Wanderlands Is Creating ‘Somewhere-ness’ With Nut Mixes

What is the taste of walking through a mossy forest after snowfall? Wanderlands is hoping to bring that experience to consumers with its “transportive” pecan nut mixes.

The New Mexico-based startup is using the collective expertise of its neuroscientist and wine maker co-founders to build an experiential brand that pairs sense memories with the concept of terroir.

Wanderlands’ three nut varieties — Into Snowy Woods, Mesa After Rain and Mineral Creek Wilds — use pecans as a base along with puffed fava beans, pepitas and unique spice blends. Each 3-pack of 3.75 oz. pouches is available for $36.97 on the company’s website.

The idea for the brand evolved out of co-founder and head of operations Sofia Rovirosa’s love of the outdoors, cooking, farming and fermenting. Rovirosa, who was raised on her family’s pecan farm in New Mexico, explored a career in winemaking before leaving the industry to pursue the idea of “creating a sense of somewhere-ness” in snacking.

Rovirosa’s aspiration to “create food that smelled like the desert after it rained” led her to hiring JPG Resources to assist with product development on the nut mix brand.

Jane Ko initially came to the brand as a JPG consultant but later took on the roles of co-founder and head of brand and marketing as she became more involved with Rovirosa’s project. Along with being a Harvard Medical School PhD of neuroscience, Ko previously worked at Kellogg’s and held a number of marketing roles for skincare and wellness brands like eos, L’Oréal and OneSkin.

Rather than meeting a specific consumption occasion or flavor, Ko’s and Rovirosa’s professional careers are blending at Wanderlands to create a “holistic food experience” that uses sense memories and unique ingredient combinations to transport consumers to specific places.

To do this, Wanderlands hired Sappho Hatzis as a consulting chef and continues to use JPG Resources to help the brand turn its prototypes into commercially viable products.

Wanderlands has been a two-year project for the team and has involved isolating umami-focused, aroma molecules that speak to specific sensory experiences. Those molecules are then found in unique ingredients which are added to the various mixes to evoke a sense of place.

“We felt like many of the foods in the market were missing the mark in terms of how they can leverage all of the senses,” Ko said.

The brand has continued to lean on JPG Resources’ expertise in supply chain management and sourcing. JPG Resources has helped Wanderland identify and harmonize its ingredient suppliers, evaluate packaging options and shelf stability, and has consulted on manufacturing partners.

Wanderlands’ launch strategy has focused on how it can deliver on its lofty storytelling premise. At the moment, the snack maker is not targeting retail but focused on finding the right messaging through social platforms and its online presence.

“Our plan for the first six months to a year is to really build a very strong DTC business and make sure that we’re hitting the metrics that we’ve set for ourselves from a month-to-month basis and marketing performance,” Ko said.

The nut mix category is experiencing a little shake-up recently with trail mix maker Second Nature Brands growing its business into other categories with the acquisition of cookie and wafer brand Voortman. Hershey-backed Blue Stripes is also looking to expand with a recent $20 million capital injection that could fuel new growth in its snack mixes. Last year, Campbell Soup Company divested Emerald Nuts to Flagstone Foods.

These examples aside, the nut and trail mix category has mostly been dominated by private label brands and globally is valued at $5.1 billion in 2023 while projected to grow to $8.5 billion by 2031, according to Data Bridge Market Research.

Positioning as a premium product with an innovative story and brand identity could be a way to court the outdoor activity and culinary adventure-loving “foodie explorer” that Wanderlands is targeting.

Hoping to find some of these explorers, Wanderlands is making its first public appearance this weekend at Cherry Bombe’s Jubilee Wine Country event in Calistoga, Calif. The brand will be sampling to see how well it aligns with a specific demographic, or “tribe” of consumers.

“The folks that are into craft cocktails and wine are our tribe,” said Rovirosa. “I think just being around winemaking and wine people for so long, you develop this complex love of food and flavor.”