Tucked in the heart of Portland, Oregon is Honey Mama’s, a refrigerated chocolate brand that has grown from its Pacific Northwest roots into a nationwide treat.

Known for its flavor profiles and top-tier ingredients, Honey Mama’s has garnered a cult-like following, with customers reportedly describing the taste as “unique and out of this world,” and hailing it “the most memorable chocolate” with “a perfect texture.”

Honey Mama’s treats stand out in its recipe: a precise emulsion of organic raw honey and unrefined coconut oil, combined with cocoa powder, then mixed and cooled with high-grade ingredients like pecans, cacao nibs, fresh Oregon mint, and more.

A bittersweet need for data

Founded in 2013, Honey Mama’s bars sparked fanfare at the Portland State Farmers Market in Oregon.

By 2018, Honey Mama’s became available in stores across the country, and a round of funding and subsequent brand refresh in 2020 helped the company work toward its goal of becoming a “mainstream consideration for confectionery” with a striking new look lining more and more shelves.

During a tour of the facility, Casey O’Donovan, sales director, Honey Mama’s, explained how this growth led the company to Crisp, a retail data platform.

“As we began to expand our footprint, we relied heavily on monthly distributor data reports from our brokers,” Casey explained, “but eventually, we were asked to invest in additional reporting to continue accessing the insights we utilized the most.”

At this time—with a need for visibility into their expanding supply chain—sales and inventory insights were more necessary than ever. Casey’s team was prepared to invest in additional reporting through UNFI, but realized that manipulating the raw data files would be time-consuming.

“We knew we would need additional support if we invested in the data,” Casey shared. “It was a choice between hiring an analyst or leveraging Crisp, and we opted for Crisp.”

Casey, who had previously utilized Crisp in another Portland food org, Brazi Bites, championed the tool’s internal adoption to meet Honey Mama’s growing demand and strategize further expansion.

Balancing flavor and demand

For a brand with as much loyalty as Honey Mama’s, ensuring its products remain on shelves to meet customer demand is paramount. Crisp’s KeHE Fill Rate to Stores dashboard helps their team track their products from distribution centers (DCs) to individual stores, so they can closely monitor and prevent out-of-stock situations. 

While every Honey Mama’s bar offers a "delightful experience," according to the brand, individual flavor performance varies across regions. The team leverages sales insights, such as those provided by Crisp’s velocity dashboard, to monitor store-level performance and optimize product assortments.

These insights have been so telling that Honey Mama’s was able to analyze product cannibalization trends and update their assortment in 2022.

Even after these modifications, Honey Mama’s secured 4,400 additional points of distribution (PODs) and witnessed a surge in sales – 25% with UNFI and 30% with KeHE, demonstrating a blend of data and creativity in driving product innovation.

Cool calculations to reduce waste

Optimizing assortments is particularly important for refrigerated brands like Honey Mama’s, which have a shorter shelf life than their ambient temperature chocolate counterparts. Honey Mama’s truffle treats, crafted with only real, whole food ingredients, including raw honey in its base and no added shelf stabilizers, require refrigeration to prevent from melting above 72 degrees.

Given Crisp’s mission to improve the global supply chain and reduce waste with better data connectivity, we were pleased to hear that the team leverages Crisp to mitigate waste and preserve the integrity of its carefully chosen ingredients. 

By monitoring store-level performance and allocating inventory only where it’s needed, the brand is fine-tuning demand forecasting and effectively reducing at-risk overstock. 

“Managing spoils to 1-2% of business is difficult but possible with Crisp,” Casey shared.

Decadent developments

Honey Mama’s found that smooth inventory flow and a well-tuned product assortment create the ideal conditions for product innovation.

In 2022, the company launched its Chocolate Cake variety of truffle bars into 1,000 store locations, including Sprouts. Using Crisp, they were able to measure and respond to the success of the rollout using distribution and velocity dashboards, effectively capitalizing on the market’s rave reception. Casey shares that today, the bars are sold in 3,000 store locations and counting. 

Over the past year alone, the Chocolate Cake bar has seen a remarkable 96% increase in sales, doubling its market presence and surpassing Lavender Rose as the company’s top-selling SKU. In the same period, Lavender Rose also experienced a 20% increase in sales.

It’s been a banner year for Honey Mama’s, which has witnessed strong double-digit YOY sales growth through both UNFI and KeHE, with distribution continuing to rise at US giants including Whole Foods, Sprouts, Target, Stop-n-Shop, Giant Company, and more.

Casey shared how Crisp has played a pivotal role in this success, “When we onboarded, we were already in every distribution center, but Crisp has helped us optimize that business—with a clear line of sight to inventory, sales growth, and velocity metrics.

Honey Mama’s CEO, Jared Schwartz, who also guided us along the tour, echoed Casey’s sentiments, stating, “Crisp has been instrumental for our business, providing crucial visibility into our distribution, and we use it almost daily.”

Coinciding with the launch, the team has newly adopted Crisp’s Target data source for visibility into their Target inventory levels, to ensure a successful rollout and thoroughly proactive approach.