Salt Lake City — Trü Frü skyrockets despite all odds while carving out a hot new snacking category. Incredibly, through a pandemic, supply chain bottlenecks, loss of harvests worldwide due to extreme climate events, and labor shortages Trü Frü was able to achieve 150 percent growth while immersing over 125 million pieces of fruit in chocolate in 2020. Followed by 250 percent growth while immersing over 400 million pieces of fruit in chocolate and adding over 80,000 total points of distribution in 2021.
Heading into the new year, with a 400 percent increased production capacity, 2022 is looking even more promising while striving to immerse nearly one billion pieces of fruit in chocolate.
Surprisingly, this growth has come without paid advertising. Relying on word of mouth and grassroots marketing on social via TikTok and Instagram with over 30 million organic views coupled with a million+ free samples shared nationally.
In addition, Trü Frü managed to win multiple awards for their innovative approach to healthy indulgence. At the 2021 Sweets and Snacks’ Most Innovative New Products, they made a historical back-to-back double 1st Place in both the Sweet Snack category and the Gourmet/Premium Candy categories (repeating from 2019). They were also awarded both a gold and platinum Penguin 2021 Awards for Overall Marketing Campaign Manufacturer and Social Media Campaign for the National Frozen & Refrigerated Foods Association, and was a NEXTY Finalist at EXPO West 2021.
Trevor Bahner, Kroger Frozen Category Manager shared “three reasons I am so excited about Trü Frü. First, we are looking to provide our customers with enhanced selections of convenient and innovative offerings for the category and Trü Frü hits both of these for us. Second, Trü Frü drives category incrementality with households focused on higher quality. And third, the Trü Frü team is creative and experimental and not afraid of new things which is so important in a partner. Once you try Trü Frü you are going to be hooked.”
At the core, it has been through sheer innovation that Trü Frü has brought new life while carving out a niche in the frozen category with their Better-For-You Indulgent Dessert bites. Bringing velocity, pound-for-pound profitability, and incrementality to the Frozen Category.
Kimball Wilson, Harmons Frozen Category Buyer revealed that “when I think of vendors, there are partners, great partners, and then there is Trü Frü. Last Valentine’s day it was natural to do something together. We innovated and the lift was not only insane but it was sustained…They are bringing a whole new demographic to the frozen category… With a basket size 43 percent bigger than average they are literally one of the biggest basket builders I have ever seen. As a retailer it is a no brainer. I want to partner with them and I want to promote them. Even brands surrounding Trü Frü see a lift sometimes because of the increased traffic. The power of Trü Frü is real.”
Trü Frü is bringing the largest segment of new category consumers of any growth brand in frozen with over 60 percent of their consumers being new category buyers.
Brian NeVille, CEO of Trü Frü feels incredibly blessed as he looks back over 2020 and 2021 to “see the amazing growth despite the inherent challenges our team and partners were faced with, more than anything it brings to light that in reality, Trü Frü has just scratched the surface of this indulgent brand’s potential. I’m seeing 2022 breaking all records as we find ourselves at the intersection of three expanding categories. Chocolate ($17b), Snacks ($46b), and Frozen Dessert ($17b). We really are our own sub-category of all three, best described as the Permissible Indulgence category. Trü Frü has emerged as the holy grail of snacking for the future – no other snack is as equally indulgent as it is better for you.”