OAKLAND, CALIF. — Nestle is taking the Outshine brand beyond the freezer aisle and into the shelf-stable category with new fruit and yogurt smoothie pouches.
Featuring fruit blended with non-fat yogurt, the snacks are available in blueberry pear, peach raspberry, strawberry coconut and pear vanilla varieties. They come in grab-and-go pouches and contain less than 10 grams of total sugar, no added sugar, no artificial flavors, no artificial colors and non-GMO ingredients.
Outshine is owned by Nestle and licensed to Froneri, an ice cream-focused joint venture created in 2016 with PAI Partners. Since debuting in 2013 with its flagship frozen fruit bars, the brand has become nearly a $500 million business.
“We’ve been learning about why consumers love the brand, and it isn’t just the fruit bars,” said Doug Munk, senior director of new business ventures at Nestle, who oversees innovation and new products. “It’s one of those rare brands that can traverse categories. It is able to be better-for-you while still offering permissible indulgence. The core of that is around fruit, and that gives us a playground to play in which is quite expansive.”
Key to Outshine’s success is offering healthy treats that appeal to the whole family, he added. A recent snacking survey from Outshine found 60% of parents prefer children’s snacks over adult snacks, and 86% are interested in snacks that appeal to the whole family.
Convenience also is top of mind, with 7 in 10 parents noting they’re more likely to grab a shelf-stable snack over one they have to keep cold, make at home, cut or heat up.
This isn’t Nestle’s first attempt at expanding Outshine into the fruit and yogurt smoothie space. Less than two years ago the company tested a version of the product made with Greek yogurt. Parents enjoyed that first iteration but it was less of a hit with children.
“It was a bit astringent,” Mr. Munk said. “We heard that mom loves it, but she’s looking for something for her kids, too. That was an ‘aha moment’ for us. We needed to bring parents and kids together to ensure we’re hitting the mark for both.”
Outshine fruit and yogurt smoothie pouches are one example of the way Nestle is prioritizing new innovation models, he said. Along with leveraging existing brands in new ways, the company’s innovation incubator allows food entrepreneurs to create new products and make them more widely available to consumers. Nestle also has an open channel internal crowdsourcing initiative, which encourages employees throughout the organization to submit and vote on ideas for new products.
“We’re taking the best of the startup model and the best of Nestle and bringing those together to provide solutions for customers in new growth spaces,” Mr. Munk said. “I believe these fruit and yogurt smoothies are one of our biggest innovations in years. We launch a lot of new products, but to enter a really large category with a beloved brand is novel for us.”
Outshine fruit and yogurt smoothie pouches are in the applesauce section of retailers — including Food Lion, select Kroger-owned stores, including Kroger, King Soopers, Smith’s, QFC, Mariano’s, Roundy’s, Dillons, Fry’s, Fred Meyer, and Ralphs and select Safeway Albertsons — for a suggested retail price of $4.49. They also are available online through Amazon.