It ditched the fruit.
At Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim last week, the start-up debuted its second product – a trio of Cosmic Carrot Chews, which co-founder Seth Goldman of Honest Tea fame said is the first-to-market vegetable snack for kids (and the whole family) that is both a planet-friendlier and healthier alternative to many fruit snacks marketed today.
“The reason these are important is because if you look at the fruit snack category right now, there is no real fruit, right? They are empty calories and offer no nutrients. So, we are coming in and we have this carrot that we soak in a little bit of marinade and flavor” and then dehydrate into a chewy treat that consumers can feel good about, but which tastes like the fruit snacks of their childhood with flavors like Sour Cherry Berry Blast Off, Orange Mango Moonbeam and Apple Cinnamon Asteroid, Goldman said.
He noted that while the snack is simple with just four ingredients – organic carrots, fruit juice concentrate, organic natural flavors and organic citric acid to preserve freshness – it addresses a complex problem that many restaurants and retailers are eager to solve.
He explained: “Going back to my Honest Tea days, we had lots of QSR chains that carried Honest Kids ask us if we could make an Honest Kids snack, and at the time we explored the less caloric fruit snack space. And while we were able to do it, it didn’t move the needle. It was only a little better. And I’m just not about making our food system a little better. It needs to be a lot better in a lot of ways – and that is why this is so exciting.”
Goldman also was excited about the prospect that the snack could use “off spec” carrots that might otherwise be wasted, which is how co-founder Spike Mendelsohn came up with the idea for the Cosmic Carrot Chews.
Mendelsohn explained that the chews were created by a happy accident when his attempt to make a ruffled crispy carrot chip from off-skew carrots “failed miserably” and instead of resulting in something crunchy and savory had the taste and texture of “carrot raisin.”
But by leaning into the company’s ethos of not to waste anything and to incorporate under utilized crops to increase biodiversity, Mendelsohn and Goldman said they realized they had a potential “lunchbox hero” on their hands – a verdict that was confirmed by Mendelsohn’s son who liked the prototype.
He also noted that carrots are sustainably produced and very water-efficient, requiring 23 gallons of water to produce per pound versus soybeans, which require 257 gallons.
“Better-for-you” is subjective
While the Cosmic Carrot Chews are positioned as a better-for-you alternative to traditional fruit snacks, a side-by-side comparison of the Nutrition Facts could leave some consumers making a judgement call.
For example, leading competitors in the fruit snack segment may have notably longer lists of ingredients, including some with “chemical sounding” names, fillers and added sugar, but some also have less sugar and fewer calories than Cosmic Carrot Chews.
For example, Welch’s Mixed Fruit Snacks’ ingredient list includes fruit puree, corn syrup, sugar, modified corn starch, gelatine, Concord Grape Juice from concentrate, citric acid, lactic acid, natural and artificial flavors, asorbic acid, tocopherol acetate vitamin E, vitamin A, palmitate, sodium citrate, coconut oil, carnauba wax, annatto, turmeric, Red 40 and Blue 1 – making it a harder sell for some consumers compared to Cosmic Carrot Chew’s list of four simple ingredients.
But, if consumers are most concerned about overall sugar then Welch’s Mixed Fruit Snacks wins with 6 grams of total sugar (including 5g of added sugar) and 45 calories per serving compared to Cosmic Carrot Chews Orange Mango Moonbeam, which clocks in at 11 grams of total sugar (including 2 grams added sugar) and 60 calories per serving.
If, on the other hand, consumers are more concerned about nutrient density, the Orange Mango Moonbeam Cosmic Carrot Chew would win with 2 grams of fiber, 1 gram of protein and 110% of the daily recommended amount of vitamin A, as Welch’s Mixed Fruit Snacks have no fiber or protein and only 15% of the daily recommended amount of vitamin A.
Mendelsohn also noted that “the other cool thing about slightly cooked carrots is they pull a higher nutritional value than raw carrots. That is not the case for all vegetables, just a few, and it is because by slightly cooking them you break down the cell walls and you make the nutrients more nutritionally available for us to consume. So that is a win-win-win.”
Cosmic Carrot Chews also are going up against several industry newcomers who entered the fruit snack segment with the same goal and are offering even shorter ingredient decks, fewer calories and less sugar.
For example, Chum Fruit Bites’ Mango Fruit Snacks, which are made of pear and mango puree that is slowly dehydrated and cut into shapes, have 8 grams of sugar (two more than Welch’s but 3 less than Cosmic Carrot Chews), 38 calories (less than the other two), and 2 grams of fiber. Vitamin A is not called out on its Nutrition Facts panel.
The market potential for better-for-you fruit snacks is “big”
Even though the fruit snack segment is crowded with legacy and emerging brands alike, Goldman says the potential for disruption and growth are “big” and, he added, even though Cosmic Carrot Chews are currently marketed to children the play is much broader as uses extend to many adult eating occasions as well, such as in trail mix or other on the go applications.
According to a report from Global Market Insights, the North American fruit snacks market was worth roughly $1.3b in 2018 and is estimated to grow mor than 3.6% at a compound annual growth rate between 2020 and 2026.
This growth is driven by consumer desire for food with health benefits, increased interest in organic food and technological advancements in fruit processing that reduce the loss of nutrients, according to the report. Demand for allergen-friendly, low-fat children’s snacks also is contributing to growth, but the high sugar content and use of synthetic and filler ingredients is a detractor for the children’s segment, the report added.
The opportunity for growth globally is even greater. According to Grand View Research, the global fruit snacks market was valued at $4.92b in 2019 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 9.2% through 2027. It adds that while North America accounts for the bulk of the market at 35%, Asia Pacific is expected to register the fastest CAGR at 10.3% through 2027.