From Kitchen to Cross-Country, Scott’s Protein Balls Grows Its Healthy Snack Business

When Scott and Lori Levine began making homemade protein balls as a healthy snack, they didn’t think they would turn the product into a nationwide brand. But now, with nearly 95 stores across seven states, New York-based startup Scott’s Protein Balls is looking to quickly grow its name and footprint.

Scott’s Protein Balls produces a line of refrigerated, low sugar balls available in seven flavors, including Peanut Butter Cacao, Mint Chocolate Chip, Brownie Batter, Confetti, Snickerdoodle, Java Peanut Butter and – its most recent launch – Red Velvet. Each ball is one serving, with 3 grams of protein, ranging from 70-80 calories and 0-2 grams of sugar, depending on the flavor. Online, the balls are sold in 10-packs for $16.99 and 20-packs for $29.99, while grab-and-go 4-packs ($4.99-$5.99) and 2-packs have launched in retail.

According to Lori Levine, the origins of the brand go back to in 2017 when, at 52 years old, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and began undergoing radiation therapy. Amid regular trips into New York City for treatment, Levine said she also began seeing a nutritionist who warned her off eating mainstream protein bar brands – many of which contain high amounts of sugars and preservatives – which had become a daily habit during her cancer recovery.

“When you go through something like this and feel out of control, you realize there are some things I can control,” she said. “I can control how I think, I can control what I eat, I can control how I take care of my body – and I regained some control and it helped in my healing. But [I was] still missing this sweetness that I needed.”

To fill the void, Scott began developing a recipe for protein balls he could make for Lori at home, which soon became an immersive hobby making balls for friends and neighbors, who would in turn suggest ideas for new flavors. But the hobby went from an at-home snacking solution to a business in 2020 when, during the pandemic lockdowns, they began making the balls as a family with their sons in order to remain productive and busy. By the end of that year, Scott’s Protein Balls launched in a local bagel shop. In April 2021 the company launched its ecommerce website.

Today, Lori is cancer-free, but to give back and maintain the brand’s connection to its beginnings 1% of all sales are donated to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF).

“Some of the tests that [BCRF] actually funded the research for impacted my own personal journey,” she said. “That’s our mission, is to raise money for research for cancer, because we feel like that’s the most important thing that we can do.

While ecommerce makes up about 60% of sales, Scott’s Protein Balls’ retail footprint currently includes New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida, Missouri, North Dakota and Pennsylvania, with accounts such as grocery chain King Kullen, natural food store Wild By Nature, and Food Town. Lori Levine said the brand is aiming to double or triple its store count this year.

In New York, the brand is also selling to accounts in the LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy International airports, as well as several on-premise accounts, including Equinox Fitness.

Scott’s has been financially bootstrapped but the Levines said they have begun seeking out seed funding in order to begin growing the business. Scott Levine noted that the products are primarily self-distributed, but the brand is now in discussions with cold chain distributors in the Northeast, including one partner that will onboard the brand in the near future for service in specialty and gourmet accounts.

Scott Levine noted that the company hopes to use fundraising to invest more in its online business as well, noting that the brand has spent little money in digital marketing to date despite the potential for direct-to-consumer sales to deliver higher margins as the company scales.

While she acknowledged that being refrigerated poses an additional challenge for growing its retail presence, Lori Levine said she sees refrigeration as an important differentiator for Scott’s as the brand aims to avoid adding any preservatives.

“From a logistics standpoint, that’s one of the hurdles that we’re overcoming,” she said. “But that’s where we want to be, because we don’t want to put preservatives in, we want to keep it fresh and clean and healthy.”

Scott’s has also brought on two full time employees on the operations side – although Scott Levine noted the small company is still in an ‘all hands on deck’ mode where team members fill any role needed. It is also working with third party marketing and PR firms to raise brand awareness.

While growing the Protein Balls line will be the focus for the present, Lori Levine said the long term goal is to expand Scott’s into a healthy protein platform brand playing across multiple categories, including powders, pet treats and muffins. More immediately, however, Scott’s is developing a higher protein version of its Balls as well as a proprietary protein powder blend to ensure the products remain unique.

“We definitely want to grow the Scott’s brand over time,” she said.