DKB bars enterprise constructing momentum

BOSTON — What primarily started as a startup has became a thriving new enterprise for Flowers Foods, Inc. Since the nationwide rollout of Dave’s Killer Bread snack bars earlier this yr Flowers Foods has exceeded its projected goal for factors of distribution and generated gross sales consistent with a number of the bar class’s main opponents.

“Overall, we’re actually happy about (the snack bars launch), and we’re actually enthusiastic about … what is actually a brand new enterprise for us,” A. Ryals McMullian, chairman and chief govt officer of Thomasville, Ga.-based Flowers Foods, mentioned throughout a Sept. 7 presentation on the Barclays Global Consumer Staples Conference in Boston.

The firm initially projected distribution to achieve 12,000 shops by the tip of 2023, however with that quantity already surpassed, it now expects placement in additional than 13,000 shops, a testomony to the product’s acceptance from shoppers. Mr. McMullian mentioned the snack bars are all warehouse delivered and all co-manufactured, and as such the rollout part has offered some studying experiences that Flowers Foods intends to make use of in future new product rollouts.

“We’re actually happy with the trajectory,” he mentioned. “We’ve received velocities which can be already within the high 10, and that’s even bearing in mind that we dilute that a lot as a result of we’re nonetheless growing ACV (all commodity quantity). So retailer pleasure about it’s actually good.”

Asked by an analyst whether or not DKB bars is a way of life model play, Mr. McMullian responded, “Well, what we’re seeing are two issues. No. 1, DKB followers are fairly rabid. We did some market analysis just lately and what got here out of that — and I simply love this line — is that folks don’t purchase Dave’s Killer Bread, they be part of Dave’s Killer Bread. Almost like becoming a member of a membership, proper?

“But DKB bread patrons are extremely more likely to gravitate to this product. It’s incremental to them. It’s one thing that’s most likely already of their family pantry. But … given the family penetration for Dave’s right now, there’s lots of people that don’t find out about Dave’s Killer Bread. They might not even eat bread. But I wager they eat vitamin bars, proper? And so we’re doing loads of cross couponing. We’re doing DKB mixture bread and bar shows. So we’re bringing these present Dave’s shoppers over to the bars, after which we’re bringing new folks to the model.”

Introduced final yr, DKB Organic Snack Bars can be found in three varieties: Cocoa Brownie Blitz, Trail Mix Crumble and Oat-Rageous Honey Almond. The natural snack bars comprise between 16 and 22 grams of entire grains per 1.75-oz bar. More just lately, although, the corporate has expanded the DKB bar pipeline with DKB Amped-Up Protein Bars, that are in check markets with a nationwide launch deliberate for 2024. The Amped-Up Protein Bars can be found in three varieties: peanut butter chocolate chunk, double chocolate coconut and blueberry almond butter. Each 1.9-oz bar comprises 10 grams of protein and between 6 and eight grams of entire grains.

Mr. McMullian mentioned the DKB Amped-Up Protein Bars are doing “extraordinarily properly,” however much more thrilling for Flowers Foods is the very fact they’re proving to be incremental to the present set of DKB Organic Snack Bars.

“So we’re clearly tapping into totally different shopper segments with these various attributes,” he mentioned.

The firm additionally has DKB Crunchy Snack Bites in check markets.

“The Crunchy Snack Bites, I believe, are significantly thrilling,” Mr. McMullian mentioned. “There are six SKUs (stock-keeping items), three are candy and three are savory. And I might argue that we’ve got had much more retailer pleasure about these than DKB bars.”

DKB Crunchy Snack Bites can be found in Super Cinna Roll, Peanut Butter Choco Bliss, Heavenly Honey Nut, Epic Everything, Toasted Garlic and Bold Buffalo varieties. The snack bites can be found in 7.2-oz packages and comprise between 10 and 12 grams of entire grains per serving.