SimplyProtein Rebrands to Focus on “Plant-Powered Fuel” Ahead of Category Expansion

Following its sale and spin-off from Simply Good Foods last year, protein bar brand SimplyProtein is gearing up for its next growth phase, starting with a rebrand that the company says will set the stage for category expansions and omnichannel growth nationwide.

The Toronto-based company’s rebrand debuted in Canada in June in new packaging featuring an updated logo, formula and positioning built around the concept of “plant-powered fuel.” The new look launched exclusively on the brand’s U.S. ecommerce site last week, before its due to hit brick and mortar retailers in January 2022. The rebrand and associated marketing efforts were supported by an $8.8 million funding round closed earlier this year. The company declined to name specific investors that took part, but said the round included several celebrities as well as strategic investors, including an ingredient processing company that will help the company within R&D, processing and manufacturing with certain upcoming product lines, CEO Michael Lines said.

Following its launch in 2002 in Canada, SimplyProtein has grown its retail footprint across North America and is now sold in retailers like Albertsons/Safeway, Whole Foods, Costco and Hy-Vee. The brand’s portfolio of low sugar bars, which use nuts and soy as protein sources, includes Snack Bars, Cookie Bars, Crispy Bars and a kids bar offering which debuted in the U.S. this summer.

SimplyProtein was previously part of the portfolio at holding company Simply Good Foods, alongside nutrition brand Atkins. However, following Simply Good’s acquisition of Quest Nutrition in 2019, the company decided to divest in its former flagship brand. In turn, Lines, who had been SimplyProtein’s general manager since 2017, helped form holding company Wellness Natural to acquire the brand.

Lines said the company conducted research last year and identified the need to broaden its target audience beyond fitness-minded consumers to include a wider swath of wellness-focused shoppers. To do so, the brand will now center its communication around plant-based protein, and how the ingredient can assist with both energy and focus. The new packaging and messaging will be rolled out across the portfolio, aside from the kids line, which will retain its current “playful” packaging.

“We needed to create more of an emotional connection with the consumer beyond just the functional proposition to the brand,” Lines said.

The company has also worked to “clean up” its ingredient deck, Lines said, while simultaneously also improving taste and texture. In addition to adding ingredients like whole almonds, semi-sweet chocolate chips, oats, toasted coconut, peanuts and flax seeds, the brand has also replaced stevia with chicory root fiber as a sweetener.

After making significant inroads in the food, drug and mass channels, Lines said the company plans to focus on growing its distribution in natural retailers, which will be supported by a marketing campaign featuring its celebrity investors.

SimplyProtein is also planning to grow its new plant-based mission beyond bars: Upcoming innovations include a keto energy bite scheduled to launch later this year and a ready-to-drink pea protein-based shake set for Q2 2022. While the expansion was always part of the planned roadmap, Lines said COVID’s impact on the bar category “amplified” the need to reach into new categories and ultimately be a plant-based protein platform brand.

“Our strategy is to be in multiple occasions within plant based protein,” Lines said. “Bars are still the center…and core driver of the business, but we want to be a plant-based solution provider for retailers and consumers [with products] that are not just bars.”

In the past, other protein-focused brands have also tried to expand, to varying degrees of success. For example, while Quest was able to launch snack foods and even frozen offerings, Vega has struggled to move beyond its core of protein powders and bars. But Lines believes that unlike other brands, the fact SimplyProtein is a smaller, privately owned company will ultimately enable it to have the support needed for this next growth phase. While he said he has the “utmost respect” for what Simply Good Foods did with SimplyProtein, Atkins and now Quest, he believes the executive team at Wellness Naturals now has a focus and nimbleness that the brand’s former owner did not possess.

“Just being able to pivot on strategies, adapting if there’s a regional opportunity we’re pursuing, we can shift the focus in the organization a little quicker to that opportunity,” Lines said. “It’s a natural evolution of being a smaller, nimble company versus a larger organization with a portfolio of brands.”