Koia is going K-12 with its latest line launch, a new kid-friendly version of its protein shakes in smaller pack sizes.
Koia Kids, now available online exclusively via Amazon, comes in three flavors: Chocolate Shake, Vanilla Shake and Fruity Cereal. Available for $39.99 per 12-pack of 8 oz. cartons, the line is shelf-stable and contains just 4 grams of sugar, 9 grams of plant-based protein and 21 essential vitamins and minerals. The drinks are also free from seed oils and the top nine allergens.
While the market for protein shakes developed specifically for children is relatively small, CEO Chris Hunter said the idea for Koia Kids came from personal experience; his children – three sons ages 6, 10 and 12 – regularly drink Koia’s core line of plant-based protein drinks, but they would often leave the 12 oz. servings unfinished. After consulting with a dietician, Koia began developing an alternative formulation of its shakes that would be best suited for kids, starting with lower protein content.
“The most important thing is that there was an authentic need for a product like this for us, and therefore we assume for plenty of others,” Hunter told BevNET. “So we wanted to leverage the Koia brand trust, the name, to bring something like that to life.”
While there are several RTD kids protein drink brands available, including lines from Orgain, Ripple and PediaSure, Hunter said that he found that many competing products contained seed oils (which have come under increased scrutiny from consumers as potential source of inflammation), dyes and other non-natural ingredients which are “just unnecessary” to include in product formulations.
The line is not rolling out to brick-and-mortar retail accounts yet, instead opting to build an audience online with digital and social marketing campaigns that will heavily focus on converting existing Koia consumers.
The majority of Koia’s consumers are women, Hunter said, and more than half are parents. Using the brand’s existing email and SMS marketing lists, he said the “response has been overwhelming” since announcing this week as loyal consumers are taking the product. However, the next step will be to find first-time Koia shoppers through the Kids line and introduce them to the brand that way.
“The first approach is [to] just go deeper in our existing community,” he said. “The second approach, which is an interesting and exciting process, is to go into the broader parent community that maybe we haven’t been as vocal in, and start to have a reason for talking to them. This is potentially a different stream or entryway into the Koia platform.”
Building Out the Portfolio
Koia Kids follows a raft of new innovation from the company this summer, including its first shelf-stable Nutrition Shake line and multiserve packages for its core refrigerated offerings.
Since introducing the Nutrition Shakes in June, Hunter said the brand has been able to establish a strong presence on Amazon – laying the groundwork for this new Kids line – and sales have “exceeded our expectations” and are on track to surpass year one sales goals for the line.
“It’s really started to open up some other opportunities,” he noted. “We’ve had a lot of inbound inquiries about distributing that in a broader way, and so we’re exploring those right now.”
The 32 oz. multiserve bottles, which debuted in Sprouts stores, have also been a positive addition for the brand, Hunter added, with growth from the line being “completely incremental” and providing a “halo effect on the velocity of all items.” Koia initially developed the multiserve bottle after finding that many of its consumers would buy an average of four bottles per trip, despite the single-serve drink’s intended use as a grab-and-go immediate consumption item.
Looking ahead, Hunter said Koia isn’t done with the innovation yet and has more products in the pipeline for the near future.
As well, the business has achieved profitability, Hunter said, following the transition to a vertically-integrated production model. He attributed decisions like building its own refrigerated warehouse, dialing in production components and optimizing run speeds, and “endless tweaks” to making the achievement possible and credited Koia president Mike Woolard with developing and executing the plan.
“We’re at the completion of all the milestones and metrics that we had set out when we started on that journey,” Hunter said. “And so we’re in a really good and exciting spot there.”