Sunwink Expands Outside of RTD With Superfood Powder Mixes

Botanical tonic brand Sunwink is expanding its plant-based platform outside of ready-to-drink beverages with the launch of Superfood Powder Mixes.

The new line, available in Berry Calm and Cacao Clarity, is a natural extension of the company’s mission of “getting people to integrate functional plants into their daily lives,” co-founder and CMO Jordan Schenck told BevNET earlier this week. Each features a range of functional herbs and adaptogens, with ingredients such as Reishi, Maca, Lion’s Mane, Lemon Balm and Ashwagandha, with Berry Calm designed for “daily de-stress” and Cacao Clarity aimed at “clarity and focus.”

Launched in 2019, Sunwink’s RTD tonics are sold in stores in Southern California like Erewhon and Whole Foods. However, Schenck said that the company’s e-commerce business has provided key insights into consumer behaviors that have shaped its innovation strategy, specifically how users have integrated the drinks into smoothies, cocktails and other types of beverages.

“There’s an endless amount of opportunity of how people have played with our tonics, and I think that really inspired us as we looked at the powdered space,” she said. “What happens if you bake with it? What happens if you mix it into salad dressings or use it as pizza sprinkles?”

Having a product with a simple and clean ingredient list is one way to encourage users to get creative, Schenck noted, but Sunwink is also creating more intentional messaging around the powders’ versatility. Continuing its history of cross-cultural collaborations, the brand created partnerships with known figures within the health and wellness community to spread awareness: chef Chloe Coscarelli, founder of vegan restaurant chain By Chloe, collaborated on Cacao Clarity by creating a brownie featuring the powder as the star ingredient. Meanwhile, environmentalist and author Halie Thomas used Berry Calm to spin up a chia pudding recipe. Coscarelli and Thomas’s respective non-profit organizations, the Best Friends Animal Society and The Happy Organization, receive 2% of sales for their associated SKU.

The Superfood Powders are being shared with about 200 “folks of influence,” Schenck said, who have showcased their use in everything from smoothies to chilis.

“For us, it’s not pushing on the bounds of this has to be this perfect healthy thing. Sunwink has always been about wellness being accessible,” she said. “I truly believe that wellness can still be a brownie or a pizza sprinkle or a cocktail with your friends, and the products were designed that way.”

The Superfood Powders, which are categorized as food products, will initially launch online where Schenck said the brand plans to build consumer education and awareness for both its conventional use as a drink mix and for more adventurous applications. The powders launch on Amazon on February 16 and are available now through the brand’s website, where they retail for $34.90 each and $59.33 together as a bundle.

Emphasizing versatility is one way to stand out amidst a category featuring a variety of differently positioned plant-based powder brands including Athletic Greens, Orgain, Garden of Life and many others.

“I think for us, the efficacy around herbs and superfoods is so versatile that this was just a natural step for the brand to have a little bit more fun with folks,” she said.

While the Superfood Powders are the brand’s current focus, Sunwink’s five-SKU line of 12 oz. tonics has continued to grow: the product recently entered Amazon ($38 for an 8-pack) and is launching soon at select Sprouts locations, with other national accounts set to come on later this year to complement existing partners like Whole Foods, Natural Grocers and Fresh Direct. The powders launch represents a new phase in the company’s evolution, but it comes during a period of strength: Sunwink has grown 170% year-over-year, according to the company.

“I think brands in powder format are showing (RTD) beverage brands that consumers will bring powder in as an option as well,” she said. “We are just staying on the cutting edge of where the consumer is moving when you think about a beverage brand.”