Equip Foods Refreshes Brand, Prepares Beef Protein For Retail
Slow, steady and available only online has been the growth strategy of Equip Foods over the course of its first 10 years. Now, with its sights set on a retail launch next year, the protein brand has unveiled its new look.
Initially, the company was founded as a CrossFit-aligned supplement brand called pureWOD (WOD correlates to the CrossFit term Workout Of The Day) in 2015. Staking a claim on a beef protein powder called Prime Protein, the company rebranded to Equip Foods two years later as it saw its core consumer demographic shift from the CrossFit community to women in their late 20s to mid-40s, said CEO Kieran Mathew, who previously founded marketing company Amplify.
“It didn’t really represent the brand DNA very well,” he said. “Equip Foods is a name and brand that could scale more effectively.”
Since the 2017 rebrand, Equip has built a fitness-oriented portfolio of collagen, colostrum and pre-workout mixes. In July, Equip unveiled its latest innovation, Prime Bars, which used 20 grams of protein derived from grass-fed beef.
While a beef-derived protein bar might profile as a savory product, the brand’s “first-of-its-kind” formulation positions it with a sweet profile. Each 61-gram bar (Chocolate, Peanut Butter, Mixed Berry and Churro) contains 11 “real food” ingredients with no seed oils, lecithins, fiber syrups, or gluten.
“We saw the white space in hitting 20 grams of protein with an easy-to-digest format,” he said. “While others in the space are optimizing for macros, we are optimizing for nutrient density while still having macros in a reasonable place.”
While the brand has ditched its affiliation with the CrossFit community, it still abides by the ethos of clean eating and using recognizable ingredients. The Equip team has approached scaling its beef protein powders and bars by building a variant of what’s already available as opposed to creating a whole new category.
The nutritional bars category continues to grow with dollar sales up 10.4% and unit sales rising 7.4% in the 52-week period ending August 10, according to Circana sales data.
Equip’s beef protein solves for lactose-intolerant consumers who might have trouble digesting whey-based ingredients, as well as the inefficient process of protein extraction from plant-based options, Mathew said.
After successfully building toward “profitable and sustainable growth” in direct-to-consumer and Amazon, he said, Equip has refreshed its packaging as it prepares for its entrance onto retail shelves next year.
The brand’s previous design “felt more like a 2017 GNC performance product,” Mathew said. “What we’ve learned over the past few years is that we are much more of a lifestyle protein supplement brand.”
The dramatic redesign changes the brand’s color palette and brings a retro aesthetic to the branding while simplifying its front-of-pack callouts. Mathew said the focus was on “replacing what’s lost in the modern diet” with “simple, real food supplementation.”
The revamped look will help the brand stand out in on-shelf. Like its approach to ecommerce, Equip is not rushing into retail too quickly but starting with its better-selling SKUs in powders. Establishing a foothold for the brand with Prime Protein is expected to pave the way for Equip to then bring its bar SKUs into stores.
“The majority of bars are still bought in retail, so it definitely represents a meaningful opportunity,” said Mathew. ”We need to show up where customers buy our products.”
