In a world obsessed with oat milk, is there room for an oat water?
There is, if you ask New Jersey-based startup Smootch. After debuting its four-SKU flagship line of electrolyte-packed, non-carbonated oat waters in 12 oz. cans at Natural Products Expo West last year, the brand has established a presence in Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island. With a bit of experience under its feet, the company began tweaking its presentation and positioning this summer to capture more consumers as a natural alternative to sports drinks.
The biggest switch has been maybe the simplest: rather than “oat-powered hydration,” Smootch is now touted as “oat water,” a move designed to create greater distinction between oat milk.
“I think the preconception with oats is oat milk, and it’s been hard to get people to wrap their head around a hydration drink with oats while avoiding that association,” explained founder Matt Peterson. “We’re not adding oil, we’re not adding any thickeners or gums. I don’t want to say [it’s] a watery product, but we wanted to emphasize that it is water and not milk.”
It’s part of the larger challenge of building a “farm-to-can” brand story around Smootch’s unique sourcing: its regeneratively grown oats come from Aurora Mills Farm in Linneus, Maine. That starts with the packaging. After seeing the previous design as “a bit more ambiguous” as to its use occasion, the brand has added icons to help demystify the product. For example, Peterson said Smootch will be leaning into gut-friendly callouts tied back to the drink’s soluble fiber, provided by the oats. There’s also a new website that goes deeper into the product and the company’s broader mission.
The brand is committed to long-term growth within its current structure – Peterson said the existing operation can do up to 1 million cans per year – which means clearly communicating its benefits is paramount from a messaging perspective.
“Something that we are trying to refine is how to tell the story of regenerative agriculture [as] something that people can grasp right away,” he said. “So right now it’s ‘Fights Climate Change,’ which is maybe a bit of a grand statement, but we’re trying to figure out how we can talk about the fact that we’re making this product for a purpose.”
But it’s pacing itself: Peterson said he is aiming to add another 100 doors by the end of the summer, while acknowledging that the company needs to scale up production with its existing manufacturing partner (New Hampshire-based Nobl Coffee) in order to hit the 40% to 50% margins it’s targeting; the suggested retail price is $3.19 per can. In the meantime, Smootch is staying flexible by doing minimum production runs until “everything is dialed in.” But Peterson – alongside co-founder Ian Pasquarell – also has the bigger picture in mind.
“What we really want to accomplish is to help other farmers who aren’t currently doing regenerative agriculture to transition,” he said. “That’s something that the farm we work with also helps with. So I’m looking forward to the day that we expand beyond that farm and we help another person get there.”