‘Clean Oil Crew’ Looks to Build Awareness of Healthy Fats

Though sugar may be consumers’ “Public Enemy Number One” in the move towards healthier eating, high calorie oils and fats are not far behind. However, a new industry group is hoping to change that perception and further educate consumers about the benefits of healthy fats – such as ghee, avocado oil, coconut oil, olive oil and nut oil – in their own products.

The group, dubbed The Clean Oil Crew, was assembled and is being led by snack maker LesserEvil, which uses organic coconut and olive oils in its popcorns and puff products. Other participating brands include bean producer A Dozen Cousins, grain- and gluten-free pizza and pasta brand Cappello’s, condiment and frozen meals maker Primal Kitchen and RIND Snacks. The cohort came together with help from LesserEvil’s PR firm Power Digital Marketing, which also represents A Dozen Cousins.

While LesserEvil has avoided vilifying vegetable oil and other unhealthy fats in the past, CEO Charles Coristine told NOSH a rising movement within the food industry to replace those ingredients with better-for-you options already exists, and he hopes that by working together the brands in the Clean Oil Crew will put more pressure on large manufacturers to improve their own products in addition to boosting the coalition’s own brand awareness.

“We’ve noticed other other companies have been jumping on this oil [issue]…[but] we were one of the first people to get out and do this stuff,” Coristine said. “It seems like the spotlight is on vegetable oil a little bit more as we’re cleaning up our diets and now we feel like there’s some momentum that we can potentially partner with other people that are like minded. We’ve got numbers now.”

The launch comes as LesserEvil has expanded into the conventional grocery and mass channels. Coristine said the company’s sales have grown roughly 60% per year for the last three years and has added over 4,000 doors in mass over the past six months.

The partnership comes on the heels of other such coalitions, such recently formed industry group Sweet ACES (Alliance to Control Excessive Sugar) which launched in January and brought together a number of better-for-you food and beverage brands to raise awareness of lower sugar products.

“Real change in the industry starts with brands coming together to streamline education for consumers. We love what the Alliance to Control Excessive Sugar (ACES) has been doing and we think now is the time to investigate fats,” Caitlin Mack, director of brand marketing at LesserEvil, said. “We think both movements (sugar and fat awareness) are super exciting and positive steps in the right direction.”

As the Clean Oil Crew gets off the ground, the coalition has launched a website and is selling a limited edition starter pack featuring a variety of each brand’s products, including LesserEvil’s Himalayan Pink Salt Sun Poppers, A Dozen Cousins’ Cuban black beans, Cappello’s keto and almond flour pizzas, Primal Kitchen’s organic extra virgin olive oil and RIND Snacks’ Straw-Peary Chewy bars and Apple Chips. The pack is sold exclusively online for $17 and also features vouchers for additional purchases.

The starter pack also provides a more affordable entry point for consumers to trial better-for-you products, which typically command premium price points that can be prohibitive for lower income shoppers. Coristine said that although scaling could one day help bring the price point down, he hopes consumers will see healthy food as a necessary expenditure and that the starter pack could help activate that mindset.

“People are willing to pay more for premium products because I think that healthy is a commodity,” he said. “ I think people are going to really start to take full stock that spending more money on groceries is an investment in your future.”

The launch also includes a giveaway campaign encouraging consumers to spread the word about the group on social media, using the hashtag #CleanOilCrew, for a chance to win free starter packs and other special prizes.

In addition to the sales component, the website also features educational content highlighting the differences between vegetable and seed oils, tips for reading product labels and talk tracks to help consumers spread awareness through word of mouth.

The group is now gearing up for next week’s Natural Products Expo West 2022 trade show, where Schultz said the five companies will all have booths and will sport branded Clean Oil Crew clothing. The long-term ambition is for the Clean Oil Crew to become a influential voice within the industry, Mack and Coristine also hope that the show will provide the opportunity to recruit more brands to join

“I’m hoping that we pressure some snack manufacturers to clean up what oils they use, that would be my ultimate goal,” Coristine said.