Poppi and Sweet Loren’s show how ‘better-for-you’ brands go mainstream

Castle shared that Sweet Loren’s was born from her own experience. “I’ve grown Sweet Loren’s for over a decade. I started Sweet Loren’s because I survived cancer when I was 22 and so, personally, I just was searching for clean, simple ingredients,” she said. “I have a huge sweet tooth and didn’t want to give up cookies forever. I wanted to find a way to find a delicious cookie, a fresh, warm chocolate chip cookie at home, but have it made with ingredients that I felt good about.

“The original recipes were just simple, good ingredients and, over time, I tweaked Sweet Loren’s to be vegan, gluten-free, nut-free, really based on consumer feedback.”

Castle added: “Taste has to be number one, especially in the better-for-you arena. If it’s not as delicious or better than a conventional product, you’re not going to win.

“Our cookie dough is pre-portioned. Make just a couple cookies at a time in your toaster oven or air fryer, just really convenient for today’s consumer. And we’re also allergen free, gluten free, dairy free, soy free, egg free, nut free. So just free of the top allergens, just so that everyone can feel safe enjoying it.”

From aisle to algorithm

Ellsworth remembers how confusing early retail placement was. “When we first launched Poppi, they didn’t know where to put us in the grocery store. We were in enhanced water, sparkling water, a sister to kombucha. And we were like, ‘No, we are a soda.’

“They were like, ‘That’s funny, honey, doesn’t count,’” she laughed. “And we were like, ‘No, we are soda for the next generation.’ We had to prove that and gain trust with our buyers. After a year or two of being like, ‘Whoa, this stuff is flying off the shelf, look at the brand, look at the market, look at the things that they’re doing,’ we created a brand new destination within grocery called the modern soda set.”

Flavor was another non-negotiable. “Early days, we used to have flavors like orange-cinnamon and lavender-lemon,” Ellsworth said. “And I was like, ‘People just want orange. They just want orange soda.’”

Castle agreed. “You gotta have the favorite flavors too. If I have too esoteric a flavor, no one’s buying them. Clearly, chocolate chunk needs to be there, a sugar cookie, a fudgy brownie... the top flavors. You can’t change people’s preferences.”

Marketing for Sweet Loren’s grew the same way its dough did, experimentally, with feedback loops. “We do a ton of geo-targeting,” Castle said. “We do a ton of work with influencers and really just try to build an authentic community. From the beginning of Sweet Loren’s, we never had a huge marketing budget; we grew based on word of mouth, friends loving the product, having a great experience, even emailing customer service and suggesting a new product.”

She added: “We want them to feel like we’re their friend. Sweet Loren’s exists to really make the baking world better and figure out what the modern consumer wants.”

AI has now become part of that process. “We’re all learning AI every day,” Castle said. “It’s like a new department in our company in terms of trying to be on top of it and how we can bring AI to make us smarter, better, faster. We built a machine using AI, put in our consumer data and came up with 200 new products – not that we’re launching all of them, but it’s incredible to see what folks think outside the box.”

Ellsworth said Poppi approached marketing differently from day one. “We launched in March 2020, the first week of Covid,” she said. “Every traditional playbook that would have worked wouldn’t work. We also decided to build truly omnichannel at the same time with Amazon and retail, which is more expensive, but it’s the new way of marketing. We almost looked at Amazon as just a way to get cans in hands.”

She added: “We were one of the first brands to actually get on TikTok and start promoting in an authentic way, with me actually getting on myself and talking to the consumer. For context, Poppi has like 3bn views on TikTok and a third of the platform has seen my face seven times.”

To move at that speed, Ellsworth said the company built an entire vertical dedicated to culture. “People are like, ‘Is that HR?’ No, it’s all things culture,” she said. “Influencer, events, social, college... all of this works in parallel with our creative team and retail team. The team’s just quick. If something goes viral, a group chat starts going on my phone and I’m like, ‘Let’s go!’”

What comes next for modern grocery?

Ellsworth said the beverage landscape is changing fast. “What’s really on trend and forward-thinking right now, especially in beverage, is protein and hydration. Overall, better-for-you, low sugar, no artificial ingredients is hotter than ever.”

She added that even major players are taking cues from that shift. “We’re seeing big brands make those changes, colors going all natural, sugar contents going sub 10g. The consumer’s getting smarter. But what we do know is America loves balance. You say one thing and then you do another. You want to be healthy, but you don’t really do it. So I think, at the end of the day, I love that with Poppi, if you have a burger and have your Poppi, you did something a little bit better for you.”

Castle said today’s shoppers are looking for exactly that kind of balance. “Today’s customer is just smarter than ever, more educated. I think Covid helped everyone be more conscious of eating cleaner. You know that we’re not invincible; health and food are connected.”

She continued: “We try to do your favorite foods, your favorite cookie dough, your favorite coffees, your favorite flavors, but in a better-for-you way. The customer wants nothing artificial; a clean, short label where they understand the ingredient list. They want delicious, simple ingredients, allergen-free and maybe some new forms they never thought of before.”

For both founders, the plan for discovery has changed, too. “Distribution, the right packs and a tuned digital shelf are table stakes,” Castle said. “Mental availability is the other half, which is why we invest in creators, search and community.”

Ellsworth agreed. “If a shopper looks you up while standing in Whole Foods or Walmart, the reviews, the content and the conversation need to be there.”

And when it comes to retail media, Castle sees potential. “Full funnel programs that connect online with in-store are where we can reach new shoppers at scale,” she said.

Ellsworth added her own litmus test. “If it’s not showing up online and driving real behavior, no one really cares. Meet people at the speed of culture, then make it easy to find the product.”

Balance without compromise

The through line from both founders was disarmingly straightforward. Make the product craveable. Keep the label honest. Build modern availability in the aisle and in the algorithm.

Or, as Castle put it: “We are today’s baking brand, but the joy is the same as a warm cookie from childhood.”

Ellsworth landed in the same place on soda. “We want people to love soda again. Have the burger. Have the Poppi. Feel a little better about both.”