Daily Harvest Enters the Alt-Meat Fray With Crumbles Launch
Direct-to-consumer frozen food brand Daily Harvest last week announced the launch of Crumbles, a line of meat alternatives that takes the brand further out of its initial product portfolio of cook-and-eat meals and smoothies.
“When we launch something new, we always go back to our main goal – to help people eat more nourishing fruits and vegetables every day,” CEO Rachel Drori said. “With Crumbles, we saw whitespace in the $1.4B alternative meat market.”
The two varieties, Walnut + Thyme and French Lentil + Leek, retail for $9.79 per 12 oz. package. With a base of legumes, nuts and vegetables, each 4 oz. serving has 13 grams of protein, 5-7 grams of fiber and 290-330 calories. Both SKUs are also free from pea and soy protein, common ingredients in other alt-meat options.
Though the launch places Daily Harvest in the middle of a crowded plant-based meat alternatives set, Drori said the company is differentiating its line by emphasizing an easy-to-understand ingredient list of items consumers might already find in their own pantries and refrigerators. The line’s marketing takes aim at the complex ingredients panels of its competitors, proclaiming “No hydrogenated yadda yaddas.”
“Consumers are demanding more plant-based protein options, and as a result, we’ve seen an explosion of products that meet their call for sustainability, but often miss the mark on health and nutrition,” Drori said. “A lot of plant-based meat alternatives are engineered by scientists in a lab. We saw an opportunity to cut through the noise.”
Daily Harvest first launched in 2016 with its ready-to-blend frozen smoothie cups, before turning to heat-and-eat oatmeal, soup and other meal options. In 2021, the brand debuted its first “ingredient” play, Mylk, a frozen line of almond milk concentrate cubes. Drori notes that Mylk is the brand’s “highest rated collection for finally solving consumer pain points and proved that consumers were looking for alternatives to “ultra-processed options.”
The success of Mylk, she added, inspired the company to continue branching beyond the complete meals space with other ingredient-positioned products.
Several D2C meal providers have made a similar jump to ingredient driven approaches. For example, Hungryroot initially packaged its cut vegetables, proteins and sauces together into pre-set meals, but has since pivoted to offer them a la cart, while Sunbasket now allows shoppers to add on additional grocery items to their meal selections.
For Daily Harvest, Drori said, the goal is to eventually “reimagine the food system,” with a portfolio “that includes new categories, collection extensions, and of course uncharted territory.”
