Inside Kencko’s Product Line Evolution After First Year In Retail

Smoothie powder producer Kencko is taking its freeze-drying expertise to a new aisle. The New York-based company recently introduced a new line of Iced Lattes, featuring 1 cup of organic fruit and 1.5 espresso shots per single-serve sleeve. The product is available in Mocha, Cinnamon and Banana Caramel flavors and will retail for $2.10 per packet later this fall.

According to Kelly Dean, CCO, the fruit and vegetable-focused company has been toying with the idea of a coffee product for some time; the idea evolved from the popular Mocha sachets in its flagship smoothie line, she explained. Unlike that product, which doesn’t include caffeine, Iced Lattes feature freeze-dried coffee beans as well as a date for sweetness.

“There’s an unmet, untapped need for healthy instant smoothies and instant beverages – products in general, help deliver more fruits and veggies,” said Dean. “There’s still lots of room – Iced Lattes is just one of those innovations – and if it does well and people really respond to it, then there’s more room for us to grow there too.”

According to Dean, the product line will allow Kencko to appeal to a new consumer group while also offering their existing base a broader range of formats for the core reason they keep coming back: to easily consume their fruits and veggies. Kencko’s Iced Lattes can be prepared in 15 seconds by mixing with milk or plant-based milk.

Dean also explained that as the brand has moved into retail it has begun serving two distinct consumer groups: its direct-to-consumer shoppers, who are often looking to “solve for something very specific,” and the retail customer, who often discovers the Kencko brand in store while looking to try something new. The new product marks yet another evolution in how it captures both of those consumers throughout the day, Dean said.

Along with the new coffees, Kencko is also testing a line of oats online with Mixed Berry and Apple Cinnamon flavors. Those products also contain 1 cup of fruit in addition to 4 grams of protein and 6 grams of fiber.

The new innovations come nearly a year after the digitally native business made its first move in brick-and-mortar retail via 1,000 Walmart stores nationwide. It had placement on an endcap for six months at the mass retailer before moving into the mainline set.

“That kind of visibility [at Walmart] lends itself to a certain type of velocity and was an amazing way to start and get noticed,” said Dean. “The plan was always from there to then move in line, and also to get feedback from customers and refine down where we want the core portfolio to be.”

Earlier this spring, Kencko also launched into Target stores nationwide and is now sold in a total of over 3,000 retail doors across the country. But those expansions haven’t come without a challenge. Following its Walmart launch last year and as it was preparing for the Target rollout, the brand experienced a fire at its Lisbon, Portugal-based production facility and was forced to quickly pivot and move its machinery elsewhere.

“There’s silver linings… it boosted us a little bit to be able to do some things quicker, like grow more into our scaling that we were working on doing [and] maybe even faster than we would have if the fire had not happened,” said Dean. “Lots of challenges, for sure, but on the silver lining side, it enabled us to move faster into a larger facility we were going to need anyway.”

Kencko isn’t alone in trying to offer consumers a cleaner, simple ingredient format of instant caffeination. Diamond Brew launched earlier this month as a “brewless” soluble coffee” with a focus on quality and convenience. Beyond the espresso set, Laird has worked to flex its 5-SKU line of Instant Lattes with Adaptogens between DTC and retail, recently shifting focus back to ecommerce and reporting it saw “tremendous progress” in the channel during its Q2 earnings last week.