Functional Mushrooms 🤝 Chocolate
Also White Claw's Decline and Tomato Girl Summer
We made it to Friday!
Functional Mushroom Products Shift to Chocolate
The functional mushroom craze is permeating the chocolate space and brands are getting creative with how they incorporate the adaptogens. In addition to mushrooms, LA-based chocolate brand Compartés’s Healing bar contains freeze-dried raspberries topped with matcha powder, Portland-based Vehicle Chocolates’ Myco Pollen bar features locally sourced bee pollen, and NY/California-based Alice’s Nightcap bar contains chamomile for a soothing bedtime treat. Alice’s founders, Charlotte Cruze and Lindsay Goodstein, have noticed that their customers prefer to enjoy the brand’s chocolates socially rather than alone, bringing them to dinner parties to share with friends as an alternative to stronger substances like alcohol. This take is a tad optimistic IMO. There’s few things in life that can replace a well-made cocktail and I don’t anticipate functional mushrooms to be that. But, I can see this as a wind-down activity similar to CBD drinks before bed.
Space Tea Goes National in Sprouts
In other fun(gi) news, the functional mushroom beverage brand, Space Tea, had a successful trial run in natural grocery chain, Sprouts which led to a permanent partnership. The apoptogenic mushroom iced tea and lemonade beverages will be featured in the beverage aisle nationwide. Thanks to growing popularity in functional mushrooms, the global functional beverage market is expected to reach $208 billion in 2027.
Tiny Glass Jars are For More Than Just Baby Food
Not many brands are using glass as packaging since it’s less cost effective than plastic, but there could be an opportunity here. Small glass packaging may not make sense for all brands, but it seems perfect for packaged desserts and yogurt. Not only is it more sustainable, but who doesn’t get a little dopamine hit when eating from a tiny glass jar? Brands already using glass include Italian dessert company, Sweet Craft Dolceria, who offer a product line of nine “desserts in a jar” including chocolate mousse, tiramisu, panna cotta, and cheesecake among others. French dessert company, Petit Pot also has offerings in small glass jars such as puddings and chocolate mousses. Recently, New York based bakery Knead Love partnered with plant-based dairy brand Monty’s to make a gluten free / dairy free Frosted Cinnamon Bun in a Jar.
Oui Yogurt sells a pack of lids on their website to encourage re-using their glass jars and many amazon brands sell bamboo lids tailored to the brands jars. This is a great opportunity for brand engagement as the glass jar extends the life of the product. If I were Oui, I’d get creative with this and launch seasonal patterns or collab with illustrators to release capsule collections so that the consumer is left with a collectible to enjoy long after the perishable product is consumed.
In addition to dessert and yogurt brands, glass packaging makes sense for brands selling milk. While this practice used to be the norm for dairy farmers delivering milk door-to-door, the evolution of food distribution and rise in dairy sales made this a more difficult practice. But that’s not to say there’s no place for it in our modern world. Straus Family Creamery sells milk in glass bottles and encourages customers to return their bottles by charging a deposit which will be refunded upon return to participating retailers such as Whole Foods.
This program would be interesting to see an alternative milk brand adopt. Portland-based nut milk brand aMYLK is ahead of their time and already using this closed-loop system. They exclusively use glass bottles, have collection stations at farmer’s markets as well as their shop, and incentivize customers to return them by offering a discount per bottle returned. Admittedly, this is easier for a small DTC brand to pull off and inevitably trickier when working with a large distribution network, but could ultimately allow a brand to gain market share by appealing to an increasingly value-based consumer. While Oatly is too big, I would love to see someone like Elmhurst or Three Trees giving this a try.
Canned Cocktails In, Hard Seltzers Out
Ready to Drink (RTD) product sales increased 7% since July 2022 according to an NIQ report released Wednesday. Consumers are reaching for Ranch Water or Twisted Tea over White Claw. While Spirits RTDs (think canned cocktails) market share is only at 14.4%, it was the highest growing category, up 55.4% since July 2022 compared to Hard Seltzers, down 14% since July 2022. Flavored Malt Beverages (think twisted tea) reached 41.1% market share surpassing Hard Seltzer at 35.8%. I’m curious how much of this growth was due to grocery retail versus food service, but I would bet on the former. I saw Twisted Tea on people’s feeds when spending time outside (be it the beach or a park) and found myself drinking it on friend’s patios. Along with canned cocktails, it’s preferable on a hot sunny day and an easy grab from the grocery store. Although, I’m curious about the longevity since it’s largely seasonal. White Claw is distributed widely among bars and is ordered all year so I see it remaining dominant among the food service sector.
Tomato Girl Summer is Getting Out of Hand
Maybe it’s the fact that everyone seems to be summering in Europe, or that tomato scented candles are everywhere, but what started out as a TikTok trend has claimed the zeitgeist.
Happy weekend!