“When you are selling to the retailer, the B-to-B sale is about trying to tell him what you are going to do to drive traffic to his store,” TruJoy Yogurt Founder Charlie Gentry told FoodNavigator-USA at a recent dairy expo hosted by the California Milk Advisory Board and VentureFuel.
He explained this is a different perspective than he normally considers, which is how shoppers choose products in the store and what will inspire them to buy his frozen Greek yogurt over competing products, including flavors, packaging, nutrition and marketing claims.
He argues what drives retail traffic are on-trend health benefits and claims, eye-catching packaging and on-pack certifications that assure consumers of a product’s quality, value and differentiation from the broader competitive set – all of which, he says, TruJoy Yogurt offers.
For example, Gentry said, he was inspired to create TruJoy Yogurt because, as a self-described “health nut,” he wanted a frozen dessert with “a respectable macro nutrition profile and clean ingredients.”
To do that, Gentry said he tested more than 150 batches before he perfected TruJoy Yogurt’s blend of protein and probiotic-rich Greek yogurt, cream, cane sugar and plant-based stabilizers. His frozen Greek yogurt packs 7 to 9 grams of protein per serving, which is about twice that of ice cream. It also boasts half the calories and sugar of ice cream, and only uses fruit and natural flavors or extracts to “create a treat that is truly nutritious and delicious,” according to the company.
“When you are selling to the retailer, the B-to-B sale is about trying to tell him what you are going to do to drive traffic to his store.”
TruJoy Yogurt Founder Charlie Gentry
TruJoy Yogurt also stands out from the competition in the frozen dessert aisle because it bears the International Dairy Foods Association’s Live and Active Cultures seal for the multiple strains of probiotics in each pint, including Streptococcus thermophilus, Lactobacillus bulgaricus, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bifidobacterium ssp., Lactobacillus rhamnosus, and Lactobacillus casei.
Gentry said he also hopes to add to his pints the Real California Dairy seal, which he said many consumers seek and consider “synonymous with premium, better products.”
Digital sampling campaign boosts foot traffic, guides marketing
To help make the case to retailers to stock TruJoy Yogurt, the company invested about $2,000 into a digital sampling campaign while participating in the Real California Milk Excelerator powered by VentureFuel.
While underway, the campaign hosted by Social Nature directed consumers to stores that stocked TruJoy, where they could purchase a pint and receive a refund in exchange for the promise of a review.
“We have some awesome feedback from customers” through the campaign, including what flavors they liked or wanted to see, and what messaging resonated with them, said Gentry.
Based on the feedback, Gentry said, future packages of TruJoy Yogurt will call out around the rim of the lid the amount of protein in the product and that it is lactose free.
“Protein is very hot right now,” and adding the callout of 24 grams per pint will “help it pop in the freezer” and prompt consumers to stop and take a closer look at the product, Gentry said.
TruJoy Yogurt’s points of differentiation, on-trend marketing claims and flavor profiles already won over several retailers, including select Albertsons, Whole Foods Markets and multiple independent and natural retailers. Sprouts Farmers Market also recently agreed to distribute the brand at select stores in Florida and California, said Gentry.
