Vegan and keto snacks are really picking up, says Variety Fun co-founder

08-Aug-2018 - Last updated on 08-Aug-2018 at 16:33 GMT

Interest in healthy snacks is nothing new, but interest in keto and vegan snacks is really on the rise, says the co-founder of snack subscription service Variety Fun.

The New York-based company, which started life in 2015 with the founders packaging and delivering the snack boxes themselves, has grown to partner with over 500 major snack companies. They offer both classic snack assortments (the Fun box with Oreos, Doritos, M&M cookies, and so on), and a healthy option (the Fit box, with Krave Jerky, Clif bars and so on).

“Healthy snacks are definitely trending, and we’re seeing a lot of interest in keto snacks and vegan snacks,” said Ilya Avshalumov, co-founder of Variety Fun.

According to Google Trends, interest in “keto snacks” hit a five-year high recently (see figure 1 below). “We sell across all 50 states,” added Avshalumov. Interestingly, Alaska was the top state for searches for “keto snacks” followed by Utah, Idaho, Louisiana, and Washington (see figure 2 below).

B2B and B2C

The company started selling purely on Amazon, and they quickly noticed a lot of purchases by businesses, which led them to start a B2B subscription service. The company serves both B2B and B2C markets, with sales approximately 50:50 for those. Corporate clients include Nestlé, Tesla, Microsoft, JP Morgan, Amazon, and Google, according to the company’s website.

“A lot of our business customers choose both the Fun and the Fit options,” noted Avshalumov.

The company works with snacks brands both large and small, and is quick to partner with “cool” start-ups. “We have close partnerships with many of the brands and we offer cool new flavors before the others. On top of that, we are great value.”

An entry level B2B subscription for the Fun box is $79.99 for 100 snacks, rising to $149.99 for 200 snacks, he said. For the Fit box it’s $149.99 for 100 snacks and $249.99 for 200.

Snack subscriptions

The snack subscription field was very crowded when Variety Fun launched in 2015, but there has since been some consolidation and a thinning out of the field. For example, UrthBox acquired three competitors (Bestowed, ConsiousBox and KlutchClub) in 2017, while Love with Food acquired several other players in the sector.

Some of the big food companies have also dipped their toes into this particular pool, notably General Mills (developed by its 301 Inc. unit), which introduced Nibblr in 2014 and then canned it in 2015.

Despite the competition, Variety Fun is “growing really quickly,” said Avshalumov. The company did about $12 million last year and is on course for $20 million this year.

Variety Fun, which started with a $165k investment by the co-founders, operates two warehouses in Brooklyn, and is planning a bigger warehouse in New Jersey. Given the number of clients they have on the West Coast, they are also thinking about a warehouse there, too.

Looking forward, Avshalumov said the company “plans to grow both the B2B subscription and launch the B2C subscription via our website. We’re confident about the future.”

Figure 1. Google Trends results for "keto snacks" in the US.

Figure 2. Google Trends results for "keto snacks" by state.