Kids lemonade maker Poppilu's distribution is popping off as the brand grows its footprint to roughly 2,500 stores nation...
Problem
Come on, give your kids FLAVOR (without all the sugar)
Kids beverages are often loaded with sugar - did you know some little juice boxes have 23g sugar? So we get it when parents try to avoid the sugary stuff for their kids, but limiting them to water or diluted juice is just so PLAIN boring! After all, we as adults enjoy a variety of flavorful options. Do we really expect kids to grow up without tastebuds?
Solution
Shaking up the category
Poppilu® is shaking up the $1.5B US kids juice category with our healthier juice pouches designed for the mainstream household, not just the "foodie elite." Our organic Bold & Tangy Lemonade™ pouches, which launched last year, are bold on flavor, not on sugar™.
Product
BOLD flavor, no refined sugar and organic, naturally
In addition to big bold flavor and vibrant packaging that appeals to younger and older kids alike (no juvenile illustrations here!), our lemonades also appeal to parents because of their better-for-you attributes: organic ingredients, NO added refined sugar, just 7g sugar from the fruit juice itself (the lowest sugar of any kids juice that we know of) and 100% DV Vitamin C.
Poppilu also offers the ONLY line of ready-to-drink lemonade juice boxes/pouches that we're aware of—a ripe opportunity as 6-12 year olds are the highest-indexing consumers of lemonade.
But how does it taste?
Although parents know Poppilu is a healthier option, for kids what matters most is taste. In these blind taste tests, we can see kids choosing Poppilu Blueberry Lemonade over Honest Kids Berry Lemonade. (A note on methodology: We gave these moms both Poppilu and Honest and asked them to do a blind taste test with their kids on video. We paid them a small amount and were clear that they’d be paid regardless of which product their kids chose in order to eliminate any bias. Of all the taste tests completed to date, only one child chose the competitor brand).
Traction
Reaching 2,500+ new stores this year!
Building on our launch at Walmart last year, we've picked up more than 2,500 new stores in 2021, including almost 1,000 Target stores. The store locator on our website is always up to date, and these are some of the retailers you'll find there:
Accolades:
- 1 of 5 brands chosen for Kraft Heinz inaugural incubator
- Progressive Grocer’s Editor’s Pick: Best New Product
- best pitch in StartUp CPG competition
- semi-finalist in BevNet New Beverage Showdown, the leading competition in the beverage industry
- semi-finalist in Good Food Pitch Slam
- and the press loves us too:
Customers
95% of first-time triers would buy our products again
Poppilu's pouches target parents seeking healthier beverages for their kids and who still want something fun and flavorful that their children will be excited about. Who doesn't want to earn points from their kids for bringing home an awesome new product in the grocery bag?!
In a recent survey of first -time Poppilu purchasers, 95% said they would definitely/probably buy Poppilu again.
A lot of adults are drinking Poppilu too, adding a volume opportunity that other juice boxes/pouches likely don't have!
Business model
On the cusp of huge financial growth
We aren't "hoping" for new customers in 2021—they're booked, giving us greater confidence that our 2021 forecast will double last year's sales, setting us up for strong future growth.
Aiming to reach the mainstream household, Poppilu sells primarily to large grocery retailers (either directly or through national distributors like UNFI and KeHE). E-commerce is an exciting channel as well, and Poppilu sells direct-to-consumer via poppilu.com and through leading online grocer Thrive Market. However, brick & mortar still accounts for 89% of total U.S. grocery sales, so that's where our focus is.
Market
A mature $1.5B category ready for disruption
The kids aseptic juice category is a mature $1.5B behemoth, still showing growth at +5% (IRI, MULO latest 52 weeks ending March 2021). The category is dominated by 1980s incumbents like Capri Sun and Kool-Aid and is ready for a modern challenger brand that better meets the needs of today's families and talks to mom shoppers with a contemporary voice.
Our innovation pipeline will take Poppilu beyond kids beverages (more on that below!), but in 2021, kids aseptic juice is our most relevant market.
Competition
Category-leading benefits
In addition to a taste kids love, our products are best in class when it comes to the attributes parents are most concerned about, notably sugar and organic certification.
Poppilu is also certified women-owned. We feature the trademarked logo on the front of our cartons and use marketing communications to authentically connect to mom shoppers in a way our big competitors simply can't do.
Vision and strategy
More than kids pouches
Poppilu has a robust innovation pipeline to continue to grow the brand both within and beyond the kids beverage category, always focusing on delivering premium options that are bold on flavor, not on sugar™ and with a penchant for citrus.
Next up: Our multiserve lemonades with premium, tart & tangy flavors like Blueberry Lavender and Passionfruit elevate the lemonade occasion, whether drinking it straight or mixing a cocktail. Poppilu has already received high interest in this line from several leading grocery retailers for a potential 2022 launch.
These bottles are a repositioning of our the 12oz antioxidant lemonades (geared toward adults) that we launched in 2017 and have put on hiatus while we focus 2021 efforts on the kids pouches.
We also have several other product concepts that we aren't yet ready to share with the world, but they all build nicely on the Poppilu brand, maximizing citrus refreshment with bold flavor and limited sugar.
Looking to successfully exit within next 5 years
Poppilu plans to scale distribution and grow our brand awareness to establish ourselves as a premium, healthier, modern beverage choice, with leading offerings in kids beverages as well as other beverage segments. When the time is right, we'll be looking for a successful exit to any number of beverage players, including those who have a current or future interest in the kids space.
Funding
Raised $1.2M+ to date
Poppilu raised more than $1.2M through 2019 with the help of angels, small VCs and Kraft Heinz (which owns market leaders Capri Sun and Kool-Aid), as well as private leaders in the global juice industry. Our product is in-market, with strong trailing twelve month sales, and we're expanding to over 2,500 doors this year,
Founders
Meet Melanie Kahn, the CPG veteran behind Poppilu
- Powerhouse founder of Poppilu who has managed ALL aspects of the business (except accounting!)
- Previously created and nationally launched the Fairlife dairy brand, built it to $100M retail sales in launch year under a joint venture with Coca-Cola, to which Fairlife eventually exited
- Managed major brands at Kraft Foods, Sara Lee, and Jim Beam and served as a Board Member for Incredible Foods