Parks & Nash finds an opening in bone broth category with powdered instant soups
Winner of the FamilyFarmed's Pitch Slam competition at the 2019 Good Food Financing & Innovation Conference, Parks & Nash Bone Broth Soup is bringing instant convenience to the bone broth category with its single-serve cups of powdered chicken bone broth which pack in 20 g to 24 g of protein per serving with a healthy dose of the nutrients and essential amino acids released from the marrow within the animal bones and connective tissues broken down and turned into powder.
"In one phrase, Parks & Nash is bone broth meets instant soup," said operating partner Elliott Cohen, who quit his strategy consultant firm and made a major investment in Parks & Nash after being introduced to the brand at the Natural Products Expo West show.
Many bone broths on the market today require some time to prepare either coming in frozen blocks, cartons, or pouches, and can cost up to $8 per package, he said.
"Here’s the reality, you pay an arm and a leg for a heavy, frozen block of broth that comes in a container... so it’s a total 'pain in the bone broth' to thaw, heat, mix, and transfer," said Cohen.
Parks & Nash single-serve instant powdered chicken bone broth soups are portable, light, take three minutes to make and come in chef-created recipes: coconut Thai, Tuscan vegetable, spicy chili, tomato basil, and southwest vegetable.
Transforming the center store soup aisle
Cohen and founder of Parks & Nash David Crooch believe that their powdered bone broth will drive foot traffic to the center store soup aisle. Crooch has years of industry experience in the chicken-based powdered protein market serving as the president of Crave Protein and founder of Osteobroth.
"Most of what’s on today’s shelf isn’t ‘bad’ for you, but it’s devoid of nutrient and proteins; it’s just salty water," said Cohen. "The entire soup category is being rebranded as not just ‘free of’ but ‘full of’."
According to Cohen, Parks & Nash is positioned to capture not just the health-conscious consumers that are already aware of bone broth's nutrient profile, but the everyday Campbell's Soup or instant ramen noodle consumer.
"At Parks & Nash, it’s our strength and our mission to rebuild the center of the store around dehydrated bone broth and other proteins and fibers," Cohen said.
Retail takeover
Presence Marketing projects that bone broth sales will hit $600m in three years as consumers switch away from the broader $6bn soup market.
"We saw bone broth coming about five years ago as an important food source. It's not like powders are the easiest thing to use, it's that this something consumers want and crave and adds value (compared to thawing a frozen block of bone broth)," noted Tracey Miedema, VP of innovation and brand development at Presence Marketing/Dynamic Presence,
"We sold $276,000 of soup in September (one of the hottest months in years for many US cities)," said Cohen who added that the brand is actively fundraising.
Within six months of launching last year, Parks & Nash entered 3,600 stores throughout the natural and specialty channel and has made the leap into conventional and club channels.
"Once you’ve made it into the club world then you know the masses are ready for your bone broth," Cohen added.
