Schwarzenegger & Shriver Team to Launch MOSH

Investor Patrick Schwarzenegger is keeping it in the family with the launch of his new CPG venture MOSH, a line of functional foods (and eventually beverages) with his mother, Maria Shriver.

What is MOSH?

MOSH (an acronym for Maria Owings Shriver Health) is a line of snack bars enhanced with functional ingredients that have been linked to long-term brain health. In addition to 12 grams of protein, the bars include adaptogens, such as lion’s mane, ashwagandha, as well as omega-3’s. Sold exclusively online for $31.99 per 12-pack, the bars debuted in three flavors: Peanut Butter Crunch, Chocolate Crunch, and Peanut Butter Chocolate Crunch. Unlike many other bars in the category, MOSH is formulated to be under 200 calories and consumed as a snack instead of a meal.

Five percent of proceeds from the sale of each bar will be donated to The Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement (WAM), a nonprofit organization Shriver started after her father passed away from the progressive disease.

What’s the Plan?

Schwarzenegger, who also pulls double duty as the brand’s CEO, said MOSH should not be seen as a “bar brand” but rather a functional platform that has just initially launched with bars. Other products such as hydration powders, snack mixes and protein powders or shakes will likely follow, he said, all centered around improving brain health and reducing cognitive decline.

Bars were selected as the first launch because they were easier to formulate, with Schwarzenegger noting that given the volume of functional ingredients, masking bitter or off tastes was proving difficult in some other product types. Additionally, he added, Shriver is a bit of a “bar addict” herself, consuming multiple per day.

“Our goal is really to be like the Nike of brain health or the Apple of brain health,” he said. “[the bar category] is super competitive and super hard… but it was something that was the most truthful to our story.”

Citing a drop in sales of bars during the pandemic, Schwarzenegger said MOSH will focus on direct-to-consumer sales for the near term. A move to brick and mortar retail will come when the brand has a larger suite of offerings or sees that category sales have improved. With scale, he also hopes the brand is able to drop its prices so it can be sold in a wide variety of channels and retailers, such as CVS and Walmart.

Is There a Barrier to Promising to Boost Brain Health?

Brain health can be a tricky functional benefit to target given the fact it’s more preventative than anything else. Unlike, for example, caffeine, which consumers can immediately see the effects of after one dose, consumers have to take brain boosting ingredients longer term. Proving a direct positive link between MOSH products and each individual consumer’s brain health may be a challenge.

Other brands promising brain health benefits, such as Cerebelly and Brainiac Foods, have avoided this conundrum by focusing on offerings for children where there’s also no argument that brain development takes place.

Schwarzenegger said that the current offering may require more marketing support, but once the brand has a larger platform of products, it can look to incorporate ingredients with more immediate effects into other SKUs. He also sees consumers looking to MOSH simply for great tasting products, with the functional benefits as more of a bonus.

“Brain health is a longevity game. But millennials and everybody today always want the quickest fix possible…everything is instantaneous,” he said. “I think that at the end of the day, our goal is to be able to hit an audience that cares about their body health but also wants to think about their brain health as well and thinks ‘why not hit two birds with one stone?’”