‘Insane Product-Market Fit’: BelliWelli Bids Goodbye To Bars To Focus on Fiber Powders

Digestive wellness brand BelliWelli bid a “bittersweet goodbye” to its soft-baked nutrition bars to focus on fiber powders, which are expanding nationwide at Walmart this week.

The startup’s modern take on Metamucil – featuring added probiotics, electrolytes and collagen – wildly exceeded expectations following last year’s launch, said co-founder Kate Wilson.

“Within 60 days it became glaringly obvious that [the powders are] where the business needed to spend its time and energy,” she said of the decision to discontinue the bars. “The bars were a relatively simple business to keep running, but they still consume time and effort, and we felt that if we were to reallocate that time and effort to the fiber, we could grow even faster.”

Wilson, a former celebrity matchmaker, launched the business four years ago following a years-long struggle with chronic abdominal pain. She and her husband, Nick, had partnered with food scientists and dietitians to develop recipes for a gut-friendly, gluten-free snack that lacked difficult-to-digest ingredients like sugar alcohols and dairy.

Initially sold direct-to-consumer, the bars eventually rolled out to Sprouts Farmers Market, Fresh Thyme, Fresh Market and select Walmart and Target stores, Wilson said, noting that the business continued to generate “high repeat rates” and “incredibly healthy revenue.”

“They hadn’t stopped working. They were still working. It was just nowhere near working as well as the fiber was working. It’s almost like we didn’t even know what the business could be until we launched the fiber and saw what insane product-market fit looks like,” Wilson said.

Winning in Walmart

Unlike many emerging brands, BelliWelli is strategically targeting conventional retail for its fiber powder line after seeing initial traction in select Walmart stores. The products also recently rolled out to all Target stores nationwide and will soon debut in the club channel, Wilson said.

“We have made a very conscious decision not to go into the natural channel with this product,” she said, adding, “When it works in mass, you lean in.”

In addition to national expansion, Walmart is doubling the number of items from two to four, including multi-serve tubs in Watermelon, Strawberry Lemonade and Tropical Breeze flavors and a 10-count variety pack of stick packs, which retail for $19.98 to $20.98 at Walmart.com

“I think the stat is there’s a Walmart within 10 minutes of every American, and the best news about our product is it sells at Walmart everywhere,” she said.

Each step along the way in the brand’s partnership with Walmart has been “incredibly collaborative,” Wilson said.

“Walmart’s big focus right now is on growing smaller brands and bringing in better-for-you. And so they leaned in, they partnered with us, and said, ‘Let us support you.’ And they’ve done exactly that,” Wilson said.

Not Your Mother’s Metamucil

Wilson has visited several hundred Walmart stores around the country to collect insights while filming interactions with shoppers – with permission – for TikTok that amass tens of thousands of views per post.

“There were a million learnings packed into those first couple months because I was getting focus groups to the max,” she said.

BelliWelli has become the retailer’s top growth driver of dollar sales in the digestive wellness aisle over the past year, drawing new consumers to the $2 billion category, which has long been dominated by Metamucil and Benefiber.

“When we look at all the data, we are bringing a new consumer who normally wouldn’t go to the aisle for another 10, 15, 20 years, which obviously really excites our retail partners,” Wilson said.

A key part of BelliWelli’s mission to bring fiber to the forefront of daily wellness routines is transforming perceptions of powders and supplements, she said, adding, “We’re saying it should sit on your kitchen counter, not in the medicine cabinet.”

Wilson also wants the brand to stand apart from gimmicks and fads, noting, “We’re not trendy… We just created a better, more delicious fiber. And we’re living in an era where 95% of people don’t get enough fiber.”