The ice cream aisle at the grocery store is more packed than ever, especially with the explosion of new and improved plant-based, non-dairy options that have popped up on shelves more frequently in the last few years.
Joining the fray is Kind Snacks, most familiar to consumers with its nut bars, oatmeal, and other snack mixes. The New York-based company just announced the release of Kind Frozen Pints, a plant-based, non-dairy ice cream promising four to six grams of protein per serving.
The health-focused snack company has been busy over the last year, introducing five new categories—including many that would be ideal for consumption this summer, such as smoothie bowls and frozen treat bars.
All of these are helping feed the $7 billion plant-based food industry, which grew in sales by more than 25% in 2020. According to Kind, the plant-based frozen dessert market is among the top three sub-categories contributing to this upward trend, increasing at a compound annual growth rate of 14%.
“As with all of Kind’s innovation, we refuse to take short-cuts and obsess over creating recipes that strike the perfect balance between being healthy and tasty, which is why it took our team over a year to develop the product,” Kind founder and executive chairman Daniel Lubetzky tells Fortune.
During that time, Lubetzky says the company’s innovation team experimented with a wide variety of plant-based ingredients, eventually landing on using a base of pear juice and almonds blended with tasty ingredients—like cherries or a peanut butter swirl—to give Kind Pints a creamy texture that consumers crave when helping themselves to a bowl of ice cream.
“When visiting the frozen aisle, consumers often have to choose between an indulgent ice cream made with unhealthy ingredients or a plant-based one that compromises on taste. With Kind Pints, they don’t have to decide between the two,” he says.
Each Kind Pint contains three servings, and each serving has between 240 and 290 calories, depending on the flavor. Each pint overall has between 730 and 880 calories total, depending on the flavor.
“Kind Pints have less saturated fat than leading dairy and non-dairy competitors, making this a frozen dessert consumers can feel good about treating themselves to,” Lubetzky says, adding Kind Pints don’t incorporate artificial sweeteners, but do contain many of the nutritious ingredients, like nuts and fruits, for which Kind has become known.
Rolling out with retailers nationwide, Kind’s Frozen Pints come in seven flavors: dark chocolate almond sea salt, dark chocolate peanut butter, cherry cashew, coffee hazelnut, caramel almond sea salt, strawberry, and pistachio.