Nutrition without Compromise

View This Article in BOSS Magazine

BetterBody foods unlocks great taste for a delicious approach to dietary nutrition

The food and beverage industry has long battled the consumer complaint that healthy foods have a poor taste. BetterBody Foods knows better. Founded in 2007 by Stephen Richards, the Utah company is proving that sugar substitutes don’t have to taste like chemicals, and that healthy ingredients don’t have to cost an arm and a leg — or require a trip to a specialty retailer.

“I come from a family of diabetics on both sides, so eating correctly is something that I was raised with,” Richards recently told BOSS. “I actually love to cook. I had a passion for food and for meals and nutrition, and I've always been interested in business. Those three factors came together to launch the company.”

The powerful products created by BetterBody Foods are all about healing, health, and deliciousness. “At the end of the day, people are first looking for clean ingredients and they want to make sure the food they eat doesn't incorporate a bunch of junk that they can't even read on the label.

“Secondly, people are looking for more protein in their diet. All this is surrounded by the fact that people eat too many empty calories. With the calories that you're consuming, you want to make sure that you get the appropriate amount of protein, fiber, nutrients, and the right types of fats. We look at various foods to see if we can make any of those four categories more effective.”

The company’s revolutionary PBfit® peanut butter powder transforms a beloved but problematic pantry staple into a healthier choice. Roasted peanuts are pressed to powder, releasing the oils, and a dash of salt and some coconut sugar complete the recipe for one of the company’s hottest products.

“We find alternatives to everyday flavors that you love without impacting flavor — in fact enhancing the flavor and reducing the calories of those items. They're healthier for you,” Richards stated.

“One of our basic premises is that diets don't work. You need to change your daily eating habits. If you're on a diet, depriving yourself, it's just not going to work.”

Company CMO Stephen Kirlew added, “We’ve created delicious nutritional alternatives without compromise that change people’s lifestyles for the long term.”

All BetterBody Foods’ products are Safe Quality Food (SQF) certified. Most are also certified organic, non-GMO project certified, Kosher, and gluten free. Adhering to such rigorous standards has made BBF a valuable supplier for many of the largest retailers, including Walmart, Sam’s Club, Costco, Kroger, Albertsons, H-E-B, Winco, Publix, Sprouts, Meijer, and others. “We can supply product to any grocer in the world with the quality standards that we meet,” Richards confirmed.

BBF is building an avocado oil processing facility in the Dominican Republic. “We currently have three employees working with farmers in the Dominican whose avocado farms typically cover four or five acres each. We are helping farmers with organic certification as they don’t have the means or capability themselves. We can then purchase organic certified avocados from them, process the oil ourselves, and either package it in the Dominican Republic or the United States. We are working directly with those that supply the food as a way to enhance their lives, and provide them with additional income.”

BBF sources ingredients directly from over 20 countries, and works to keep their supply chain short and transparent. “We purchase raw materials by the container, package all of our own products, manage our warehousing and shipping, and by doing so, manage our supply chain cost-effectively.”

“We have a very high success rate of keeping products on the shelves. With Walmart, for example, we're at 98 percent fill rate. When you have 50 items in up to 4,200 stores, having a 98 percent fill rate on the shelf is exceptional. We take a lot of pride in that,” Richards declared.

“It really boils down to eliminating intermediaries that don't provide any value in the process, so if we can buy directly from the farmer, we want to buy directly from the farmer. I'd rather put money in their hands than other folks’ hands. It’s a matter of providing the most direct sourcing of the product.”

BBF works with retailers that share similar values of offering high quality products at a fair price.

“Recently Walmart wanted to innovate a new segment within the coffee and tea area with 4 feet of shelf space. They came to us and said, ‘We want to create a whole new better-for-you line with supplemented coffee and tea,’ and within four months we created 18 items with them to test,” Richards revealed. “We work best with customers when there's an exchange of ideas and open communication.”

“I'm not a marketing person,” Richards admitted, “but my philosophical view from day one has been to democratize healthy foods that would otherwise be inaccessible except through certain channels. And we really wanted to make them accessible at a price point that anyone should be able to afford them and incorporate them into their lives.”