Weekly Pickups: Fruit transformed into candy + kids' protein "cookies"
+ how to keep a clean booty
Hello hello!
We are SO excited for Expo West in less than 2 weeks! While we’re there, we’re going to be hosting the event—Network + Noms—at Anaheim’s finest dining location, Bubba Gump Shrimp. And one of our incredible sponsors for the event? Glimpse.
If you’re a brand in retail, you’ve likely faced this icky reality: up to 10% of your P&L is trapped in invalid fees and inefficient retail operations. That is massive, and could make or break your retail success. That’s why our friends at Glimpse help leading consumer brands unlock retail cashflow by automating critical finance workflows like revenue recovery via deduction management and accounting reconciliation.
Glimpse works with 200+ brands including IQ Bar, Sauz, Bero, and more—automating their retail deductions so they can stop manually chasing down spreadsheets and start focusing on actually growing their brands. This could be you, too!!
Now, let’s get into our pickups of the week →
Jenna’s Pickup:
House of Yes - Maple Cinnamon
We’ve been covering a lot of news in the baby + kids department lately. What was once a neglected category is seeing a much-needed refresh, featuring innovative, better-for-you snacks and meal products. The kids aisle is prepped for newness, and we’ve been loving seeing more brands capitalize on this moment with thoughtful, school-friendly, kids’-tastebuds-approved products. House of Yes is the newest kid on the block, and I’m so excited to see it take off.
I know you’re probably thinking: why doesn’t she try some age-appropriate snacks, for once? And to that, I say… touché. But admittedly, I share a lot of similar snack needs to those of a literal child: I get cripplingly hangry, I’m quite affected by sugar, and if my snacks don’t taste like treats, I don’t want them. 🤷♀️
So, while I 1) do not have a child and 2) have 2+ decades on the purported demographic for these bars, I cannot help but consider myself a solid judge. And these were absolute winners in my book.
Quick Facts: Kids snack bars made with fiber, protein, actual veggies, and whole grains—that taste like cookies for “a unanimous snacktime decision.”
Reasons to love:
Tastes like a cookie. Seriously. Every day when it strikes 3 PM, I need a little sweet treat. Oftentimes, just some fruit or a yummy bev will suffice—but in my heart of hearts, I crave a cookie so desparately, it nearly pains me. I’m only human. So when these claimed that they “taste like a cookie,” I was excited, yet skeptical. Fortunately, they pull through on the claim and then some. Both flavors are fantastic, but I especially adore the Maple Cinnamon. It’s reminiscent of a Biscoff or graham cracker in flavor, but dense and soft like a soft-baked cookie. You would never know that it sneaks in carrots, zucchini, and sweet potatoes!
She’s got heft. Unlike most kids’ bars, this one has some actual weight to it! At 40g, it feels like a full, satisfying snack—not just the mere idea of a snack. (This is also how I’m justifying enjoying it as an adult.)
Fiber, protein, and veggies! These bars were made with kids’ nutritional needs in mind. With 6g protein and 6g fiber, they actually satiate. I know that today’s high-protein (adult) products have skewed our sense of “enough” protein, but 6g is close to 1/3 of the daily dose for a 4-8-year-old kiddo. Paired with the 6g fiber (both soluble and insoluble), this is a hunger-crushing bar that helps kids avoid a sugar crash.
Where to buy: Online
Nate’s Pickup:
Fruit Riot! (all of it)
There is absolutely no denying it: Fruit Riot is one of the buzziest CPG products to hit shelves in a minute. I’ve seen it all over my FYP and now in freezers everywhere. At first you’re like, oh it’s just frozen fruit? But then you try it. Sour, crunchy, sweet. It’s simply just so. freaking. fun. And as someone who munches on frozen mangos for fun (yes I am a maniac), this brand was built specifically for me!
This brand is an amalgamation of two trends we’ve been seeing: the rise of frozen and the candy renaissance. It’s a high quality and innovative frozen treat that’s helping to change the landscape of the frozen aisle, making it so much more exciting than it ever was and driving consumers to a freezer door. And, it’s a fun slightly healthier bold sweet treat that can easily go up against the big candy brands in other parts of the store.
Quick Facts: A snack brand featuring fresh, flash-frozen fruit (grapes, mangoes, pineapples) coated in an intense, zesty sour candy coating. Extreme sweet-and-sour flavor profile marketed as a “healthier-ish” candy alternative with just around 50 calories per serving and no synthetic colors.
Reasons to love:
It’s the perfect new brand. When you’re launching a brand you can’t be too out there and you can’t be too normal either. I think Fruit Riot fits that perfect sweet spot (pun intended)—slightly novel yet mostly familiar. It’s frozen fruit with flavoring, not a crazy concept to grasp. But it is very novel, because it didn’t exist on the market. Yes, people have been doing it themselves at home, buying citric acid and fresh fruit to freeze, but there wasn’t a packaged version in the grocery store.
It’s fun. Sweet treats should be fun, even if they’re supposedly a bit healthier, and this is no exception. Their packaging isn’t muted or following any current brand trends; it’s bright and often a extremely vibrant yellow. You literally cannot miss it. And since this is positioned as a candy alternative, it has to be fun, it has to be bright, it has to be exciting. And thank god it is.
It’s healthy-ish. This kinda-healthy positioning is kind of my favorite. I don’t need all my sweet treats to be the epitome of health because it’s a sweet treat at the end of the day. I want to feel a little sugar rush. Fruit Riot gives me the satisfaction of eating fruit and candy all in one.
Where to buy: In grocery stores nationwide
✨ Special Guest ✨ Will Nietze, Founder and CEO of IQBAR
We’re so excited to welcome Will Nitze, founder and CEO of IQBAR (one of our favorite plant-based protein bars of all time)! Will became passionate about brain health as a psych and neuroscience student at Harvard. When he got hit with major mental fatigue as a working adult (relatable), Will looked to his diet for solutions. He founded IQBAR in 2017—and though the bars have evolved greatly since then, the mission + his passion has remained the same.
Let’s get into Will’s weekly pickup (which just so happens to be one of Nate’s faves, too) →
What is it? Goodwipes are flushable wipes I'm a big fan of. Elevating the bathroom experience is one of the keys to a happy life. My favorite is the shea-coco, but I order the variety pack from amazon every month for my family and guests.
Where'd you purchase it, and why that channel? I first found them in Target, then moved to Amazon because I wanted a variety pack. Amazon is so easy because I just throw wipes in with 10 other things I'm snagging for the house.
What about this product intrigued you? I had seen a lot about flushable wipes with a few other brands entering the cultural zeitgeist. I met one of the co-founders, Sam, through LinkedIn a few years ago. We became fast friends, and sounding boards for each other. I helped him with a few key business challenges and vice-versa. He really gets CPG. And the product is 100x superior to TP.
Why do you love it? I love it because of the way it feels. It simply feels better than TP. I feel way cleaner with less time on the throne. I'm all about efficiency and productivity, so this fits in well. The products also smell amazing, my wife digs the skin-safe ingredients (she has sensitive skin), and I like that they are actually flushable.
Anything else you’d like to share! Keep a clean booty out there, folks.
In this week’s episode of The Curious Consumer, we interview the incredible co-founder of SIMPLi, Sarela Herrada, about what regenerative really means! We also dug into “functionwashing,” the future of the candy aisle, and of course, more protein launches (this time, in the creamer category…).
Thanks for reading! Anything you think we should try for an upcoming edition of Express Checkout? Email us at hello@expresscheckout.co
Fruit Riot really is the perfect new brand!!!!!