Beginning next month, Bare Bones and its distributors will ship the brand’s ambient products to retailers which include new accounts such as Jewel Osco in the Midwest and New Seasons in Oregon.
Bare Bones began in 2013, selling its frozen bone broths made from 100% grass-fed, pasture raised animal and packaged in BPA-free microwaveable spouted pouches for easy pouring. The brand added shelf-stable products when it entered retail locations last year and began to notice that freezer placement posed a few major issues, according to co-founder of the husband-wife team Katherine Harvey.
“What we found after only six months selling to retailers was that even the buyers who loved our broths had a hard time figuring out where to put them in the freezer,” Katherine Harvey said.
“When they did make room for us in their freezer – say, next to the seafood or frozen dog food – consumers had a hard time finding us.”
The company uses a retort process (giving its products a one-year shelf-life) in which the broth is cold-filled into the pouch and steamed shut in a process nearly identical to home-canning in glass jars except using flexible pouches instead of glass and steam instead of water.
The move to the center-store soup aisle will also improve the business’s environmental footprint and convenience by eliminating defrosting time, according to the company.
“The biggest source of energy consumption for our frozen products is at the distribution and retail levels from frozen storage, transportation and merchandising,” Ryan Harvey added.
“By transitioning from frozen to shelf-stable, we will be using 80% less energy to transport and store our bone broth products. Additionally, this change makes our products more convenient and easy to use for our customers by eliminating the inconvenience and hassle of thawing a frozen liquid prior to use.”
The shelf-stable products will be priced lower than its current $19.98 SRP for a two-pack, according to the company.
“We will experience a significant reduction to our cost of goods which we fully intend to pass on to our customers.”