Boundless was “the perfect addition” to Amplify’s ‘better-for-snack’ snack brands, said Amplify president and chief executive officer Tom Ennis.
Based in Austin, Boundless Nutrition produces Oatmega protein bars that contain 14g of grass-fed whey protein (14g) and a daily dose of omega-3s. The range is available in eight flavors including chocolate mint crisp and chocolate peanut crisp and is currently sold nationwide across natural, grocery, mass and foodservice retailers.
Grass-fed whey protein
The business also produces three varieties of Perfect Cookie that also contain 14g of grass-fed whey protein.
Reporting its first-quarter results this week, Amplify said Boundless Nutrition net sales doubled in the year to March 31, to $7m.
“We have been attracted to the size and growth rates of the snack bar category for some time and the Boundless Nutrition brands have shown very strong momentum as consumers are increasingly looking for great tasting, convenient, on-the-go protein snack options,” said Ennis.
Early stages of growth cycle
“Boundless Nutrition’s brands are in the early stages of their growth cycle,” he added. “We believe Amplify has the capabilities to leverage our existing infrastructure and expertise in better-for-you snacking to drive significant growth and earnings, as we have done with SkinnyPop and more recently Paqui.”
Boundless Nutrition founder Trevor Ross said the business was excited to be joining “a family of brands that has a shared vision and values”.
Amplify Snack Brands describes itself as being focused on developing and marketing products that appeal to consumers' growing preference for better-for-you snacks. Its SkinnyPop brand was the second-largest ready to eat popcorn range in the US last year according to IRI data.
Net sales up 22.7% in Q1
In its first-quarter result for the three months ended March 31 2016, Amplify reported net sales up 22.7% year on year to $54.3m and gross profit of $28.4m.
“We started 2016 with continued and excellent momentum,” said Ennis. “Our performance was driven by distribution gains and strong velocity of the SkinnyPop brand across sales channels and we are off to a great start with our national launch of the Paqui brand.”
He added the business had made significant trade promotion investments to support the SkinnyPop and Paqui brands.
Amplify said that, excluding benefit from the Boundless Nutrition acquisition, it expected full-year net sales in 2016 of between $233m and $237m, a year-on-year increase of 26.7% to 28.9%.