Brain Boost: Mindright Makes the Jump Into Chips

Functional food and beverage brand Mindright is moving further into the snack set with the launch of a new line of nootropic-infused puffed chips.

The chips arrive a little over a year after the brand first launched its “brain-boosting” bars. Though the brain health focused company first made a detour into powdered beverages late last year, co-founder Chris “Bernie” Bernard said Mindright wanted to plant a deeper stake into the snack aisle.

“Year one was all about testing, making sure that the product fit was viable and that customers were enjoying [the line],” Bernard said. “Now [we’re] staying in our lane with snacking and additives to support mood, energy and focus is the prime goal.”

Available in Chili Lime, Cinnamon Churro and Turmeric Ranch, the chips are sold on Mindright’s website and on Amazon with an MSRP of $4.99 per 4 oz. bag and 1.99 bag per 1 oz. bag. Along with a base of cassava flour, potato flakes and spices, the grain-free chips contain Mindright’s signature blend of nootropics including lion’s mane, vitamins B6 and B12, ginseng and L-theanine and are cooked in avocado oil.

While Bernard acknowledged the salty snack set is crowded, Mindright believes there’s still opportunity to launch cleaned up alternatives to conventional products. Consumers may not even fully grasp the functional benefits to start, co-founder Rob Dyrdek said – and that’s to be expected. The company hopes to first lure in shoppers with attributes such as taste, and then use the functionality as a way to encourage repeat purchases.

“When we think about the product, a lot of people are going to discover it for the first time when they see it…We call it ‘capture, compel, convert’ in the way that the packaging is designed,” Dyrdek said. “It’s really trying to draw you in and then give you the benefits that go along with having a really high quality product with infused nootropics and adaptogens.”

The brand plans to expand distribution outside of ecommerce and into specialty and natural retailers across California and the Pacific Northwest later this year and has commitments for 800 doors, Dyrdek said.

The focus on brick and mortar stores comes after a slight revision to its distribution strategy. According to Bernard, consumers are still largely discovering new products in store, rather than online. While the brand previously invested heavily in digital ads to send shoppers to its own website, it’s also reallocated some of that budget towards Amazon, which has proved to be a means of driving trial.

To support these marketing and sales costs, Dyrdek’s family office, Dyrdek Machine, has invested another $1 million into the brand, bringing the company’s total funding since inception to $2.8 million.

Ultimately, the goal is to create a larger platform of products that span from morning to night, Bernard said. Other functional benefits such as sleep or beauty may come down the line, but right now brain health is the focus, in part because it’s easier to show an immediate effect, such as energy or focus.

“We’re a little bit ahead of [the trend] but nootropics are coming in a much bigger way,” Bernard said. “The data shows that these brands that are using these ingredients are continuing to grow at an exponential rate, and I think the market will catch up.”

Chamberlain Coffee Raises $7M to Support Omnichannel Growth

Chamberlain Coffee, the Los Angeles-based specialty coffee brand founded by YouTube sensation Emma Chamberlain, announced it has closed a $7 million funding round to fuel omnichannel business growth. The company had previously raised $1M during a seed round in 2020.

The round was led by venture builder Blazar Capital and Chamberlain herself, with participation from Ole & Steele/ Lagkagehuset founders Ole Kristoffersen and Steen Skallebaek, Grin founder Brandon Brown, D2C expert Nik Sharma and beverage industry veteran Ken Sadowsky.

“Chamberlain Coffee has grown exponentially since its inception, and this is only the beginning. In finding a group of investors for the brand who believe in and share our vision, we know Chamberlain Coffee will reach new heights and become the go-to coffee brand of this generation,” said Chamberlain Coffee CEO, Christopher Gallant, in a press release.

Founded in 2019 by YouTube star Emma Chamberlain, Chamberlain Coffee started off as a D2C brand that marketed a range of organic blends in whole bean, ground and steeped varieties. Since then, the business has grown into categories such as matcha, hot chocolate and chocolate covered espresso beans and into flavored blends (Witty Fox Hazelnut and Fluffy Lamb Vanilla) while expanding beyond D2C into limited retail with partners including Sprouts, Bristol Farms and Erewhon and digital delivery market Gopuff.

With the new capital, the specialty coffee brand plans to grow its D2C —which accounts for 80% of its business — and retail presence even further.

Referencing Black Rifle’s Q1 2022 earnings call, Gallant said that a lot of coffee brands are facing declines in their D2C sales and their primary focus moving forward is in the retail channel. As coffee is still largely purchased at grocery stores, Chamberlain Coffee emphasized the importance of an omnichannel approach.

