How Blender Bites Broke Into Grocers Like Walmart and Albertsons to Meet the Growing Demand for Plant-Based Breakfasts

Why it matters:

• Blender Bites is part of the $18.23 billion frozen fruit market, which is expected to reach $25.47 billion by 2028.
• The frozen food market has evolved over the last decade to include more organic and plant-based foods.
• Blender Bites disrupted the Canadian smoothie market with pre-portioned ingredients that save consumers prep time, expanded into U.S. chains like Albertsons, and then kicked off a celebrity partnership with “Dancing with the Stars” co-host Julianne Hough.

Many people drink a smoothie for breakfast, lunch, or even an afternoon snack because it can deliver a vitamin-packed punch. But smoothie-making often involves purchasing multiple pricey ingredients. It takes time to gather supplies, and then to clean up.

Chelsie Hodge experienced the frustrations firsthand when she started making several smoothies a day for herself and her kids. The process was time-consuming and she regularly found that ingredients would go bad before she could use them. She wanted to make smoothie-making easier and more accessible — in an environmentally friendly way.

Hodge is now Founder and CEO of Blender Bites, a Canadian-based company that makes pre-portioned frozen smoothie pucks from organic fruits and greens and plant-based vitamins. Consumers blend the pucks with their favorite liquid. The “easy smoothie” company is meeting a growing demand for plant-based breakfasts and has expanded into the U.S., breaking into national retailers. Blender Bites has multiplied its smoothie flavor offerings, and it’s innovating with new products like healthy frappes.

The company is part of the $18.23 billion frozen fruit market, which is expected to reach $25.47 billion by 2028. “The business started very much from my kitchen and family support,” Hodge said. “We’re growing the business now, and we’re finding that once people try us, they don’t go back to making smoothies the old way.”

Blender Bites joined the shifting frozen food market, which has moved toward healthier options

Hodge was working for plant-based nutrition company Vega when she got the idea to freeze smoothie portions in silicon muffin containers to make future prep easier. She’d pop out a puck and combine it with water to make smoothies for her family.

“It was a light bulb moment,” she said.

At the same time, she researched the frozen food market, which over the last decade has seen a major shift toward more nutritious offerings — often to more organic and plant-based — as the public’s awareness about the reported benefits of balanced diets has grown.

In her home kitchen, Hodge worked on a variety of flavor and ingredient combinations, focusing on how to incorporate so-called “superfoods,” or nutritionally dense ones — turmeric or amla powder for example — to differentiate her product.

Then, three years later, Hodge raised initial funds from angel investors after demonstrating her product for them. She rented kitchen space at a Mexican popsicle shop in North Vancouver, and alongside her mother and her aunt, she started handmaking smoothie pucks on weekends as she fine-tuned her packaging design.

Hodge settled on a large puck, the size of which lent itself to dispensing with individual plastic wrapping. “It was killing me to see all this extra waste out there in other products,” she said. “I wanted to cut out single-use plastic and make the product more environmentally conscious, while also one-step and easier to use for the customer.”

[Read: 3 Businesses Get Creative to Counter Mounting Customer Acquisition Obstacles—And Win]

Working with a co-manufacturer and going public helped the company to scale up

Blender Bites launched in 2017 with “1-Step Smoothie” flavors Greens & Berries (now called Power Berry) and Greens & Tropical (now called Green D-Tox) in some of Canada’s largest grocery chains, including Fresh Street Market.

After two years working out of the popsicle shop, Hodge found a large co-manufacturer in Ontario to help Blender Bites advance its production and scale up.

The company went public on the Canadian Securities Exchange in 2021.

“Raising funds is very hard in early stages,” Hodge said. “A lot of food funds don’t want to get involved with you until you have at least $10 million in revenue. Going public was our survival path. It’s allowed us to raise the money we needed to grow.”

Blender Bites debuted in the U.S. market in summer 2023. Hodge used connections that she forged during her time at Vega to help get her products into Whole Foods. Her brand is in Walmart, Albertsons, and Safeway now, too.

Also, last summer, the company launched a line of superfood one-step frappes — Mindful Mocha and Vanilla Bean-Bio — with ingredients like folate, collagen, chia seeds, and probiotics.

[Read: Demand for Restaurant-Style Meals at Home Drives Grocery Opportunities]

Hodge has increased brand awareness through a (“Dancing with the Stars”) celebrity partnership

Hodge has found success in other key partnerships as well.

She forged a brand partnership with entrepreneur and “Dancing with the Stars” co-host Julianne Hough after meeting with the actress and sharing with her the Blender Bites story. Hough is now a strategic investor in the business.

“That’s really helped get our brand name out there,” Hodge said.

Most recently, a partnership with plant-based nutrition company Orgain has made it possible for Blender Bites to launch a protein-packed smoothie to optimize post-workout recovery – Superberry Sport 1-Step Smoothie, as protein is a pricy addition.

Hodge developed the product in collaboration with Hough. It launched first at BJ’s Wholesale Clubs nationwide in June and expanded to other retailers over the summer. Blender Bites also plans to launch a Pops [popsicle] product line in spring 2025.

Today, Hodge keeps company operations lean, with just four people on her team. To keep costs down, she recently contracted with a logistics analyst who’s working to figure out where operations could potentially be streamlined.

Now, Hodge has set her sights on expanding into food service – restaurants, cafes, cruise ships, hotels, airports, and other places that make smoothies for their customers. “That will be a huge opportunity,” Hodge said. The margins with food service are much better, she added.

Already, Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas put Blender Bites smoothies on its menu this summer. Hodge is working with a few high-end New York hotels’ chefs as well.

Customizing the smoothies for new corporate customers could be an option, too. “We’re willing to be flexible,” Hodge said.

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