US brand Chia Smash partners with Atlante to bring its delicious and nutritious superfood fruit spread to its first overseas market.

Chia Smash founder Anna Peck created her unique fruit spread with chia seeds in her kitchen while trying to formulate something tasty she could spread on toast, top oats and yogurts, or just eat by the spoon as a snack, without having all the added sugar, preservatives or artificial ingredients found in regular jams. The delicious and nutritious fruit spread has been a smash hit in America, gaining listings first with independent retailers and then national outlets.

Dive into the casestudy

So, when health food retail chain Holland & Barrett enquired about selling Chia Smash in the UK, Anna and her business partner Steve Ford were thrilled at the prospect of breaking into new territory. They also recognised that they would need support to launch their brand successfully in the UK.

Atlante, a cross-category global sourcing company, partnered with Chia Smash to ensure the right product was in the right stores at the right time, compliant with rules and regulations and supported by robust sales and marketing strategies.

“Atlante provides a turn-key solution,” says Steve. “They have teams that move freight globally on a regular basis and they have all the expertise that we need to expand beyond the US.”

What’s so special about Chia Smash?

Apart from being fabulously tasty, Chia Smash is made with only real, natural ingredients, is sweetened naturally with dates, and adds a superfood boost through chia. Unlike traditional jam, which must contain at least 55% sugar to be called ‘jam’, Chia Smash has no added sugar or sugar alternatives. ‘Fruit spread’ is a term used to refer to products that have less than 55% sugar.

Chia Smash owes its spreadable consistency to chia seeds. Traditional jams rely on sugar and acid to act with pectin (found in fruits or made commercially and added) to make it gel. The seeds in Chia Smash, which are high in fibre and protein, soak up the liquid from fruits and create a jam-like texture for a product that is tasty with bread, yoghurt, oats, smoothies, pancakes, waffles, ice cream, baked goods, cheese, savoury sauces and so much more.

Chia Smash is also friendly to the planet as it uses the ‘imperfect’ but still perfectly delicious fruits that are too strangely sized or coloured to be worthy of retail space and are often wasted.

Unopened, Chia Smash has a shelf life of 24 months. Once opened, it should be refrigerated and consumed within eight weeks. 

Chia Smash is the fastest growing brand in the category, growing 300% in the last year.

Spreading to the UK

After coming across Chia Smash on social media, Holland & Barrett was keen to offer the brand’s fruit spreads in its UK stores and online. The health food retailer was experiencing high growth in sales of its healthy option spreads and packets of chia seeds. Chia Smash brings together both of these popular things in perfect harmony.

“Expanding to the UK makes sense,” says Steve Ford, chief operating officer at Chia Smash.

“The jams, jellies and spreads category in Europe as a whole is bigger than in the US, mostly driven by greater consumption. While Americans like these products, it’s Europeans who eat them habitually at breakfast, lunch and teatime.”

The American market for the category is worth $1.6 billion compared with a European market of $3.2 billion.

The Challenge

As Chia Smash looked to its first export deal, the issues were:

• Manufacturing – on which side of the Atlantic Ocean should the fruit spread be made?
• Compliance – meeting UK requirements around food safety, licences, labelling, audits.
• Logistics – transporting the product in a timely and cost-effective way.
• Sales and marketing – supporting the brand and the retailer through launch and beyond.

The solution

Bharat Sisodiya, Atlante UK head of new business, explains: “We import products on an ex works basis, which removes most of the responsibility from the seller. It means we take ownership of the product as soon as it leaves the factory, so we are absolutely invested in the brand and its success.”

It was agreed that the manufacturing of Chia Smash would remain in the US for now and that Atlante would import a full container to maximise efficiencies. This required understanding the factory’s constraints and demands and deciding which flavour fruit spreads to introduce to the UK and how that choice would split across 21 pallets. Based on their popularity in the US, the selection was 40% apricot, 30% blueberry and 30% strawberry, leaving scope to introduce the brand’s other variants at a later date.

Atlante advised on UK manufacturing requirements and legislation around labelling – particularly on the strict restriction preventing Chia Smash being called a ‘jam’ because it is naturally low in sugar. Atlante also ensured duties as a result of Brexit were factored in as an input cost.

“We work on a lean model in the supply chain, making the product as competitive as it can be for our producers and our customers. We specialise in international logistics, bringing products from Italy to the UK on a daily basis, so this was second nature for us,” says Bharat.

Atlante will continue to manage the account and collaborate with Chia Smash as they assess UK sales, restock to keep a month’s supply available locally and support the retailer with promotion. The partnership will also work together to expand the brand.

“We work with Atlante because it is a well-established, reputable, large company and we have developed a partnership of trust. It has a robust team in the UK market that can support selling to new accounts, has great strategic relationships with new accounts and can handle all trade promotion management and strategy on trade promotions – the whole account management account selling eco-system,” says Steve.

Chia Smash was launched successfully in more than 500 Holland & Barratt stores in the UK and its online shop on 4 September 2023. Atlante achieved its goal of getting the right quantities of the correct product on the shelves at the right time.

Chia Smash fruit spreads are now available at Holland & Barrett, with an RRP of £5.79 for a 270g jar.

The partners are working to establish a good rate of sale, with a minimum £750,000 worth of sales in the first year. Atlante is supporting Holland & Barrett with a high intensity marketing plan. Meanwhile, the Chia Smash team continues to raise brand awareness through its social media network.

They are already thinking of future expansion. There is an opportunity to add other berry variants – such as grape, cherry and raspberry, or SKUs such as single serve squeezables for use on the go, all currently available in the US – to the UK market.

Holland & Barrett has exclusivity for the first nine months and Atlante is looking to gain listings with other UK retailers beyond that.

Atlante is also using its robust network to secure manufacturing for Chia Smash in the UK or mainland Europe in the next 12 months.

Steve says: “Atlante is a lovely team to work with.”

Bharat adds: “We believe in the product. As a healthy eater myself, I love the spreads! The Chia Smash team are a pleasure to partner with. It’s great to work with brands that are innovative in coming up with new products and share the same values as us – working collaboratively in an open and transparent way.”

We are proud of all Chia Smash has been able to achieve with the support of Atlante. Click below to see further examples and details of success stories, and contact us for help along your international distribution journey.