“Now is the time for brands that are both better-for-you and better-for-the-planet to succeed,” said Jen Berliner, general manager at Moonshot.
“We’re seeing that retailers and shoppers alike are hungry for brands that offer great taste and share their values.”
The San Francisco-based company arrived to market in 2020 and was soon stocking organic and green grocers across the country including Sprouts, The Fresh Market, Imperfect Foods, Foxtrot, Bristol Farms and MOM’s Organic Market. With the addition of close to half of Target stores, its “Climate-friendly Crackers”– sold in Sourdough Sea Salt, Rosemary Garlic, Margherita Pizza flavors – are now in over 2,500 stores.
‘Explicitly climate friendly'
From the outset, Moonshot has built its business around reducing its ecological footprint, establishing itself as the “first explicitly climate-friendly snack brand” and first mover in the climate-friendly food category.
“We keep the planet in mind with every decision we make at Moonshot, from seed in soil to the end consumer,” Berliner said.
“The majority of our supply chain is less than 100 miles long, our recyclable paper carton is made from 100% recycled materials, and we bake our crackers in a facility that uses renewable energy.”
Moonshot’s two main cracker ingredients – organic wheat and sunflower oil – are grown using regenerative agricultural practices such as cover cropping, low or no-tillage and livestock integration to improve soil health and biodiversity. The benefits: more carbon sequestration for a better planet and more nutrient-dense crops for better food.
“Because of these practices, Moonshot's wheat has 49% lower emissions than conventional wheat, giving us a great head start on our carbon neutrality goals,” Berliner added.
As a carbon neutral certified company, Moonshot measures all greenhouse gas emissions to reduce and offset, which means considerably lower emissions per box of crackers than the industry standard for similar products.
This year, Moonshot took home first-place in the Dieline Packaging Awards’ Savory Snacks category, two Good Food Awards for its rosemary garlic and sourdough sea salt flavors, and Best Flour Product of the Year at The Mindful Awards for its sustainable practices. It is currently working on a new cracker flavor and is in the early research stages for a new climate-friendly product line.
Beyond Moonshot
Understanding that the environment is ripe for food brands to take climate action, Moonshot is not only focused on growing its snack business but is a success story created to serve as example to other brands.
"Our vision for Moonshot is not just to build one product or one brand but rather to build a climate-friendly food movement where it's easy for all people to eat for the planet," explained Julia Collins, founder and CEO of Moonshot.
In 2019, Collins founded Moonshot’s sister company Planet FWD, a carbon assessment platform that helps brands improve their environmental impact and bring climate-friendly products to market.
“Our carbon management platform simplifies a brand’s ability to measure, reduce, neutralize and report its carbon footprint for both individual products as well as company-wide emissions,” she explained.
“Leveraging the largest Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) database for agricultural production systems in North America, our core technology has robust Scope 3 emissions modeling capabilities to help brands address their supply chain, which contributes up to 89% of emissions for consumer products on average.”
And the movement shows no signs of slowing down. Just last month, Planet FWD announced that it had secured $10 million in Series A funding, and some 25 other brands have already signed on including Kashi, Pangaia, Just Salad, Numi Organic Tea, Healthy Hippo, Kiki Milk, Toodaloo and Sweet Loren’s.