Sweet Nothings Launches New Branding and Kids Line As It Grows Distribution

Frozen food and snack brand Sweet Nothings is changing up its branding in order to better clarify its value proposition as it plans for distribution expansion into Sprouts and Whole Foods. In tandem with the new look, the company will launch a kids line of squeezable smoothies.

Founded in 2019, Sweet Nothings originally launched with a line of single-serve frozen Smoothie Cups and expanded beyond the freezer set, launching a line of shelf-stable nut butter bites in 2021. However, while the cups performed admirably in online channels, some consumers found the packaging slightly confusing on shelf and that product lines needed to be segmented to better convey their value propositions.

“[The new] branding represents more of a company that does have several product lines that all need to be somewhat cohesive and speak to one another versus just the cups that we started with.” CEO and co-founder Jake Kneller said. “[The new kids product launch] is a nice way to be able to segment who our customers are and create a solution just for parents and kids and then have our cups be that solution for the other demographics.”

Available in Pineapple with Spinach, Strawberry with Beet and Mango with Carrot varieties, the Smoothie Tubes will retail for $6.99 per 6-pack. The tubes will offer a creamier texture than its smoothie cups while bringing the added vegetables to the forefront, Kneller said.

Although Sweet Nothings does have some brick and mortar distribution, it performs particularly well on online platforms such as GoPuff, Thrive Market, Fresh Direct and Good Eggs. Kneller attributes its online success to the ease of educating ecommerce shoppers (as opposed to in-store shoppers) about new products during the COVID-19 pandemic.

While the brand’s shelf stable bites will remain a largely D2C product, sold on Sweet Nothings’ website, the Weight Watchers online store, Amazon.com and other alternative channels such as coffee shops, in 2022 the company will focus on adding more grocery and natural accounts for its frozen items. Its Spoonable Smoothie cups are entering Sprouts stores nationwide this week, while Squeezable Smoothies will debut in Whole Foods nationwide this Spring.

Like many other emerging brands, the pandemic has slowed Sweet Nothings’ progress toward entering brick and mortar retail. The company has made direct-to-consumer work for its smoothie cups via other fulfillment partners, such as Fresh Direct, but the line was harder to sell (and ship) via its own website. Other frozen brands such as Dream Pops have faced similar challenges — with Dream Pops ultimately sunsetting its D2C offerings via its website on the heels of a $6 million raise in November 2021.

Meanwhile, the smoothie set has seen increased attention during the past several years as shoppers looked for more healthy snack options and, more recently, turned to making smoothies more at home. Most notably in May 2021 Sambazon raised $45 million for its frozen fruit-focused, snack and Smoothie Bowl line.

Sweet Nothing’s snack bites already sport the new look and the smoothie cups will transition over the course of the second quarter. Kneller believes that with the new branding in hand, the lines will be better set up for success in retail.

“When people go into eating our products thinking ‘this is a spoonable smoothie’…they love the product…But if we don’t do a good job of educating the consumer, and they think they’re biting into indulgent, creamy sweet ice cream — which you very well could with the current packaging — then sometimes it is disappointing,” Kneller said. “We think the vibrant colors are a lot more eye-catching…and we’re basically shouting spoonable smoothie at you.”

To further set expectations the kids line will not be sold alongside popsicles — where many other squeeze pop products are located — but rather in the frozen fruit category.

“[This set] is exactly where we want to live and we think is such a great sort of incremental item next to bagged frozen fruit for those busy parents really looking for smoothie type options for their family,” Kneller said. “What we would love to see in five years is across aisles at the store, there is the Sweet Nothings alternative to every occasion that you’re shopping for.”