Joining the frozen fray is KIND Frozen Pints, a plant-based, non-dairy ice cream promising 4g-6g of protein per serving. Plant-based offerings too often come with a compromised taste or a flurry of unhealthy ingredients, however, KIND promises a treat that consumers will feel good about in every way.
“As with all of KIND’s innovation, we refuse to take short-cuts and obsess over creating recipes that strike the perfect balance between being healthy and tasty, which is why it took our team over a year to develop the product,” said KIND founder and executive chairman Daniel Lubetzky.
The better-for-you-focused snack producer has been busy with a raft of new products to address the large $7bn plant-based category, which is growing almost twice as fast as overall food sales (43% growth in the past two years).
The frozen space is one of six new categories for KIND within the past 12 months, the other five being refrigerated (KIND Nut Butter Bar), cold cereal (KIND Cereal), hot cereal (KIND Oatmeal), frozen breakfast (KIND Frozen Smoothie Bowl) and snack mix aisle (KIND Snack Mix).
Discovered what was missing
KIND Frozen Smoothie Bowls – launched earlier this year – layer a fruit & almond milk base with a creamy nut butter and crunchy granola. With no more than 9g of added sugar, the bowls are ready to enjoy straight from the freezer … or slightly thawed for a slushier smoothie experience.
The bowls come in four flavours – Almond & Triple Berry Acai, Almond & Mango Pineapple Passion Fruit, Almond & Chocolate Banana and Almond & Peach Kiwi Greens – all of which are vegan, dairy-free, gluten-free and packing 7g-8g of protein.
Last year, KIND released a line of plant-based, frozen treat bars, also made with almond milk, but topped with smooth dark chocolate, chopped nuts and nut butter. The freezer treats come in two flavours — Dark Chocolate Almond and Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter — and are only 180 calories per bar. They’re boxed like other ice cream novelties, but wrapped up like their shelf-stable siblings.
Getting back to the most recent rollout: KIND’s Frozen Pints come in seven variants – Dark Chocolate Almond Sea Salt, Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter, Cherry Cashew, Coffee Hazelnut, Caramel Almond Sea Salt, Strawberry and Pistachio – with each pot containing three servings of between 240 and 290 calories per serving, depending on the flavour.
The products are described as ‘creamy’ and are made up of ingredients such as pear juice, almonds, dried tapioca syrup, sugar and coconut oil. Each serving offers 4g-6g of protein.
“We’re always striving to challenge conventional wisdom and eliminate false compromises,” said Lubetzky.
“We tried to think differently about what we would want in a frozen treat. We discovered what was missing was an offering that tasted delicious, and delivered premium, plant-based ingredients that we can feel good about putting in our body.”
Closing the taste gap
Another new rollout is an Almond Butter variant of KIND’s Breakfast Bar, pitched as ‘breakfast without the bowl’.
The bar is soft-baked and contains a base of five whole grains: oats, millet, buckwheat, amaranth and quinoa. It’s naturally high in fibre, gluten free and HFSS compliant. It’s a handy pocket-sized product that can be enjoyed on the go on its own or paired with yoghurt and fruit.
KIND Breakfast Almond Butter comes in 40g single bars (RRP £1) and 4 x 30g multipack formats (RRP £3), launching in the UK in Tesco, Waitrose and Sainsbury’s, as well as independents nationwide.
John McManus, KIND UK market director, said, “We know there’s huge popularity for nut butters and we’re really excited to be able to incorporate almond butter into our latest launch.
“Following consumer research, we’re changing the format slightly with the revised range offering one larger 40g bar in each single serve pack as opposed to two smaller bars.”
Added Lubetzky, “While we’re best-known for nutrition bars most often consumed on-the go, we’re continuing to prioritise innovation that cuts across categories and day-parts. As we look to close the taste gap in health-focused aisles and the health gap in taste-focused aisles, we will stay true to how we’ve always created new products – with an eye to elevate people’s overall experience, while adhering to our KIND Promise.”
KIND has been on a mission to create a kinder and healthier world since 2004, today boasting a family of over 100 snacks all lead with a nutrient-dense first ingredient, such as nuts, whole grains, fruit, with not a GM ingredient, sugar alcohol or artificial sweetener in sight.
The company also works to inspire acts of kindness and empathy through The KIND Foundation.