Clean label crunchy cheese snack reaching for the moon with relaunch, new varieties

Moon Cheese maker NutraDried Food Company began the rollout of Garlickin’ Parmesan and Cheddar Bacon Me Crazy – as well as the renamed Cheddar Believe It, Oh My Gouda and Get Pepper Jacked – last month, now available in over 25,000 retailers across the US.

CEO Mike Pytlinski told BakeryandSnacks the brand is expected to more than double sales this fiscal year for a second year in a row, thanks to distribution and velocity at key retail partners such as Costco, Whole Foods, Publix and Target.  The brand also recently won listings in Jewel/Osco, HEB, ShopRite, Fresh Thyme and Raley’s.

“The rebrand reflects what we see as tremendous potential for Moon Cheese,”​ said Pytlinski.

“It has a very strong foundation as consumers seek high-protein, clean-label snacks that are also low in carbs and low in sugar. We also have strong distribution and velocities in many premier retailers.” ​

 “We’ll now build off this foundation with new packaging, new flavours, and new sizes to aggressively drive distribution with new partners across multiple retail channels.”​

Proprietary technology

NutraDried – a wholly-owned subsidiary of EnWave Corporation – leverages EnWave’s proprietary Radiant Energy Vacuum (REV) technology to remove the moisture from cheese without impacting the nutrition or flavour to produce an all-natural crunchy snack.

“Moon Cheese is unique in that it fits into today’s snacking and nutrition landscape perfectly. Plus, it’s one of the only snacks that tastes great, can travel anywhere and is full of nutrients,”​ Pytlinski told this site.

“All of that, coupled with our tremendous growth over the past few years. showed us that we really had an opportunity to take our brand to the next level. We wanted to energise Moon Cheese to accurately reflect that growth.”​

Consumer research conducted by the company found a clear preference among nutritional claims.

“We discovered that today’s consumer has evolved to seek snacks that are high in protein, low in carbs and sugar free. We also found that consumers value access to complete, easy-to-understand ingredient information.​

“We decided it was essential to highlight these attributes more strongly on our packaging. In addition, it was crucial to optimise our flavour assortment and revamp our packaging and product names to ensure we pop on shelves and catch the attention of shoppers quickly.”​

Resonating with consumers

BakeryandSnacks asked Pytlinski why the brand had decided on new verbiage.

“Renaming our flavours goes back to evolving as a brand, having a stronger presence on shelves and aligning more with the current consumer. Redoing our packaging was about much more than just visual design – we also carefully crafted language that will resonate with consumers.”​

He added the new flavour options increase the brand’s reach, and appeals to a broader range of consumers who have different flavour preference.

“The only additional ingredient in these two new varieties is natural flavouring,” ​he said.

“We are pleased to provide consumers with a healthy dairy snack that is available at any time and does not compromise great taste or nutritional benefits.”​

The snacks – which are shelf-stable and come in resealable bags – contain over 10g of protein, no sugar and less than 2g of carbs per 1 oz serving.

Available in resealable bags – recently released 1oz pouches for on-the-go consumers, 2oz bags with an RRP of £3.99, and 10oz packs – are available at major retailers across the US, including select Whole Foods, Publix, Starbucks, Target, Wegmans, King Soopers, Shop Rite and REI stores, as well as online and on Amazon.