How Clio plans to turn Greek yoghurt bars into a $300m business

Key takeaways:

• Clio unlocked rapid growth by shifting from single bars to multipacks, transforming its economics and scaling from $23m to a projected $120m business.
• The brand is betting on refrigerated snacking as the next frontier, despite the added complexity of cold-chain logistics and instore merchandising challenges.
• McGuckin believes long-term success will come from winning trial and building a new category around indulgent, protein-rich snacks rather than competing in crowded ambient aisles.

John McGuckin doesn’t try to rewrite history. When he talks about Clio’s early days, he goes straight to the uncomfortable truth. “We were bleeding cash,” he says.

It’s a stark admission for the CEO of a brand now projecting $120m in revenue and 150 million bars in 2026, but it also sets the tone for how he thinks about growth. For McGuckin, scale isn’t about momentum or buzz – it’s about fixing what doesn’t work and then moving quickly once it does.

Clio’s proposition now feels neatly aligned with where consumers have landed. The brand sits at the intersection of protein, indulgence and convenience, offering a refrigerated Greek yoghurt bar that eats more like a dessert than a functional snack. But when Clio launched, that positioning was far from obvious.

Protein bars were booming, but they were overwhelmingly ambient. Refrigerated snacking, by contrast, remained underdeveloped – less because of consumer demand and more because of industry reluctance. Cold-chain logistics, shorter shelf life and thinner margins have long made it a tougher, riskier space to scale, even as shoppers increasingly looked for fresher, less processed options.

“Snacking was growing dramatically, but what was missing was something refrigerated that delivered indulgence while still offering protein and satiety,” McGuckin explains. That gap has widened as consumer behaviour continues to shift in Clio’s favour. The global protein bar market was valued at more than $14bn in 2024 and continues to grow steadily, while high-protein claims are among the fastest-growing in snacking more broadly. Greek yoghurt, meanwhile, has moved from niche to mainstream, particularly in North America and Europe.

Clio’s answer was to lean into what others weren’t doing. “What lacked was flavour performance,” McGuckin says. “Bars delivered function, but not always enjoyment.” The brand’s Greek yoghurt bar, with a cheesecake-like texture and chocolate coating, was designed to close that gap. It plays directly into ‘permissible indulgence’ – something that feels like a treat but still fits within a more protein-led, satiety-focused diet. That positioning, he says, has only been reinforced by the rise of GLP-1-driven eating habits, where consumers are eating less but thinking more carefully about what they eat.

How Clio almost lost its footing

If the product unlocked the opportunity, the business model nearly killed it.

“When we started, we were only selling single bars,” McGuckin says. “They were around $1.79, and we had good velocity, but we weren’t generating the revenue to support the growth.” The brand was moving product, but the economics were broken. It’s a familiar problem for emerging CPG brands: strong consumer interest, but not enough margin to sustain expansion.

The turning point came with a decision that, on paper, looked risky. Clio shifted from single bars to multipacks, selling four bars for $5.99. “The bet was that consumer takeaway would stay the same,” he explains. “We’d get the same unit movement, but at four or five times the retail value.”

It worked. “It changed the economics for us in a dramatic way,” he says. The move unlocked the ability to invest in the business, scale production and expand distribution. When McGuckin joined in 2023, Clio was doing around $23m in sales. Three years later, the New Jersey-based company is targeting $120m. “That growth speaks to the consumer, it speaks to the trade, and it speaks to our team’s ability to execute,” he says.

But the bigger shift was strategic. Clio stopped thinking of itself as a product and started thinking as a category builder. That has meant working closely with retailers to define where refrigerated snacks sit instore, and how they are presented to shoppers. “In the beginning, we’d be in the yoghurt aisle with two SKUs next to string cheese. The consumer didn’t know where to find us.”

Now, the focus is on creating a destination. “We’re working with others in the space to build a refrigerated snacking set. When the consumer walks in, they need to know exactly where to go.” Household penetration remains relatively low, which McGuckin sees as an opportunity rather than a constraint. “There’s still a huge runway,” he adds.

Why chilled snacking is harder than it looks

Scaling a refrigerated product isn’t just a question of demand but it’s a question of infrastructure.

“You have to build your supply chain in a very deliberate way,” says McGuckin. “You need the right people, the right partners, and alignment across the board.” Clio has invested heavily in operations, including expanding capacity at its 86,000 sq ft facility in Piscataway, where a new production line is coming online.

That investment is already feeding into innovation. The new line will support a kids-focused range, targeting what McGuckin sees as an underserved segment. “The two to six-year-old category is well covered, but six to 12-years is a gap,” he says. The new products are slightly smaller, a little sweeter and designed for convenience. “No spoon, no bowl. You can put it in a lunchbox or eat it on the go.”

Beyond that, Clio is developing a higher-protein line with added texture. “Consumers want crunch. We’re looking at around 15g of protein without sacrificing flavour.” It’s a balance many brands still struggle to strike and one McGuckin believes is best proven through trial. “We believe getting people to taste the product is critical,” he says, after distributing half a million bars through meal kit partnerships, including HelloFresh. “Most people try it and decide they love it. That’s a great place to be.”

Still, not every decision lands. An early yoghurt-coated bar failed to gain real traction. “We thought it would appeal to parents who didn’t want their kids eating chocolate in the morning. It did okay, but not great.” Even so, the idea wasn’t wasted. “It led directly to our kids line,” he adds. “You take the learning and you build from it.”

What comes next for Clio

Clio’s immediate focus is on execution, but the longer-term ambition is clear. “I think we can be a $300m to $330m business within five years,” McGuckin says. That growth will come from a combination of deeper US penetration and international expansion. The brand is already gaining traction in Canada, where yoghurt consumption is significantly higher per capita than in the US, and has begun building out its presence in Mexico.

But scale, he argues, will depend on staying disciplined. “We have to stay on top of consumer needs and continue to innovate. That’s what’s going to keep driving the business.”

For Clio, the next few years will test whether a product that once struggled to make money can anchor something much bigger. Not just a brand, but a category that retailers and consumers take seriously.

“We’re not a giant brand yet,” McGuckin says. “But the retailers who have leaned in, who have listened to the story and built the space properly, they’re winning.”

If he’s right, refrigerated snacking may still be in its early innings. And Clio, having found its footing the hard way, is now positioning itself to define what comes next.