In 2023, I profiled Kim Kardashian and learned how her years signing on to every possible kind of endorsement deal—from flat-tummy teas to luxury fashion—helped her develop a business sense that is now guiding the billion-dollar brands she’s building on her own terms. The same is true for her sister, Khloé Kardashian, who like Kim spent years running the family’s Dash boutiques and repping brands on the spectrum from cringey to elite.
Until recently, Khloé’s biggest business success was Good American, a fashion brand helmed by Emma Grede that found its consumer base by making all its clothes in a wide size range, with no exceptions. Its approach helped transform retailers’ approach to size inclusivity. While it found a devoted audience, it hasn’t garnered quite as much attention as Kim’s $5 billion-in-valuation Skims.
Over the past year, though, Khloé has found a new breakout success among the Kardashian-Jenner portfolio of brands. In spring 2025, she launched the protein popcorn Khloud, which she started working on in 2023. Her timing was perfect. The brand hit shelves as consumers’ obsession with protein was kicking into high gear. In a sea of bro-coded protein-maxxing, the brand stood out with pastel-colored packaging featuring friendly clouds.
I just published a new interview with Khloé, exploring exactly how she timed this so perfectly. “It just so happened that it was in this protein-frenzy era,” she told me. “But none of that was perfectly timed. How long it takes to produce snacks and food and packaging and all of the really boring things—you can’t just wing that and get it on the shelves quickly.”
Last fall, Khloud brought on the exec Jeff Rubenstein as its CEO. He’s an alum of Poppi, where he helped the soda brand secure a $1.95 billion exit to PepsiCo. He tells me that Khloud in its first full year of revenue is on track to do what Poppi did in year three.
This week, Khloud is trying to get ahead of another trend. Its latest product launch is “Khloud Plus Collagen Protein Chips,” one of the first packaged foods to try to bring collagen to a mainstream snack product rather than a powder or jelly. The launch will test just how many health-maxxing hacks consumers want in their snacks.
My full interview with Khloé and Rubenstein is here. Read on for more about the Khloud business and what Khloé has learned from moving into a new category as a founder.
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
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