NatureBox Delivers

One of the fastest-growing snack food brands won't be found on convenience or grocery store shelves.

April 15, 2014

MCLEAN, VA – NatureBox, founded by Gautam Gupta and Ken Chen, boasts 120 different snack foods that won’t be found on convenience store or grocery store shelves. These products, available online only and shipped monthly, are expected to reach more than 3 million subscribers of the $20-$50 boxes of healthy snacks in 2014.

USA Today reports that Gupta and Chen are “two years into a mission to change the way families shop for food, and the new money brings their funding total to $28 million.”  And the secret, notes the newspaper, to NatureBox’s fast growth is that company, based in San Carlos, California, is “as much about technology as it is food.”

Gupta, a former Silicon Valley venture capitalist, was inspired by the idea to create NatureBox by dealing with his own struggles to overcome childhood obesity. He wanted to develop a nutritious snack brand by also knew it would difficult to compete with brands such as Frito-Lay, Snyder's and Nabisco in retail stores. His solution: a “direct-to-consumer model would allow NatureBox to command higher margins and to collect data and insights about its customers,” writes USA Today.

"We believe that if we knew more about you as a customer — what types of foods you like and don't like — we could give you a very unique customer experience and really tailor the products to your particular dietary needs," Gupta told the news source.

What’s even more compelling about NatureBox is the amount of data it’s collecting on its customers. "It's a change in the way consumer product companies touch their consumers," Neil Sequeira of General Catalyst Partners, an early NatureBox investor, told the news source.

NatureBox collects information about the types of snacks customers are searching search for or choosing each month, allowing it to make appropriate recommendations. Social media is instrumental in getting the word out — Gupta said that 50% of all customers share their NatureBox experiences on Facebook.

"We have just an endless amount of data we're getting from this direct relationship with the consumer," Gupta said, adding, "We believe over time, the data allows us to expand into new categories."

The amount of data is helping the company launch 5 to 10 new products a month, a pace that is much faster than well-established food brands.

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