Feeling peckish? Sonoma Brands taps into portable protein trend
The snack packs (MSRP $3.99) – which feature two ‘Perfectly Boiled’ free range organic eggs paired with “crispy crunchy dry dips” – will launch in January 2019, and could work as a snack, breakfast option or mini-meal, PECKISH co-founder and chief brand officer at Sonoma Brands, Chelsea Bialla, told FoodNavigator-USA.
While several brands have launched ready-to eat hard boiled eggs in recent years, from Eggland’s Best, Wilcox Organic, and Organic Valley (Good to Go) to Crystal Farms (Ready Egg Go – which includes cheese and nuts), PECKISH is the first to pair them with culinary inspired dips (Salt & Pepitas, Everything, Maple Waffles, Fried Rice, Rancheros), and features a slightly softer boiled texture – while retaining food safety – said Bialla.
“Hard cooked eggs often have an unappetizing hard chalky crumbly yolk with rubbery whites, which is in part because the harder you cook them, the easier they are to peel. But the way I love to eat eggs at home is very different. They’re not cooked for quite as long, but we’ve found the [sweet] spot to achieve total food safety with a kill step but we’re not over boiling.”
Portable protein snacks
The stackable packs – featuring bright, colorful packaging designed to appeal to Millennials – could be merchandized in coffee shops and foodservice outlets, plus in grocers' egg departments alongside shelled eggs; in the chiller between lunch meat and eggs; or in the chilled Grab & Go snacking fixtures springing up at many stores, said Bialla, who has teamed up with a leading producer of hard cooked eggs (which currently supplies them under various private labels) to launch the brand.
“Eggs have always been an incredibly nutrient dense food, but they are also completely relevant right now with Paleo, Whole30, and Keto, and while we’ve seen some incredible branding and innovation with brands such as Vital Farms in the [uncooked] shell egg space, we’ve not seen the same kind of innovation in the ready to eat space.
"They make another great option for consumers eating other protein forward snacks such as Greek yogurt."
Brands that can scale quickly and reach mainstream consumers
Rather than developing ultra-niche products, Sonoma Brands is looking to develop or invest in brands that have their own character and distinctive appeal but can scale quickly and reach mainstream consumers as well as the natural and organic set, she said.
It also has a track history of developing fun, Millennial-friendly brands that make consumers think about existing categories or products (jerky, marshmallows) in a different way, she said.
“Think about what we did with KRAVE [created by Sonoma Brands founder Jon Sebastiani, who changed perceptions of the category by cleaning up the label and adding a gourmet twist]. I think some of the brands selling ready-to-eat hardboiled eggs are a bit lackluster, with no true elevation and no culinary minded approach."
Size of the prize?
So what’s the size of the prize?
“Right now hard cooked eggs are a well under $200m category,” said Bialla, “But we see that as reflective not of a lack of consumer interest, but a lack of innovation and disruption [in the category].”
Visit PECKISH at Expo East in Baltimore this week #8508.
