Laird Keeps Growth Streak Running in Q1, Despite Out-of-Stock Pains
A year after Laird Superfood announced the beginning of its “Return to Growth” story, the wellness brand touted its fifth consecutive quarter of double-digit sales gains powered by brick-and-mortar expansion and heightened Amazon sales in its Q1 2025 earnings report yesterday.
Net sales for Q1 rose around 18% to $11.7 million, up from $9.9 million the year before, and improved quarter-over-quarter from $11.6 million in Q4 2024.
Ecommerce sales were up 6% year-over-year, accounting for 53% of total net sales, while wholesale grew 35%, making up the remaining 47% of sales. In retail, new distribution in grocery and club accounts were largely to thank for the performance, but growth was partially offset by higher promotional trade spending.
Gross margin was 41.9%, compared with 40% last year, and net loss was just $0.2 million, improving from a loss of $1 million in Q1 2024.
“Our growth in Q1 demonstrates the sustained momentum of our business and comes despite the impact of the previously reported out-of-stocks that occurred as a result of stronger than expected creamer and latte sales during the fourth quarter of 2024,” said CEO Jason Vieth in a statement. “To that end, I am pleased to report that we are now beyond the inventory issues and supply constraints on these products – and have built a more flexible and adaptive Supply Chain in the process.”
Speaking to investors and analysts on a call yesterday afternoon, Vieth noted that while previous out-of-stocks did create some drag for the quarter, Laird is now in a strong position across its whole supply chain and that the company is well-positioned to “mitigate the impact of tariffs” moving ahead.
While gross margins may be impacted by tariffs on key ingredients like coconut and coffee, Vieth said that if the government’s trade policy remains at the current 10% flat rate it will be manageable within current P&L projections. However, if additional tariffs are put in place, Laird will “likely” need to take pricing action to offset the impact.
The company is purchasing supply in advance to avoid higher prices for as long as possible, he added.
“We have other spend levers that we connect to in order to accommodate that and still be within the guidance that we’ve given,” Vieth said. “The reality is, these tariffs, no one knows really where they are. We are absolutely watching them, strategically planning around them, but we also put our blinders on and just keep operating and executing as best as we can.”
On wholesale, Vieth said Laird has been seeing strong velocity gains in retail, which he suggested speaks to strong trends around the broader “health movement” among consumers.
“What we’re seeing … at wholesale is really strong growth in coffee – in our powdered coffee creamers, our instant latte products have done really well, and so that coffee solutions set in particular has been a driver,” he said. “We’re also seeing nice growth on our mushrooms, we’ve had really nice growth recently on the bars, so really our whole portfolio is working.”
