Mars Launches Chocolate Bar Made with Perfect Day Whey Protein
Mars is partnering with food tech company Perfect Day to launch a new chocolate bar made with animal-free whey protein. The bar, which will be released under a new brand called CO2COA, is the latest chocolate product launch featuring Perfect Day milk protein as the ingredient company tries to push further into the confection set.
“The creation of CO2COA is an inventive example of how we partner with technology innovators, like Perfect Day, to bring great new offerings to our consumers,” said Chris Rowe, Global VP of R&D at Mars Wrigley, in a release. “We’re excited to collaborate with Perfect Day and [continue] to explore the potential of alternative proteins to help create a more delicious and sustainable future.”
CO2COA’s first release will mimic a solid milk chocolate bar using Rainforest Alliance-Certified cocoa along with Perfect Day’s animal-free whey. The product will launch online for $2.39 per bar. .
While the bars are technically lactose-free, because Perfect Day’s precision fermentation technology produces protein that so closely mimics cow’s milk, they will trigger milk allergies.
In a call with reporters, Rowe said the company sought to create a bar with a creamy texture closer to that of a Dove Bar. The bar’s first ingredients are sugar and vegetable oil, including palm oil, sunflower oil, coconut oil and/or safflower oil. Each single-serving 1.9 oz bar contains 180 calories, has 14% of consumers’ daily fat content and 16 grams of sugar.
While Perfect Day claims use of its protein results in up to 97% less greenhouse gas emissions and up to 99% less blue water consumption, neither company would detail what the exact metrics are for CO2COA when compared to other Mars bars or even other chocolate brands.
Rowe said that future collaborations for Perfect Day-based versions of 3 Musketeers, Milky Way and M&Ms are also still on the table.
The nature of the partnership remains somewhat unclear: On the call, Rowe described it as a joint venture, but a company spokesperson later clarified that Perfect Day is a “partner” for Mars. Perfect Day co-founder and CEO Ryan Pandya said the company does not disclose the financial structure of its partnerships. Perfect Day executives said on Wednesday that the bar was co-developed by the two brands, a shift from previous statements claiming the company did not usually assist its partners with product creation and formulation.
The launch follows Perfect’s Day’s typical playbook of debuting a new use case for its milk proteins and then rapidly launching a slate of competing products all in that category. For example, last year the company launched Modern Kitchen cream cheese, then quickly collaborated with General Mills to release another cream cheese, Bold Culture. In the first half of this year, Betterland Foods, Strive and Tomorrow Foods have all launched shelf-stable, tetra-packed milks that utilize Perfect Day’s milk proteins.
CO2COA is the second chocolate bar to feature Perfect Day whey protein, following Woo Bar, made in collaboration with Betterland Foods. Pandya claimed that the new product is differentiated by its texture, as compared to the more protein bar-like consistency of Woo.
After multiple strategic pivots between focusing on packaged food and ingredients, Perfect Day has now seemingly settled somewhere in the middle, launching products under its owned brands – including California Performance Company and Brave Robot – to drum up interest in new use cases.
“Partnering with a forward-looking leader like Mars to accelerate their innovation and sustainability initiatives is a hallmark example of how we’re extending our impact,” Pandya said. “We’re thrilled to help a world-class company like Mars do just that as we champion a path towards a more resilient food system for all.”
