Expo West: Harken Secures Cash, Rustic Bakery Adds Cookies & Bubbies Goes Green

Nosh Staff Mar. 5, 2025 at 10:19 AM

The hallowed halls of Natural Products Expo West 2025 all officially open today for the first full day of the show in Anaheim, Calif. While brands have been duct taping together booths and trying to calculate how long the samples will last, the news has already been flowing into Nosh HQ.

Our coverage of the event kicks off today with the latest from Harken Sweets, Rustic Bakery, Seattle Chocolate, Bubbies Ice Cream and RedBud Brands. Here’s a look at what’s to come during Day One.

Harken Sweets Secures Funding, Launches Minis

Better-for-you candy startup Harken Sweets (Booth #5634) has secured its first investment from Melitas Ventures, according to founder and CEO Katie Lefkowitz. She declined to disclose the amount raised but said the capital will support the brand’s expansion as it readies the launch of a new product line.

At Expo West, Harken is unveiling a snack-size version of its low-sugar, high-fiber, plant-based candy bars. The Lil’ Ones lineup offers a portable, portion-controlled spin on the brand’s core flavors – The Crunchy One, with pretzels and date caramel; The Nutty One, with peanuts, nougat and date caramel; and the Gooey One, with nougat and salted date caramel – plus a fourth addition featuring shredded coconut, date caramel and diced almonds. All of the products are wrapped in creamy oat milk chocolate-flavored coating.

“Since day one, we’ve been asked for a coconut flavor and a snack-sized version of our bars,” Lefkowitz said, noting The Coconutty Lil’ Ones have the “chewy, creamy, chocolatey magic you expect from a classic coconut candy — just made with real, whole ingredients and no added sugar.”

Lefkowitz created Harken following a health scare that forced her to evaluate her food and lifestyle choices. Earlier in her career, she led operations at Caulipower for four years, growing the frozen food brand “from the early days to over $100 million” in sales and catapulting a white-hot cauliflower craze.

Since launching two years ago, Lefkowitz has scaled Harken to more than 5,000 stores nationwide, including Albertsons, Safeway, Walmart, Shoprite, Pop Up Grocer and more.

Rustic Bakery Expands Into Cookie Aisle

Rustic Bakery (Booth #2692) is charting its expansion into the cookie aisle with a new premium product line positioned for everyday indulgence. The California-based brand, which is nearing two decades in business, has long merchandised its organic specialty crackers and shortbreads along the grocery store perimeter.

Founded by a husband-and-wife team with zero food industry experience, Rustic Bakery initially produced sourdough flatbread crackers that became a popular fixture on charcuterie boards and in the tasting rooms of wineries throughout Sonoma County. Today, the company manufactures all of its products, including artisan crisps, savory biscuits and shortbreads, as well as numerous seasonal items, at its facility in Petaluma, Calif., and operates five bakery-cafes in the Bay Area.

Described as “distinctly different” than its shortbreads, Rustic Bakery’s new cookie line is available in Chocolate Cacao Nib, Meyer Lemon, Ginger Snap and Chocolate Chip flavors and crafted with wheat flour, butter, cream, eggs and premium ingredients such as Madagascar vanilla and molasses. The cookies are priced similarly to Tate’s Bake Shop cookies, positioned as a premium option in the conventional cookie aisle, according to Dan Mader, CEO of Rustic Bakery.

“We make a cookie in our cafes that is awesome and fresh baked, but you can’t make that cookie for the shelf. So we had a bit of a template from what we make in the cafes… and then, because we have this cafe business, we could do a lot of real-time testing,” Mader explained.

Selling into a different section of the store has involved new buyer and distributor relationships, but the placement offers potential to attract new shoppers to the brand, said Shaila Garde-Lester, VP of marketing.

“Obviously the traffic in the center of the store is significantly higher than what you see in the perimeter, and you’re just going to be appealing to a different consumer base. We’re going to do a lot of sampling programs and various different festivals and events so we can get the product into people’s hands,” she said.

Seattle Chocolate Rebrands as Maeve

After more than three decades in the market, Seattle Chocolate Company (Booth #N1926) has adopted a new name: Maeve. Inspired by the Irish warrior queen, Maeve represents strength, boldness and fearlessness, while continuing a commitment to transparency, empowering women and supporting cocoa farmers, according to the company.

The transformation was sparked by a conversation between the mother-and-daughter team behind the specialty chocolate brand with the goal to resonate with a new generation of consumers. The company’s signature truffle bars and bon bons – available in flavors spanning Magical Mint, San Juan Salted Toffee, Nutbutter Pretzel, Creme Brulee Crackle, Pink Bubbly, Blackberry Bramble – will feature whimsical and vibrant new packaging harnessing “big silly ideas” and “immersive visual storytelling,” per branding studio Young Jerks.

Maeve will maintain its mission of sourcing directly from Ghana, Peru, Tanzania and the Dominican Republic and donating a portion of profits to projects that improve the lives of cocoa farmers. The rebranded products are available online at maevechocolate.com and will soon roll out to retailers nationwide including World Market and Sprouts Farmers Market.

Bubbies Goes Green With Home Compostable Packs

Mochi ice cream producer Bubbies (Booth #N1852) is upping its sustainability commitments with the introduction of new certified home-compostable paper pulp trays packaging at the show this year. Alongside the new format, the brand is also debuting two new flavors: Dragon Fruit Lemonade and Raspberry Cheesecake.

The new flavors have already begun to roll out to Sprouts stores nationwide where a 6-pack box retails for $5.99 to $6.99.

As for the new packaging, Bubbies said it partnered with TK EarthCycle to develop its new inner tray, which will roll out exclusively across all of the brand’s products; the transition to the new packaging is expected to be complete by April. The company estimates that the switch will eliminate the addition of 310 tons of plastic to landfills annually.

“After years of partnering with sustainable focused organizations to help clean up over 35,000 pounds of ocean bound plastic, we started to look internally for ways we could reduce or eliminate plastic from our packaging,” said Katie Cline, VP of marketing, in a statement. “With this simple switch from plastic to paper pulp trays we’re eliminating hundreds of tons of plastic from entering the waste stream. We couldn’t be prouder to continue our mission of keeping paradise clean.”

RedBud Brands Debuts Influencer-backed Snack LEVELS

Venture and incubation studio RedBud Brands (Booth #5648) is back with another new innovation this year, this time teaming up with YouTube creator Brent Rivera to introduce a new “4D salty snack” brand known as LEVELS.

The chips come in Sweet Cinnamon Churro, Bold Nacho Cheese and Fiery Chili Lime flavors that are made with avocado oil and contain no artificial colors, dyes or flavors. The products are also gluten-free and Non-GMO Project Verified.

“Not only do LEVELS taste delicious, but we’ve also ensured they align with today’s health conscious trends,” said Anish Sheth, president of Redbud Brands, in a statement. “Our goal is to provide a snack that’s both exciting and better for you.”

RedBud is home to an array of emerging packaged food and beverage brands, including in-house incubated concepts such as adult cereal company Best Behavior and Hispanic-focused bev-alc brand Picadas. The platform holds A2 dairy-based snack company Cheddies and collagen weight-loss supplement Obvi within its accelerator arm and counts companies such as KOS, Beat Box and Torani in its investment portfolio.

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