Moonshot Snacks Expands to Sprouts, Looks Toward Portfolio Growth

Since making its retail debut last March, climate-friendly snack brand Moonshot has increased its footprint to over 1,000 doors following a nationwide expansion with Sprouts Farmers Market, announced last week. Over the past year, the brand’s flagship cracker line has secured on-shelf placement at major retailers across the country including Whole Foods, Wegmans, Central Market, The Fresh Market and Foxtrot, among others.

In addition to expanding distribution, Moonshot’s General Manager, Jen Berliner, said the brand is looking to accelerate the growth of its platform throughout the year. First on the list is adding a fourth SKU to its cracker line, which, according to Berliner, is already in its development phase.

“As we did throughout the development of our crackers, we’ll let regenerative practices and consumer data guide our process,” said Berliner. “We remain committed to providing climate-friendly snacking options to our snacktivists and look forward to bringing new, innovative products to the market in the coming years.”

Moonshot Snacks launched in 2020 and is the sister company to “carbon management platform” Planet FWD which aims to help other CPG companies, including names like baking brand Renewal Mill and meal delivery company Thistle, bring climate-friendly products to market and offers expert assistance in measuring and reducing a company’s carbon footprint.

For Moonshot, carbon neutrality is also a large part of its purpose and the brand has not expanded beyond its debut lineup since its launch. Instead, it has worked to bring awareness to its values such as its use of organic, traceable, regeneratively grown ingredients and its carbon neutral certified value chain.

In addition to the product itself, Moonshot’s operations are also carbon neutral certified as well, meaning that scope 1,2, and 3 emissions created at every step in production, including materials, packaging, processing and transportation, have been calculated and entirely offset. The brand also plans to expand beyond crackers with additional climate-friendly snacks by 2023, Berliner said.

Noting that DTC and “values-aligned third-party e-commerce platforms” like Imperfect Foods have played a strategic role in the brand’s overall growth, Berliner emphasized that Moonshot’s go-to-market strategy has been “anchored” by brick and mortar natural retailers.

Although natural and specialty stores are the focus, Moonshot is also going after conventional grocers and has already secured placement on shelf at retailers such as Raley’s and The Giant Company. According to Berliner, the brand is slated to add additional partnerships in the channel throughout the year.

“It’s incredibly encouraging to step back and look at our rapid expansion in retail,” said Berliner. “We’ve landed on shelves in over 1000 stores nationwide in just 9 months since opening our first retail location. We’re proud to be pioneering the climate-friendly food movement, and this growth evidences the consumer and retailer demand for food options that are as good for the planet as they are for you. People are hungry for climate action, and we’re proud to give them more opportunities to take it.”