Quest Nutrition Unlocks Growth from Strengthening Protein Confectionery Trend

Quest Nutrition has unlocked growth from leveraging the strengthening functional confectionery trend, but the question of whether it's enough to offset declines in the Quest Bar and Atkins protein bar SKUs is still uncertain. In this latest podcast episode, I'll utilize the 2021Q2 Simply Good Foods Company (NASDAQ: SMPL) earnings report, earnings call, and supplemental presentations as the backdrop to provide broad health and fitness snacking market insights. Quest Nutrition and Atkins Nutritionals each continued to have a mixed bag of performance at the product category level, including protein bars and nutritional bars performing worse on a YoY basis (though both continue to outperform the category average). Within my last quarterly update on the Simply Good Foods Company, I provided a business case for why the company should transition to a more "snackier" product portfolio regardless of positive macro trends around consumer mobility. It looks like at least the Quest Nutrition brand was already on the same wavelength. After successfully re-releasing their Quest Peanut Butter Cups to rave reviews and strong sales velocity, they decided to build on that momentum by launching their Quest Candy Bites and Quest Candy Bar this week. In an original article that I wrote just over 3 years ago (Read it here), I called for active nutrition companies to look beyond protein bars and into more confectionary categories that they could add a functional twist to. I mentioned in that article that “if you follow the sports nutrition CPG space closely enough, you have seen some launches that would be more associated confectionery-type CPG products. While most active nutrition brands have not innovated in this manner, are these product launches an indicator of the future?” I think the resounding answer in 2021 is yes…