The New York company has sold over one million packages of its ‘healthy’ gluten-free snacks online and says such experience helped it collect invaluable data and feedback that will prepare it for a launch in third party retailers.
CEO Zubin Mehta told BakeryandSnacks.com: “We really listened to what the online consumers were saying about the ingredients and flavors….We studied what the strongest sellers were and got ready with a core 10 to go out into retail.”
Co-founder Joy Bauer, a registered dietitian nutritionist (as well as the nutrition and health expert for NBC’s Today Show), founded the company along with co-founder Gavin McCloskey. In 2012, and after some work, current CEO Zubin Mehta made the initial investment into the company in 2013.
The company offers a range of portion-controlled, gluten-free snacks, which are 200 calories or less and made with whole foods. Bauer’s inspiration was to give people a snack that, when eaten sensibly, was completely healthy.
'We're really being very strategic'
Nourish recently debuted in a retail capacity, featuring three blends of its snacks at 3,400 Starbucks across the US. These snacks are now also now on some Delta flights, in Barnes & Noble College bookstores and are getting increased exposure as a featured healthy snack at companies such as Facebook, Google, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America and more.
Mehta said they want to make sure the product gets to everyone, citing New York-based Kind Snacks as an inspiration. He noted that you can’t go anywhere, whether it is the airport or a grocery store, without seeing Kind products. Eventually, the plan is to make way into retail shops across the US. Mehta hopes they can eventually become successful enough to sell these items across the world, but they are currently focusing on the launch in the US market.
Seasonal Snacks
In addition to the core flavors (listed on Nourish’s website), Bauer said they will launch three seasonal snacks around the holidays. These will include:
- Chocolate Coconut Crunch with dark chocolate, toasted coconut and roasted almonds
- Viva La Chocolate with crispy chocolate puffs filled with dairy-free hazelnut cream, as well as chocolate covered peanuts
- House Party, featuring black beans, flax seed crackers and salty peanuts
“We want to do that, but we’re really being very strategic,” said Mehta “We want to find the right partners to help support us. We’ve had conversations with most of the usual large grocery stores and chains … The goal would be to be everywhere.”
Consumers are ready
Bauer said consumer habits and knowledge were now more aligned with what Nourish stood for. “Ten years ago, people would not have understood or even been interested in ways to study blood sugar or how to drive blood pressure down or learning about cholesterol,” she said, and this was something the firm would work to capitalize on.
“I wanted to make sure that the snacks would have slow burn carbs and would also have either the right amount of protein or fiber—and many instances both—as well as healthy fat,” she said. “That was the science part. But then what’s most important is they have to taste delicious. They need to be a slam dunk.”