SmartSweets Launches New Line, Embraces New Sweetener

Low-sugar confection brand SmartSweets is moving beyond the gummy. The brand this month launched a new, low-sugar Starburst alternative fruit chew. The launch follows a reformulation of its existing product line to embrace newly available sweetener options, including allulose.

The chews first launched on the brand’s website and will roll into Vitamin Shoppe locations and a major mass retailer later this June. Available in 1.6 oz. mixed bags of watermelon, mango and strawberry flavors, each bag of chews retails online for $3.29. Launching the new product into retail has been slightly delayed, founder and CEO Tara Bosch said, due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, with retailers pushing back resets.

“It definitely has shifted our focus a bit to where we can drive meaningful accessibility,” she noted.

To-date, SmartSweets, which is now in over 22,000 stores, has offered an array of gummy products including low-sugar takes on Swedish Fish, Sour Patch Kids, gummy bears and peach rings. Launching the chews, however, required finding a new co-manufacturer and took over a year to perfect the recipe. Bosch added that the goal is to launch more confectionary items this year and beyond, until the company has a low-sugar alternative for most classic candy items. Despite an active customer base that increasingly asks for new line extensions, Bosch said the company tries to remain “disciplined” with its innovation pipeline.

“The most important driver [of innovation] is what our North Star, our consumers, are looking for. The second is what our retail partners are seeing and how can we add value to their category,” Bosch said. “Then third, is data and where’s the whitespace that we can bring innovation to. Lastly, we look at manufacturing and how synergistic it is.

The chews are also the brand’s first new product to rely on the sweetener allulose, which recently received approval by the FDA to be excluded from total and added sugar counts on nutrition facts panels. SmartSweets began experimenting with selling products made with the newer sweetener earlier this year on its website, moving all of its US market gummies over as well — the sweetener is not yet approved in Canada. By summer 2020 Bosch expects the new formulation to be on store shelves — though, she added, that the final recipe may change before that launch.

Since launching into retail, SmartSweets has reformulated its gummies three times, aiming to reduce sugar as much as possible while still maintaining taste, Bosch said. Other innovations have included dropping gelatin from several items in order to add a “plant-based” claim to its packaging.

For 2020, the brand also removed carrageenan and decreased the levels of isomaltooligosaccharide in response to consumer feedback on the products’ high fiber levels The brand still uses plant-based fibers, including non-gmo soluble corn fiber and non-gmo soluble tapioca fiber, to keep a more traditional traditional candy texture and add to the overall sweetness.

“When we’re kicking 99% out of what candy is, which is white refined sugar and corn syrup, you have to replace that with something,” Bosch said. “We know that if we’re being the leader of having the lowest sugar per bag as possible while keeping the taste and deliciousness, because we also know taste is king, that we’re serving our consumer.”

The reformulated products first debuted online in January, with mixed consumer response, but since then, the brand has further tweaked the recipe. All products have a satisfaction guarantee, Bosch said, with a rebate or replacement offered. However, most shoppers (which SmartSweets calls their “tribe”) are excited to be part of the innovation process, she said.

“We try to bring everyone who tries the product into the mission and make sure that they know their feedback is really important and we appreciate them taking the time,” Bosch said. “Then [we] bring them into helping us innovate in the future.”