Crave New World Aims To Redefine Comfort Food

Will a Yuka-approved, high-protein, seed oil-free brand find favor with the everyday Kroger shopper? Crave New World is about to find out.

The frozen food startup is charting a course into more than a thousand Kroger stores this fall after a successful soft launch in Pop Up Grocer and on college campuses in March. The brand markets a quartet of classic homestyle meals with a high-protein, dairy-free spin that will retail for $8.99.

The company is planning an “aggressive” promotional strategy for its first six months in the supermarket chain, said founder and CEO Matthew Brag, adding that Kroger is “very invested in collaborating on this brand and making it stand out.”

The lineup includes Grass-fed Bison Meatloaf, Southwest Turkey Lasagna, Chicken Enchiladas and Chipotle Chicken Mac ‘n Cheez. The products were developed with no seed oils and lower sodium than conventional options.

“I really wanted to come up with a concept that was … still the comfort food you know and love, but that’s healthy,” Brag said. “It’s not just slightly better for you… it’s genuinely good for you.”

Each offering contains 20 grams of protein or more and has an “excellent” rating (80 or above) on Yuka, a mobile app that analyzes the health impact of food, beverage and beauty products. By comparison, Conagra Brands’ Healthy Choice frozen meals received “poor” ratings on a number of its offerings due to the presence of additives like sodium phosphate and carrageenan.

A Wall Street Journal article published earlier this month examined the app’s growing influence on shoppers’ purchasing habits, creating headaches for packaged food conglomerates while providing opportunities for challenger brands like Crave New World. Some 20 million Americans – including Health and Human Services’ Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – use Yuka to scan product labels for information on nutritional quality, additives and whether it is organic.

“We found product-market fit very rapidly at colleges. The high protein and high fiber count mixed with natural ingredients and a more balanced nutrition with reduced sodium made students feel like they were getting a full meal’s worth, not a meal replacement,” Brag said, adding the brand is expanding its presence from 11 to 22 major universities this fall based on strong student demand.

For Crave New World, a key objective is balancing health and comfort without “preaching or virtue signaling,” Brag said, noting, “This company was founded on the idea that the consumer is much smarter than they’re given credit for.”

The brand’s messaging relies less on what’s excluded from the product in favor of highlighting the nutritional benefits.

“I don’t think consumers respond aspirationally to ‘no,’” Brag said. “Having a list of 20 ‘no’s is very scary.”

In his earlier career as a consumer food and beverage investment banking analyst for Lazard, he acquired valuable perspective on the industry as well as operational insights, learning “how food companies are built and made, and the mistakes they make,” Brag said. He later founded a media production company, gaining further exposure to the consumer brands industry in Asian markets.

Last summer, the startup raised a pre-seed round that “was really just to find product-market fit,” Brag said. He plans to raise a seed round in the coming months.

He also hired a pair of industry veterans – Daryl Moore and Kelly Casson – to lead product development and operations, respectively.

Despite initial manufacturing challenges, Crave New World debuted earlier this year with a grassroots campaign targeting college students and their parents, whom Brag identified as a “core demographic.” Future plans include expanding into national retailers and exploring hospitals and hospitality markets.

“I always remember being stranded at a Hampton Inn or somewhere else, you know, 20 miles away from the nearest pub or restaurant, and there’s always the commissary behind the concierge, and having that sinking feeling that I know I’m about to make a bad choice,” Brag said. “So I see there being a huge hospitality play, and that’s something that I saw from the start.”