Health Ade Kombucha is set to debut its second new product line this year with this month’s launch of Health Ade Plus, a seven-SKU line featuring functional ingredients aimed at specific needs and use occasions.
Health Ade Plus is currently rolling out in 16 oz. glass bottles in seven flavors: Hydrate (Mint, Cucumber, Lemon, Potassium); Beauty (Strawberry, Rose, Biotin, Silica); Energy (Lemon, Basil, Gurana); Chill (Lavender, Vanilla, Passion Flower); Happy (Orange, Vanilla, L-Theanine); Belly Reset (Ginger, Pineapple, Extra Probiotics); and Immunity (Ginger, Turmeric, Black Pepper).
The suggested retail price for each is $4.29, and the line will be offered exclusively at Whole Foods Market through the end of this year before expanding nationally in 2021.
With Health Ade Plus, the Los Angeles-based company is taking another step in its evolution from premium kombucha maker to a broader better-for-you beverage platform that encompasses a range of bubbly drinks, explained CEO and co-founder Daina Trout. But unlike the company’s most recent innovation Health Ade Booch Pop — a three-SKU line of prebiotic sodas released in June, which is targeting new consumers — Health Ade Plus has been crafted to give dedicated kombucha drinkers more options on the shelf.
In discussions with Whole Foods, as well as from interacting with customers and friends, Trout said the company found that regular kombucha consumers and health-minded shoppers were seeking more functionality and daily benefits in their kombucha. From there, the brand honed in on seven flavors each tied to different benefits and ingredients, but also to specific daily use occasions. Though Health Ade Plus had been in development since before the U.S. outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Trout said that consumer interest in immunity and gut health products helped spur the company to move up the schedule.
“We developed Health Ade Plus to be a powerful kombucha, but specific to what you might be needing day-to-day, hour-to-hour,” she said. “I feel like we need more health than we’ve ever needed, and we have more demands than ever. For us, that accelerated our drive to bring Health Ade Plus to the market faster.”
The launch of Health Ade Plus marks another expansion for the brand’s product family, which now includes 14 flavors in its core line (in multiple package sizes) and three varieties of Health Ade Booch Pop. Trout reiterated the company will continue to support its flagship kombuchas, while communicating the uniqueness of Health Ade Plus through messaging and package labeling in order to prevent cannibalization. For Booch Pop, designed as a better-for-you soda alternative, reaching the right consumer is more important, at least initially, than delivering high revenue, she noted.
“We always have to be deliberate,” she said. “We don’t intend to be a brand that over-innovates.”
Behind the scenes, Trout said the company will continue to invest in e-commerce after receiving a positive response from the launch of its platform. The brand recently brought on Calvin Lammers, who previously managed online sales for Bai and KIND Snacks, as its new VP of ecommerce. Having been out of mind just a year ago, Trout says e-comm is now a major part of the company’s daily discussions, along with ongoing efforts to refine its consumer communication.
“From a consumer standpoint, we are having daily meetings on how to effectively, appropriately and authentically engage with our consumers, because we are all going through an interesting time,” she said. “It’s not business as usual, it’s not conversations as usual or marketing as usual. You have to be so connected to your consumer and you have to be listening and responding. It’s been a big shift.”