The company’s joint venture with confectionery giant Mars in 2017, followed by its first ever acquisition – of Creative Snacks in October last year – has spurred the move into four new categories.
The plant-based Kind Frozen Bars are made with a creamy nut base in place of ice cream (to keep the sugar content low), layered with dark chocolate. The company unveiled the frozen bar last year – sold exclusively through Walmart – to test the market before the larger rollout.
The Kind Nut Butter Bar is the brand’s first refrigerated nut butter protein bar, which took Kind around 2½ years to develop. The bars use either peanut or almond butter as their base and come in four flavours.
The snack mix platform – featuring grain-free versions of Kind bars – is divided into two sub-categories: Kind Nut & Fruit Clusters and Kind Nut & Seed Clusters.
Finally, Kind Bark will be found in the chocolate aisle, and contain nuts and 55% cacao dark chocolate. Although the bark was in the works before Kind's partnership with Mars, the chocolate giant helped Kind "execute better and faster," said Daniel Lubetzky, founder and executive chairman of Kind.
Like the frozen bars, Kind initially tested the bark through a small roll-out in natural food grocery stores.
Elevating consumers' experience
“Since day one, Kind has been obsessed with upholding our brand promise – to create innovative, premium foods that are both healthy and tasty,” said Lubetzky.
“While these categories are new for us, each is consistent with how we’ve always entered new categories – with an eye to creatively elevate people’s overall experience.”
The new products go on sale in selected outlets across the US this month.
Kind – founded in 2004 – has built itself into the fourth-largest US snack manufacturer by positioning its nut bars as a healthier option to traditional granola or energy bars.
Euromonitor estimates that it held a 10.4% share of the snack bar sector in 2019.
In accordance with the ‘Kind promise’, all its products – including the new creations – contain ingredients that are nutrient dense, that you can see and pronounce.
Lubetzky said the company is actively looking for more acquisitions that fit with its ethos.