Bio&Me Debuts new ‘Good for Your Gut’ kefir drinks

Bio&Me has announced it is expanding its kefir offering with the launch of new ‘Good for Your Gut’ Kefir Drinks.

The duo will roll into Sainsbury’s and Whole Foods over the coming weeks (25th September and 2nd October respectively). The Whole Foods activation will also include a window takeover at the retailer’s flagship High Street Kensington store.

The two-strong launch line-up will be available in Natural and Vanilla variants, retailing at £2.60/500ml bottle (containing two servings).

Launched in response to huge consumer demand, Bio&Me says its new releases are designed to bring consumers the most authentic, tasty, and gut healthy kefir drinking experience yet. Each 500ml bottle contains more culture strains than any other kefir drink on the market (18 different culture strains including two of the world’s most studied: LGG and BB-12), as well as a greater number of active cultures overall (over 100 billion of them, and more than double the average of current kefir drinks on the market).

In addition, these all-natural kefir drinks are not only claim-ably ‘Good for Your Gut’, they also contain no added sugars, emulsifiers or thickeners, employing a fermentation technique at Bio&Me’s expert dairy to produce all the nourishment of fermented dairy without the need for ultra-processed protein powders or artificial sweeteners. Furthermore, the gut healthy drinks are naturally high in protein, as well as an excellent source of calcium, B12, B2 and phosphorus.

Quantitative consumer testing showed that both the Natural and Vanilla variants scored highly across the board versus competitors, particularly when it came down to the products’ taste and creaminess, with 89% likely to purchase (Wirral Sensory Services + Bio&Me instore testing).

Market data highlights the opportunity around kefir is ever-growing: kefir yogurts and drinks are worth £91 million in the latest year, with kefir adding +£24 million in value in that period (NIQ Latest 52 w/e 10.08.2024). Three brands make up 92% of kefir yogurts (Bio&Me, Biotiful and Yeo Valley (NIQ Latest 52 we 10.08.2024)), with Bio&Me’s Vanilla Kefir Live Yoghurt the current bestseller (NIQ based on value in Grocery Multiples in the latest 12 weeks). Tesco is the latest retailer to join Asda, Ocado, Sainsbury’s, and Waitrose in stocking Bio&Me’s kefir yoghurts with Original, Vanilla, and Mango 350g pots going into 250 stores last week.

Dr Megan Rossi, Bio&Me co-founder, notes the business’s mission is to make good health deliciously easy.

“Many kefir drinks on the market, even those labelled as ‘gut healthy’, are often packed with added sugars, thickeners and artificial ingredients,” she adds. “We’ve worked really hard to create as close a match as possible to traditional, homemade kefir, which is celebrated for its strain diversity, high active cultures count, and clean ingredients. Our unique fermentation process eliminates the need for emulsifiers, thickeners, or added sugars, letting the quality of the ingredients shine through – and importantly, they taste great too.”

Jon Walsh, Bio&Me co-founder and CEO, says careful crafting means the kefir drinks it provides are of the highest quality for consumers “without cutting corners”.

“Now more than ever, people are looking at what’s actually in the food they’re eating, and for us, as a credible, science-backed brand, it was important to us for these kefir drinks to be the absolute best,” Walsh adds. “Our kefir yoghurts are performing really strongly, growing +39.2% (value) and +38.8% (volume), and we can’t wait to see what shoppers make of these new kefir drinks.”

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