Distribution: Yumi Launches Exclusive Product In Whole Foods; Undercover Goes Deeper At Costco

Yumi Goes Nationwide in Whole Foods

Children’s snack company Yumi has entered Whole Foods Market with its Rice-Free, Organic Meltable Puffs and its complete line of Superfood Veggie Organic Bars including an exclusive launch of Yumi’s new Mango & Kale bar variety.

Having launched as an ecommerce brand, Yumi was focused on pureed baby food meal delivery service before expanding into traditional retail channels. The company has been able to find more distribution thanks to its addition of more snackable SKUs like the bars, puffs and other “pinchable” offerings to the portfolio and a hefty $67 million investment in late 2021. Last July, Yumi signed on Target and went on to ink a nationwide partnership in Sprouts Farmers Market earlier this year, before moving into Whole Foods

“We have a lot of dots on the map to fill,” co-CEO and co-founder Evelyn Rusli told NOSH in an email. “We’re in virtually every corner of America, including Hawaii. It’s been encouraging to see such strong velocity across the board…It validates our thesis that today’s modern parents are expecting more from their food brands.”

The Whole Foods partnership was “a natural fit” for Yumi because the retailer’s customers are “adventurous in their choices; always looking for products with distinctive ingredients and flavors,” Rusli said. The Mango & Kale snack bar flavor will be exclusive to Whole Foods until the end of the year.

The company not only makes children’s snacks and baby food but has expanded its website into a marketplace to include other baby essentials like feeding implements like utensils, cups and silicon plates as well as toys and sound machines.

Undercover Chocolate Expands In Costco

Undercover Snacks is expanding its footprint in the club channel bringing its 15.3-ounce bags of Dark Chocolate + Sea Salt quinoa crisps to more Costco locations.

Last June, the brand announced a rotation in the Southeast region where it is still being sold. The new announcement adds around 250 locations in the Northeast, Midwest and Canada East regions. The company expects to be in an undefined Southwest Costcos in December.

“Our product is particularly well-suited for the club channel. The club bag offers such a good value for consumers. We love that we aren’t using excess packaging but getting a ton of product in there,” said CEO and co-founder Diana Levy. “We’re thrilled with the numbers.”

Launched in 2017 by Levy and her husband, Michael, the company operates its own production facility in East Hanover, New Jersey where it uses proprietary equipment to cook, dry and toast quinoa before coating the crisps in chocolate. Undercover currently offers on its website six other varieties (Milk Chocolate, Milk Chocolate + Currants, Milk Chocolate + Peppermint, Dark Chocolate + Blueberries, Dark Chocolate + Cherries and Dark Chocolate + Pomegranate) but has innovated with “sprinkled” offerings as well.

After raising capital to expand distribution, Undercover is now currently in about 20,000 brick-and-mortar retail locations signing a deal to be in 3,000 Walmart stores this past April. The brand has also been partnered with United Airlines since October 2021 offering individual crisps as complimentary snacks aboard flights.

The United partnership has been especially beneficial to the company’s growth, accounting for “many millions of units” going out of its facility per month and driving trial, Levy said. “Places where people can try it like an airline or Costco are terrific places for us to build the brand.”

Konscious Foods Brings Plant-based Sushi to Whole Foods

Canadian alt seafood company Konscious Foods announced this week that the company’s plant-based fish are being used in Whole Foods Market Tuna California and Spicy Sno Crab sushi rolls. The featured sushi rolls will be available in over 500 U.S. Whole Foods locations.

The foodservice products will add to Konscious Foods’ frozen options which launched nationwide in all U.S. Whole Foods stores in July. The 8-piece sushi rolls will retail for $14.49.

Launched in 2023 by plant-based chef and innovator Yves Potvin, the company closed a $26 million funding round in August. Konscious Foods uses konjac, pea fiber, assorted vegetables, quinoa and rice to make its plant-based sushi rolls, onigiri and poke bowls as well as fish-free seafood for foodservice.

The distribution partnership complements the brand’s “line of items in the freezer section with Whole Foods Market ready-to-eat sushi that makes sustainable eating even more convenient,” Potvin said in a press release.

Egglife Roars Into Food Lion

Grain-free, low-carb wrap maker Egglife Foods has landed in more than 1,100 Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic Food Lion locations. Food Lion will carry egglife’s Original and Everything Bagel varieties.

The egg white wrap brand recently added a distribution partnership with Whole Foods Market in August bringing the same two varieties to select locations. Egglife is also available in Stop & Shop, Giant Martins and Giant Food (all retail banners of grocery conglomerate Ahold Delhaize). Last month, the company debuted a new Garden Salsa wrap exclusively in ALDI.

“We’ve seen strong distribution growth within the Ahold Delhaize portfolio of brands in a short period of time; that speaks volumes about the shared commitment of egglife and each banner to provide as many consumers as possible with access to delicious and nutritious better-for-you food alternatives.”

More Notable Distribution Partnerships:

• Celebrity chef Ming Tsai’s Chinese frozen street food brand MingsBings is now available at 12 Juice Press locations. The QSR is offering the Plant-Based Veggie, Egg & Cheese and its Plant-Based Fiesta Taco bings for $5.99 each, or two for $9.99. MingsBings will be the second branded item to be offered at the Juice Press foodservice locations.
• Brooklyn Chop House Dumplings is now on-shelf at over 1,000 Walmart stores thanks to a partnership with Patti LaBelle Foods and the recording artist’s ZPAC company which focuses on placing minority-owned companies in big box retailers.
• After being chosen as one of five winners of the Kroger Go Fresh & Local Accelerator program, Ugly Company will now be selling its upcycled fruit snacks at 184 Ralphs Grocery stores in Southern California. The Farmersville, CA-based food brand uses “ugly” fresh fruit to make dried and upcycled cherry, peach, nectarine and apricot into snacks. “Our vision is to one day find a use for the fruit being thrown out at grocery stores, but we’re not there yet,” founder and CEO Ben Moore told NOSH.
• Rind Snacks is expanding its partnership with Target bringing its Straw-Peary, Orchard, Tropical and Peach Chips to over 700 locations nationwide.
• “Sizzle and drizzle” olive oil brand Graza has locked in a 900-store partnership with Target. The news comes soon after the brand announced it had also gone nationwide in Sprouts Farmers Market locations.
• Adding to its retail launch at Sprouts locations in August, yellow pea pasta maker ZenB has added select Northwest Indiana and Chicagoland-area Jewel-Osco stores to its retailer list. The retailer will be carrying the full range of ZenB’s offerings including Spaghetti, Elbows, Penne and Rotini as well as the brand’s on-the-go Agile Bowls. Last month the brand moved into snacking with the launch of a new line of crackers.