Fitt Insider Issue 2 — Your Weekly Rundown of Fitness & Wellness News
Fitt Insider is a curated look at the news and ideas redefining the fitness and wellness industries. It’s designed for entrepreneurs, executives, and investors interested in boutique fitness, natural foods, fitness tech, and emerging wellness trends.
Today’s Fitt Insider Briefing
Food.
Like the boom of boutique fitness studios, fast-casual salad spots are becoming ubiquitous in cities across the country. Thanks to a growing demand for convenience and a cultural shift toward fresh, healthier meals, fancy salad bars are having a moment.
Modeling their efforts after the success of Chipotle’s model, fast-casual restaurants like Sweetgreen, Tender Greens, and honeygrow are scaling their respective take on the build-your-own salad bars throughout the US.
To date, the formula has included three main components. One: massive rounds of funding — Sweetgreen has raised nearly $130 million to date, with honeygrow racking in about $70 million. Two: hyper-local ingredients — fresh isn’t nearly enough; the standouts of the salad world need to be more connected to local farmers than the competition. Three: marketing — leveraging social media, chef collaborations, and in-person event marketing, these salad spots have turned a bowl of veggies into an essential part of an Instagrammable lifestyle.
Looking ahead, logistics (local food at scale is hard), differentiation, and market size are the obvious hurdles these fast-casual restaurants need to clear. Although the US fast-casual market is expected to reach $67 billion by 2020, fast food will reach $223 billion in the same year. For now, healthy food is still no match for its unhealthy foe.
M&A.
It’s official. Consumer preferences and upstart brands are forcing Big Food to move away from sugary snacks and toward a healthier future.
In 2017, large conglomerates made big moves to acquire healthy snack-food companies. Nestlé—the maker of Butterfinger, Baby Ruth, and Raisinets—sold its US candy brands and, in an about-face, acquired Atrium Innovations, maker of Garden of Life supplements, for $2.3 billion. That move came on the heels of Kellogg’s $600 million acquisition of RXBAR. Around the same time, Hershey picked up Amplify Snack Brands, the maker of SkinnyPop Popcorn, for $1.6 billion.
Now, partway through the year, 2018 has seen its fair share of M&A. In January, French dairy giant Lactalis agreed to acquire siggi's, a maker of Icelandic-style skyr yogurts. PepsiCo announced it was acquiring Bare Foods, a maker of baked fruit and vegetable snacks. And Molson Coors has acquired Clearly Kombucha, a California maker of the fermented tea beverage. Although the terms of these deals weren’t disclosed, the moves speak for themselves — Big Food is setting itself up to cash in on a healthier future.
Stay tuned for the next Fitt Insider briefing. In the meantime, let me know what you think or if you come across anything that should be included.
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About Fitt
Fitt is a content-driven marketplace where people to discover, share, and sign up for health and fitness activities. With contributors on the ground in more than 25 cities, Fitt is a fast and easy way to find a fitness studio, healthy place to eat, outdoor adventure, or upcoming event nearby. Find your city at Fitt.co.
Our Mission
We're making a healthy, active lifestyle more accessible by connecting people to their local fitness community.
Combining storytelling with activity, event, and class registration, we’re building an all-in-one platform that unifies the health and fitness journey from discovery to sign-up and participation.
Our Work
Through Fitt Labs, our in-house creative shop, we produce and distribute innovative marketing campaigns for brands who want to reach and engage health-minded millennials.
For job seekers and employers alike, Fitt Jobs is the go-to source for finding or filling a job in the health and fitness industry.
Utilizing Fitt Events, we work with event partners big and small to connect them with the Fitt community to increase sign-ups.
Fitt Creators is a growing community of visual storytellers creating inspiring content for people passionate about living an active lifestyle.
Health & Human Performance Specialist/Educator
6yI wonder why the iconic west coast originated salad bar buffet place like Souplantation/Sweet Tomatoes had their recent close down of some 20 stores while this kind of trend is being seen across the country elsewhere. I'd think a place like that would catch on everywhere these days.