“It’s really important, at any company, to meet your consumers where they want to buy your product, whether that be in retail, on Amazon, on your own website, in cafes and foodservice channels,” Gallant told NOSH.

Chamberlain Coffee will build up its retail and wholesale presence, starting with traditional and natural grocery stores, with hopes of reaching 250 doors by the end of the year.

“We’ll use the latest funding round for [growth] as we think about the financials. I think all D2C businesses right now are taking a look at how expensive it is to acquire new consumers [in the] D2C space with all the changes that are happening across every platform,” said Gallant.

According to LinkedIn, the brand is also looking to fill several roles, including Marketing Manager, Chief Marketing Officer and Chief of Staff while still running relatively lean in the face of potential future headwinds.

“In just the general economy […] often the mistake companies start to make is raising money around hiring a lot of people. But we do have a couple of key roles we need to fill,” said Gallant. “[Chamberlain Coffee] is looking for someone that has worked with food and beverage brands to deliver an omnichannel experience.”

Recently, Chamberlain Coffee explored new opportunities in the RTD segment through partnerships with Swoon and Nutpods.

In May, Chamberlain Coffee and Swoon launched Matcha Lemonade, a LTO available exclusively online in 12 oz. cans. In June, Nutpods and Chamberlain released a co-branded variety pack featuring “Emma’s favorite flavors” – unsweetened French Vanilla, unsweetened Caramel and sweetened Sweet Crème – for $14.95.

Gallant, who has a background in the RTD space, including stints at Aqua ViTea and Red Bull, told NOSH in May that the brand is “super excited” about its potential for a direct move into RTD products. However, said jump will not happen within the next year.

Thus far, the brand has found its ‘sweet spot’ in single-serve products like sachets and will use the new capital to “develop new and innovative products to further its mission of being an innovatorin the beverage space.” The brand has also seen success with its matcha powder, its strongest selling SKU, and recently added two new flavor innovations – Vanilla and Mango – available online for $23 per 30g tin.

“To be able to grow this business, launch new products and work in this space every day is a dream come true. I am so thankful that we have been able to grow Chamberlain Coffee into the brand I dreamed it to be, and I can’t wait for what the future holds,” said Chamberlain in the release.

Luxury Brand Last Crumb Closes $3M Round To ‘Go on the Offensive’ & Enter Brick & Mortar

Luxury cookie company Last Crumb has closed a $3 million seed round which will help the direct-to-consumer company fund marketing and R&D and move into an “offensive” position ahead of its next growth phase.

The seed round, announced in July, was led by Electric Feel Ventures, the venture capital arm of entertainment management company Electric Feel Entertainment, with Chetrit Ventures, hospitality entrepreneur David Grutman, fashion executive Andrew Rosen and Venus ET Fleur founders Seema Bansal and Sunny Chadha also taking part. The company previously raised $1 million last year, just a few months before it began selling product.

“We were able to bring in existing people who’ve been with us from that first fundraise who saw that we did what we said we were going to do over the last nine months,” CEO Mathew Jung said. “Then we were really strategic in bringing on some new people that we thought could be really interesting, both for future expansion and … [who] could help from an advisory standpoint, as we think about what the evolution of Last Crumb is.”

Last Crumb offers a single product: a 12-pack of small-batch, ultra-premium hand-made cookies that retails for $140. With flavors including Better Than S*x (a play on chocolate chip), Netflix and Crunch (cinnamon sugar) and Not Today Mr. Muffin Man (blueberry), each 4.5 oz cookie is designed to be indulgent and shareable. Its signature cookie boxes are available to purchase for only a few hours every Monday, and routinely sell out within hours.

The company has spent the last 14 months largely focused on making operational improvements, including moving into a larger Pasadena-based production facility and bringing on new staff. With its infrastructure revamped, Jung said the company is now ready to change gears and look to the future.

“If the last 18 months were a super pared-down, less-is-more approach … I would say we’re now entering a new phase,” Jung said. “Part of raising the money was [to go on the] offensive, to start to do [more outbound efforts and collaborations] and some of it was defensive, given the economy and everything that’s going on in the world.”

Last year the company began to dabble with one-time offers; its Black Friday Member’s Only subscription, which includes a box of 24 cookies every two months for a year – plus early access to new flavors and a collectable box – sold out at $1,000 each. This Valentine’s Day, the bakery launched its first limited edition box and assortment, a model the company plans to replicate for other holidays.

