Life’s Grape, a family-owned, California-grown business, announced that they will be expanding their distribution of sweet, meaty, and juicy all-natural snacks across the west coast to esteemed grocery stores including Whole Foods Southern Pacific, Harmons, Raley’s, Gelson’s and Save Mart on the West Coast. Since founded in 2018, Life’s Grape has changed consumer’s perceptions of traditional raisins, and in the past year, they have grown steadily on e-commerce and reached over 400 retail store locations. This expanded distribution over the western region of the United States is helping revamp consumer’s favorite childhood snacks into delicious bite-sized treats they can enjoy any time of the day.

Life’s Grape’s vine-dried grapes are grown in the Central Valley region of California by a multi-generational family who has been in the industry for over 35 years. The Gillespie family’s vine-dried grapes are made using their signature Selma Pete grape which is a cross between a Thompson Seedless, Fiesta Seedless, and Muscat. Traditional raisins are laid down to dry in between the rows and often become sunburnt from direct sunlight, resulting in a baked raisin that has tough skins and an overly sweet, caramelized flavor profile. Instead, by both using the Selma Pete grape variety and leaving them to dry on the vine under a canopy of shade, Life’s Grape’s all-natural product is sweeter, meatier, juicer, and contains no contamination from herbicides or fertilizer because they never meet the soil.

“Getting on to shelves Whole Foods, Save Mart, Harmon’s, Gelson’s and Raley’s has been a dream come true for our family,” said Courtney Gillespie, president and COO of Life’s Grape. “Over the years, raisins have ‘earned’ a negative reputation and has caused a whole generation of consumers to overlook the category. Despite that fact, we have still intrigued these buyers enough to give them a try. Expanding our distribution, getting into more doors, and in front of new customers will help us gain new fans and hopefully change past perceptions of raisins for good.”