line of raw honey-sweetened chocolate and cinnamon snacks during yesterday’s Harvest Fest show opener at Expo East. The new line of 0.5 oz. “treats” are available in Mocha Crunch, Chocolate Cake and Cinnamon Roll varieties and will retail for $2.49 per two-serving pack, compared to $5.99 for the brand’s core line of larger, 2.5-oz bars. The new bars contain 80 calories and 4 grams of sugar per serving.

According to CEO Jared Schwartz, the Truffle Treats are aimed at expanding Honey Mama’s use occasions, with a focus on helping the brand go further in conventional grocery stores with a more mainstream product. While the treats are still cold chain, they’re also formulated to last outside of the fridge for longer with less melt and messiness than the core products, so that consumers can more easily transport them on-the-go.

“Our new motto is if taste is king, convenience is queen. And that’s really the idea behind this line,” Schwartz told NOSH at the show.

While the larger bars are still a vital part of the Honey Mama’s business, Schwartz said that many consumers view them as specialty items – often, he said, people give them as gifts. However, the brand has been seeing “strong double- and triple-digit growth” among its multiserve bars as well, he added, prompting innovation in more multiserve categories.

The treats – the term is being employed deliberately to invoke snacking and an anytime occasion and to differentiate from the core Honey Mama’s lines – are launching in Target stores and will be expanding to more retailers by the end of the year. Schwartz said Honey Mama’s is expanding its presence in CVS and is also exploring more foodservice channel opportunities.

Honey Mama’s closed a $5.8 million round of funding in 2020 and has been focused on reaching mainstream channels for several years. Overall, the brand is now sold in over 8,000 doors nationwide.