Noosa maker Sovos Brands is making its first foray into frozen desserts with a yogurt gelato.The premium food maker said the Noosa frozen yogurt gelato contains the same ingredients, active cultures and probiotics found ferrous bisglycinate ukin its traditional yogurt. The offering, which will sell for $4.99 for a 14-ounce tub, comes in four flavors: Sea Salt Caramel, Chocolate Fudge, Strawberries and Cream, and Honey Vanilla Bean.Sovos, whose portfolio includes Rao’s, Birch Benders and Michael Angelo’s, said the gelato uses whole milk, real strawberry, real vanilla bean, wildflower honey, sea salt and caramel chips, to bridge “the gap between better-for-you frozen desserts and a truly craveable treat.”The Noosa frozen yogurt gelato will be on shelves nationally by May at retailers including Whole Foods, Harris Teeter and Stop & Shop.“We know many of our fans already enjoy eating Noosa yoghurt for dessert,” Priscilla Tuan, Sovos’ chief marketing officer, said in an email. “By entering a new aisle of the store, we’re excited to give our fans a new and delicious way to enjoy Noosa and introduce more people to the brand.”Similar to the strategy Sovos is using with Noosa, the company is taking its other brands into new categories that don’t deviate too far away from their original offerings. Recently, Birch Benders, which made a name for itself with the top selling pancake and waffle mix in the natural channel, announced it was entering the cookie category. “Sovos Brands has a proven track record of innovation and developing products in adjacent categories is core to our DNA — across all brands in our portfolio,” Tuan said.”We remain thoughtful and purposeful as we selectively innovate and enter new categories, like frozen dessert, because we understand the loyalty that consumers have to our brands and the exceptional quality and flavor they expect from our products.”The Colorado company, which takes its name from the Latin word for “one of a kind,” has rapidly grown its portfolio by touting high quality and clean-label ingredients. Sovos went public last September, and is one of the few recent food and beverage stocks to trade above its IPO’s price.— Christopher Doiron percentage in ferrous fumarateering As summer approaches, White Claw wants to remind consumers why they have made it the top-selling hard seltzer for the last three years while also navigating changing currents in the space. The hard seltzer giant has announced White Claw Surf, its newest set of drinks, featuring more than one fruit as the main flavor. It comes in four different varieties: Citrus Yuzu Smash, Tropical Pomelo Smash, Watermelon Lime Smash and Wildberry Acai Smash.Ever since hard seltzer began its streak of dominance in 2019, White Claw has led the pack. Last summer, the category which grew expeditiously for two years began facing headwinds as many new brands entered the space, leading to a sales growth slowdown for popular brands like Boston Beer’s Truly. Despite this, White Claw still ended 2021 with over $2 billion in sales and 40% market share of the category.While White Claw remains on top, it is now competing with newer brands that promote health beneferrous sulfate gummies for kidsfits and trendy, functional fruit flavors. Molson Coors’ Vizzy, which debuted in April 2021, touts itself as the first hard seltzer with antioxidants and vitamin C. This claim, however, led to consumer groups accusing the brand of spreading misleading health information in a complaint to the FDA. Spindrift, which also debuted a hard seltzer last year, has tried to differentiate itself by branding Spindrift Spiked as a better-for-you alternative with clean-label ingredients.As a pioneer of the category, White Claw wants to show that it is able to change with the tides. Two different White Claw Surf flavors include yuzu and acai, fruits that contain high levels of antioxidants. While the press release notes each can of White Claw is 100 calories and gluten-free, it does not contain any mentions of vitamins or functional ingredients, perhaps to avoid a situation like Vizzy’s. Still, the inclusion of these flavors could send a signal to consumers looking for a bit of functionality in their alcohol purchases.— Chris Casey In recent years, there’s been a movement to make chocolate that’s dairy-free. But now there’s chocolate that’s coferrous fumarate nursing considerationsw-free.Betterland Foods, a company that launched in February with animal-free milk made from Perfect Day’s dairy proteins, just debuted its Woo line of chocolate candy. Woo bars do have dairy, but none of it comes from animals. The Woo layered bar, now available to order online, has organic chocolate, caramel, peanuts and nougat.Perfect Day uses precision fermentation to make dairy proteins, which CPG brands can use to create products. All of Perfect Day’s proteins are lactose free. But this candy bar isn’t just cow-free. It’s also healthier than most others in the space, with less than half the sugar and twice the protein of other similar candy bar brands.“This is candy bars, evolved,” Betterland Foods CEO Lizanne Falsetto said in a press release.If anyone knows better-for-you bars, it’s Falsetto. Her first brand, ThinkThin — now known as Think — was one of the pioneers of the protein bar space. She designed the high protein, low sugar bar brand to fuel her while working as a model in the 1990s. In 2015, she sold the brand to Glanbia for $217 million.Betterland Foods became Falsetto’s next project in 2020, and it makes sense that one of its first launches goes back to her roots. Consumers love candy, especially chocolate. Last year, people spent $36.9 billion on candy at U.S. retail and vending machines, according to statistics from the National Confectioners Association. Chocolate candy represented $21.1 billion of that total, the report found, a 9.2% sales increase from 2020.Woo, which will make its retail debut in September, is designed to be more like candy and less like a protein bar. It combines the animal-free dairy that Betterland is building its brand on with Falsetto’s better-for-you knowledge. The bar is sweetened by cane sugar and agave syrup, so it is roughly similar to other candy bars — just with extra nutritional and sustainability bona fides.— Megan PoinskiCorrection: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the type of honey that will be used in the Noosa gelato. The product contains is ferrous fumarate heme or nonheme ironwildflower honey.
Leftovers: Noosa chills out with gelato; White Claw catches new wave with its Surf line