Ahead of the release of its second cookie collection later this year, Last Crumb has also in recent months done limited test drops for new varieties, such as Florida Man, a key lime pie flavored cookie. These efforts, Jung said, are designed to further develop customer longevity and encourage repeat purchasing.

Having built a dedicated direct-to-consumer base, Jung said the company is approaching its retail launch cautiously. While collaborations with other brands or retailers have been considered, the current plan is to open luxury-oriented, Last Crumb-owned stores in the US at some point in the future, with Jung using Las Vegas as an example of a potential launch market in late 2023 or early 2024.

But neither reduced prices or a smaller pack size are on the docket, Jung said, as supply chain and production costs are only rising. Last Crumb’s core audience of high-income consumers are also seeing less financial impacts on their discretionary spending and aren’t asking for lower prices.

Jung hasn’t denied his interest in an eventual exit for Last Crumb, though he maintains that this may or may not mean an outright sale. While the past year has been about building the ops side of the business, the next is about growing sales and profitability, a goal he believes the company will hit in the next 90-160 days.

“While our goal, yes, has always been to be conservative with cash and to exit the business at some point. We also want to build a business … we aim to be profitable, we’re not trying to be a DTC loss leader,” Jung said.”We believe that we’re building something, regardless of selling it or keeping it or whatever, that will be here for a long, long time.”

Yumi Moves into Brick & Mortar to ‘Build a Healthier Generation’

E-commerce focused baby food brand Yumi is taking its first step into brick-and-mortar retail through a national partnership with Target, the company announced in July.

The company had always planned to expand beyond digital sales into physical retail, according to Yumi co-founder, CMO and president Evelyn Rusli, but wanted to wait until it had more fully saturated the online market before making the jump. The wait also allowed the brand to test and iterate its core line of products, she added, as well as its value proposition.

Target is taking two lines: Superfood Veggie Organic Toddler Bars (MSRP $4.99) and Organic Meltable Puffs (MSRP $3.99). The former is available in Strawberry & Rhubarb, Blueberry & Purple Carrot, and Apple Cinnamon & Squash, while the latter comes in Apple & Broccoli, Strawberry Basil and Sweet Pea. Yumi will have dedicated 4-foot, in-aisle sets along with endcap displays in select Target stores.

“There’s so many different pathways to discover amazing products… so we always wanted to be where consumers are and where they can discover us,” Yumi co-founder, CMO and president Evelyn Rusli said. “Our mission is really to build a healthier generation and you don’t just build a healthier generation with a subset of the population [that’s online].”

To prepare for the expansion, Yumi raised $67 million last December, bringing its total funding close to $90 million since its inception in 2017. That capital helped finance new brokers as well as new sales and marketing team members.

Yumi’s packaging was also revised to better perform in a retail environment: Online, the products are displayed as single serve bars or cardboard tubes of puffs decorated with whimsical illustrations, Rusli said, but for Target, the brand is selling five-count boxes of bars and plastic tubes of puffs with callouts regarding functional benefits and superfood ingredients.

“When you’re looking at brick and mortar and you have an end cap or you have just a piece of packaging, you have to make that design work really hard for your brand,” Rusli said of the changes.

Yumi plans to add more accounts over the next year. Still, the growth will be deliberate, Rusli said, because the company understands launching with Target is a large undertaking itself.

Though the company is best known for its line of globally-inspired, refrigerated baby food cups, partnering with Target meant shifting its focus to on-the-go snacking, Rusli said, because it felt like a more approachable introduction to the brand for a mass audience. There also was a clearer point of differentiation, she added, because the toddler and kids snack category is so heavily saturated with sugar-ladened options. Baby food isn’t off the table completely, but will not be an immediate focus.

The pickup of Yumi comes as retailers are responding to consumer interest in baby and toddler food options with simpler and more nutrient-dense ingredient decks. While this demand mirrors larger health and wellness trends, recent investigations into the toxins and heavy metals found in other baby food brands has also ramped up awareness.

In July, Target also picked up clean-label baby formula brand Bobbie. Meanwhile, organic chilled baby and children’s food brand Once Upon a Farm released its own line of frozen baby food meal starters to age up the brand and offer parents more complete meal solutions.

While Yumi may command a higher price point, like Bobbie, it also stresses transparency and community, making parents feel comfortable during an unsettling time.

“We are not just solving mealtime, we are helping parents feel confident in the food products that they feed their kids,” Rusli said. “But also helping parents feel like they got this and that they don’t have to worry. There’s actually a lot that you’re solving for psychologically and emotionally, for that parent and for that family.”