Beverage maker Koia has landed a major new partner in its mission to popularize and proselytize for plant-based diets: last week, the company announced that NBA All-Star point guard and plant-based advocate Chris Paul has joined the brand as an investor.
Paul, most recently seen leading the Phoenix Suns to the NBA Western Conference title, has been a vocal ambassador for the health benefits of plant-based diets, specifically for athletic recovery and performance. But he’s also aligned that thinking into his off-the-court business interests as an investor in Beyond Meat and in GoPuff, which announced in February that it would be working with Paul to bring more plant-based brands on to the platform and introduce those products to students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU).
The pact with Koia includes its own HBCU component: starting with a pilot launch this year, Koia will introduce branded vending machines to select HBCU campuses with which Paul has relationships, to be followed by a broader rollout in 2022. In addition, Paul has made a commitment to purchase 50,000 bottles of Koia Straw-nana Dream Smoothie for GoPuff customers nationally, aiming to showcase the brand as an affordable and nutritious plant-based option that can quickly reach underserved communities through the platform.
“My hope for investing in Koia and other change-makers in the industry is that we work together toward a bigger systemic culture shift where underserved communities have access and opportunity to live better, healthier lives,” said Paul in a press release.
Speaking to BevNET, Koia CEO Chris Hunter said the collaboration came together shortly after Paul helped lead the Phoenix Suns to victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in this year’s NBA Playoffs and shared an image on social media of Koia as his “postgame recovery meal.” After getting connected and having a conversation, Hunter said he and Paul developed an “authentic and organic” relationship that facilitated opening the door for a strategic partnership at a point when it wasn’t actively fundraising.
“We really felt like Chris has a presence in different communities than we do,” he said. “We are not traditionally athlete focused. Through Chris and his support of the brand, we believe that other people are already taking notice.”
On the shelf, Hunter said a recent culling of its portfolio — both Coffee and Thrive lines have been nixed after debuting in 2020 — has helped Koia sharpen its focus around the core Protein, Keto and Smoothie offerings. The brand just had its best off-promo sales week ever at longtime partner Whole Foods, he noted. Meanwhile, at Kroger, Koia has surpassed “benchmark” brand rivals Bolthouse and Naked (along with Suja, REBBL and others) in sales velocity over the last 12 weeks, according to data shared by the company. And in the club channel, Hunter said the brand has been working with Costco to bring to shelf a 32 oz. multi serve version of Straw-nana Dream, the best-selling SKU in its best-selling Smoothie line.
Smoothies have emerged as the brand’s “big innovation bet,” according to Hunter, “because it clearly paints how we are the next $400 million brand.” In contrast, the discontinued Coffee and oat milk-based Thrive lines strayed too far from Koia’s simple message of “low sugar, plant-based and delicious” by reaching into functional ingredients (MCT oil, moringa and various mushrooms, among others) that “didn’t resonate with our consumer base.”
“If we keep it simple and keep with what our brand stands for, we can’t lose,” he said.