How enjoy life foods embraced innovation to achieve 18 years of growth

 
 

Enjoy Life Foods, a snack food company that caters to a growing community of people with food allergies, intolerances, and/or celiac disease, has created a culture of innovation that has led to industry-leading growth. Acquired by Mondelēz International in 2015, Enjoy Life has accelerated its innovation strategy to include new product development, identifying new emerging food trends, and investigating vehicles that allow its products to be ubiquitous and available to all people who normally have limited access to these types of foods. Joel Warady, general manager and chief sales and marketing officer at Enjoy Life, shared how the company has adapted its innovation strategy and increased its focus on consumers since its inception.

Enjoy Life has been around for 18 years, catering to a community of consumers who struggle with food allergies, intolerances, and/or celiac disease. Its mission is to “create and share great tasting Free-From food products the world trust and loves.” All of its products are certified gluten-free and free of 14 allergens, boasting a number of other certifications for its 25,000 products. In fact, Enjoy Life created the first product ever to be certified gluten-free.

When the company began back in 2001, it defined its category as “Free-From.” In 2015, Enjoy Life was acquired by Mondelēz International, which was seeking “better for you” products. Enjoy Life’s portfolio is made up of more than 86 SKUs (stock keeping units) in seven categories, including baking chocolate, cookies, snack bars, bites, chocolate confectionary, baking mixes, salty snacks, and trail mix. Its target consumer consists of 23 percent of America, which is 76,000,000 people. Among these “Free-From” consumers are the “worriers,” or those who made up the core of Enjoy Life’s targeted consumers. These 34,000,000 consumers are concerned about the potential danger in food. They may have an allergy or celiac, and have no options but to choose Free-From foods. The other 42,000,000 consumers are the “wonderers,” or those who are emerging compatible consumers. These consumers wonder about the ingredients in all of their food, and want to make better choices. Overall, Free-From consumer base is quickly growing, and research indicates that the Enjoy Life’s Free-From targeted consumer based will soon more than double.

Enjoy Life defined four barriers its consumers face:

  1. Can I trust the product?

  2. Can I find the product?

  3. Will I like the product?

  4. Am I the only one?

Case Study

In 2016 there was a healthy food trend, and the protein market was seeing $16 billion in annual sales. Fifty percent of consumers preferred plant-based protein, and 50 percent were seeking high-protein foods. With consumers snacking four to five times a day, “good-for-you, good-for-the-earth packaged snacks” were getting prime shelf space near fresh produce. Enjoy Life’s ProBurst bites were created. These bite-sized snacks would be fun to eat, portable, and have easy portion control. Each serving of ProBurst bites had six to seven grams of plant-based protein. ProBurst Bites initially launched with four product flavors, were free from the top eight allergens, certified gluten-free, verified non-GMO, certified kosher and halal, and contained no artificial ingredients. They were vegan and palm-oil free. They were perfect for breakfast on the go, mid-day boosts, and late-night treats.

Unfortunately, no one purchased the product Why? It was simply a bad product that didn’t taste good.

ProBurst Bites evolved:

  • December 2016: ProBurst launch

  • December 2017: Teal rebrand and ProBursts renamed Protein Bites

  • June 2018: Relaunch with improved taste and texture with sunflower as a key ingredient, as well as the addition of two new flavors (dipped banana and dark raspberry)

  • September 2018: Packaging innovation and introduction of grab-and-go single-serve packaging

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The relaunch and innovation of Protein Bites was a success. Consumers and influencers showed excitement at the Expo West 2018 launch, and Protein Bites won an award as the best product at Supply Side West CPG Editor’s Choice Award 2018. Trader Joes launched Protein Bites as a branded product, it became available at CVS, and also landed in 2,000 7-Eleven stores. It is at its third iteration of the product. Despite failure at its onset, Enjoy Life stuck with its protein product rather than giving up. Enjoy Life learned that it’s not about shelf space; rather, it’s about talking to consumers. According to Warady, the race will not be won with shelf space, but with open dialogue and adopting a one-on-one state of mind. Traditional tactics are dead. Instead of hiring research companies, Enjoy Life captures input from consumers at every touchpoint. It strives to find the intersection of food, tech, data mining, and special diets to meet consumer needs in its products. It spends more on data mining than on advertising.

Today, CPGs are primed for major disruption. Empowered consumers are driving trends that are knocking down the traditional barriers to entry in the CPG market. The big food and legacy companies of today must stop underestimating the threat of companies like Enjoy Life. Brands must get ahead of the curve on digital marketing, enhance conventional brand relationships, and engage deeply with customers and consumers to remain relevant.


"How Enjoy Life Foods Embraced Innovation to Achieve 18 Years of Growth." Joel Warady, General Manager and Chief Sales and Marketing Officer at Enjoy Life Foods. ANA 2019 Innovation Day at MillerCoors presented by Xandr, 6/13/19.