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Celebrating healthy indulgence with Barebell’s new birthday cake protein bar

Health and fun can go hand-in-hand, as evidenced by the latest celebration-themed product launch from Barebells. The brand, known for its high-protein snacks, has introduced a new Birthday Cake protein bar, aimed at the US market.

The bar, branded with the slogan ‘Make Every Day Your Birthday’ combines the indulgent flavours of birthday cake with the nutritional benefits of a more traditional protein bar. The packaging features colourful sprinkles on a bright pink wrapper.

Emulating the flavour of a ‘classic sponge cake’, the bar has a buttercream flavour and contains white chocolate, a protein blend of whey protein, calcium caseinate, and soy protein, cocoa butter and a ‘confetti blend’ for the sprinkles that includes the sugar substitute maltitol. The main nutritional claims are high in protein, with 20 grams per 55 g bar – and no added sugars, with 1 g per bar.

Sold for $28.99 in retail, the new flavour is the latest addition to a range of bars sold in twelve-packs for the same price. Other, more traditional flavours include chocolate dough, cookies & caramel, salty peanut, and white chocolate almond.

Indulging in protein

Protein snack sales have been on a rapid upward trajectory in recent years, and the market expansion is expected to continue at a double-digit rate, with the value of the market likely exceeding $10 billion by 2033.

Nicole Janssen, customer success team lead at Innova Market Insights, spoke to Ingredients Network at Vitafoods Europe 2024 about the growing influence of protein as an ingredient across categories.

“Protein is very, very big. I think you can really call it a star ingredient. Over the past years, we have seen it starting with sport nutrition, but then it really merged into all other categories – we can even see it in the sweet and indulging space.” Janssen noted.

Innova Market Insights’ top food trend for 2024 is “Ingredients: Taking the Spotlight,” highlighting the increasing consumer interest in key ingredients like protein. According to its global consumer research, one in three consumers always looks at ingredients of interest on product packs, with 42% naming protein as the most important ingredient. This trend underscores the growing consumer awareness and demand for protein-enriched products across various food categories.

Reaching a wider audience

With its engaging branding, the Barebells offering seems to straddle the different categories and looks to attract an audience beyond the traditional workout and active sports community. It is not the first protein bar to experiment with this flavour and branding.

Active nutrition brand Grenade, which prides itself on its “fun and quirky” branding, launched a birthday cake offering in UK markets in 2018 as part of the Carb Killa range of protein bars. The Warrior brand, which sells a range of health and wellness products, also has a high-protein birthday cake bar on offer.

For finished product manufacturers, the success of Barebells’ new offering serves as a reminder of the lucrative potential in blending nutrition with indulgence and in reaching out to audiences that are open to branding that is more whimsical and less sports-heavy.