Harmless Harvest Looks To New Day Parts with Dessert Launch
As part of its goal to utilize more of its star ingredient, coconut-based product brand Harmless Harvest has announced the launch of a line of coconut puddings.
The company, which sold a majority stake to Danone earlier this year, produces organic coconut water, coconut-based drinkable yogurts and cups of coconut yogurt. The puddings — which include a chocolate pudding, mango panna cotta and mixed berry panna cotta — will retail for $3.29 and first launch as a test at Whole Foods Markets in the Southwest, Southern Pacific and Rocky Mountain regions.
Harmless Harvest’s goal of reducing food waste has influenced product innovation across its portfolio, which includes organic coconut water and both drinkable and spoonable coconut-based yogurts.
“Our brand, Harmless Harvest, really stands for taste. So dessert is a really logical place to have a taste based product,” Heather Cutter, Chief Growth Officer for Harmless Harvest, said about the launch. “[This supports] our mission and zero waste efforts, but also from a P&L standpoint, we have this amazing resource — it’s the best coconut in Thailand, we need to use it.”
The company said the puddings will be sold in the dairy cooler alongside other pudding and gelatin cups. Though panna cotta may not be a familiar dessert to all Americans, Qian said the format was selected because it would offer shoppers a “lighter, almost refreshing dessert experience” in comparison to the more indulgent options currently available in the set.
Harmless Harvest believes the line will prove appealing to retailers, he added, because it will offer a more premium product to a category that is led by private label or cheaper, commodity offerings. Still, the company plans to be slow and deliberate in expanding the line’s distribution, Cutter said, making sure the product format, flavor and texture first resonates with shoppers. It’s a similar strategy the company has used with its yogurt line, which is still largely limited in distribution to natural retailers, she added.
Pudding and Panna Cotta will represent Harmless Harvest’s largest launches in 2022, it is also planning to debut several new flavors of its drinkable yogurts. After experiencing a lukewarm reception from consumers to its since-discontinuing protein smoothies, Cutter said the company is working to ensure all future launches deliver on the taste profile it’s known for.
“We have to have the best taste and texture,” Cutter said. That’s what the expectation is. We set that standard with the coconut water. So if it’s not something we can do in that way, then it’s probably not something we’ll do.”
