Launched in 2009 in the UK, Graze delivers cardboard boxes of healthy snacks such as nuts and berries direct to consumers. It has expanded into the US with an operation based in New Jersey, and launched a nationwide service there in 2013. The business had developed more than 1,000 products and acquired “half a billion pieces of customer preference data” that it said had been crucial in selecting its retail range.
Graze Good to Go Range
The Graze Good to Go retail range comprises 12 lines:
Lemon Drizzle Flapjack
Original Fruity Flapjack
Mini Strawberry & Banana
Juice Peach & Raspberry
Dark Chocolate Cherry Tart
Salted Fudge & Peanut Cookie
Chocolate Pretzel Dippers
Herby Bread Basket
Smokehouse BBQ Crunch
Thai Sweet Chilli Dippers
Punchy Protein Nuts
Veggie Protein Power
It launched the Graze Good to Go retail range - comprising 12 products including flapjack, pretzel dippers and nuts - into Boots and WH Smiths Travel stores in July. The range is tapping demand for higher-protein products with lines including Punchy Protein Nuts and Veggie Protein Power that blend black pepper, cashews, edamame beans and chickpeas and contains 6.9 g of protein per serving.
Category growth
The snacks have now rolled out into all 1,161 stores of Sainsbury’s supermarket chain, while WH Smith has doubled the number of stores stocking graze products to 689. Graze said WH Smith Travel shops had reported more than 40% sales growth in their healthier snacking category in the first four weeks of selling the snacks. Graze is now also available in other UK retail chains including Asda and Waitrose, and this week began rolling out to more than 1,000 of Tesco’s Express convenience-format outlets.
“The response to our Good to Go range has been incredible, and the demand we’ve experienced from retailers and customers is bringing Graze one step closer to achieving our vision of becoming the number one healthier snacking brand in the UK,” said Graze CEO Anthony Fletcher.
Plugging gap at tills
An increasing number of UK retailers have banned confectionery from checkouts as a result of concerns about sugar, and Fletcher added that “there’s a huge appetite among UK consumers for healthier snacking options and, by plugging that void at the tills, Graze is proving that impulse buys and satisfying a craving don’t have to be bad for you".
WH Smith Travel senior snacking buyer Ian Ranking said no other snacking and confectionery product launch in the past three years had “driven the same level of excitement and opportunity for store managers to get behind”.
London-based Graze is majority owned by American investor the Carlyle Group, with Octupus Investments, DFJ Esprit and management owning the remaining share.