Reaching more people with retail

The state of health in the U.S. isn’t great. 

Even with the dramatic improvements to healthcare in recent decades, many people are sicker than ever: Chronic inflammatory conditions are the #1 cause of disease in the United States, and lead to 7 out of 10 deaths. Obesity rates in America have roughly quadrupled since 1960. Diabetes rates have increased more than 20x in that time frame. Metabolic dysfunction is a strong upstream risk factor for degenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson's, and heart disease. 

But we have options for health.

The pervasive Standard American Diet certainly doesn’t support optimal health. But we have options — and the most impactful solutions lie in our daily lifestyle choices. Which is actually empowering news.

This is the premise of LMNT. 

So many of our once iconic brands are out of touch with healthful options, or even directly harmful to our health. Sugar-sweetened beverages, including sports drinks, energy drinks, coffee, and soda are pervasive. As well as highly processed foods. This is why we started LMNT to begin with: to support folks committed to a healthy diet and lifestyle. 

Going from DTC to retail… 

At LMNT, we’ve been focused on our direct-to-consumer (DTC) business for the last six years. We’ve been building up our production capacity and infrastructure to engage with consumers, so that when the time is right to enter retail, we’d be ready. That time is 2025.

The challenges of retail are considerable. The ready-to-drink market is guarded by entrenched brands, archaic ordering systems, and labor-intensive distribution practices. Carving out shelf space requires building out all new business capabilities. 

…to reach more people on a path to health. 

Entering this market is our most ambitious distribution undertaking to date. The mission has always been to support as many folks as we can with health through hydration, and so we’re now stepping into this new opportunity to reach more people through retail. It’s good business, too. And by diversifying our distribution, we create more resilience in our organization over the long-term. 

Expanding the product offering beyond sticks with Sparkling. 

Six years ago, we introduced LMNT Drink Mix as a powder conveniently delivered in a stick pack. Now we see an opportunity to tackle one of the most robust segments of the beverage market: ready-to-drink cans. LMNT Sparkling meets a whole new group of people, for new use cases, in locations across the country — supporting their energy and food choices by meeting basic physiological needs in a healthy way. 

Electrolytes drive energy production.

Take a survey of health in this country and you quickly see that people feel depleted, fatigued, foggy, and more — with the majority of our beverage options woefully lacking in beneficial ingredients. Electrolytes drive energy production at the cellular level. The sodium-potassium pump powers every neuron, muscle, and heartbeat. Electrolytes support our core sustainable cell functioning — a stark contrast to the stimulant-based pathways of caffeine-infused energy drinks, which operate more like a credit card that you have to pay back. LMNT’s salt-forward formulation is a radical proposition in a beverage market saturated with sugar and stimulants. I say ‘radical’ here a bit tongue in cheek, as unfortunately food and beverage options designed to support healthy metabolic choices are the exception in today’s market. 

Salt satiety feedback.

Our bodies need salt. Unfortunately, when we get those cravings or are feeling a bit low-energy, many folks tend to reach for a processed food source of salt (chips, pretzels, etc.) as a pick-me-up. However, by meeting our bodies’ natural need for salt through a well-formulated hydration drink, we fulfill a fundamental biological requirement without the baggage of processed foods. This creates a feed-forward cycle and you can feel the difference. 

There’s work to be done going to retail. 

Entering big box retail and the ready-to-drink market isn’t for the faint of heart. It’s a tough business, heavily guarded by skeptical gatekeepers and incumbents. Yet we have a strong business case for entering retail, with a category-transcending opportunity beyond the $9.2 billion sports drink industry. Consider the sizes of these other US industries ripe for healthier options:

• Energy drinks: $20 billion
• Coffee: $42 billion
• Soda: $120 billion

We’re seeing many of our customers drink LMNT as a replacement for the suboptimal choices found in the above beverage occasions. As we go to market, we’re following what we call “airfoil energy;” leaning in where our community is pulling us and where we feel energy from retailers. Fortunately, two of the largest retailers in the US have green-lit nationwide distribution starting in spring 2025. 

Anything worth doing takes time.

The American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr said: 

"Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime." 

We know that making meaningful inroads into the current state of health in the United States will take a long time. And with years of patient, dedicated work, we’ll carve the path to high-leverage, long-term, impactful relationships with our new retail partners. 

Small, committed teams can make a large impact. 

Another of my favorite quotes is from Margaret Mead: 

“Never underestimate the power of a small group of committed people to change the world. In fact, it is the only thing that ever has.” 

If you’ve nominated anyone through LMNT’s Give A Salt program, you’ve received this quote as a part of our thank-you gift. Each person, sharing a healthful step with another, is how the Salty Rebellion has grown. So as you see LMNT on shelves, pick one up — and share it with a friend. 

We’re in this for the long haul.

Thank you for the role you’ve played in our organization as an LMNT customer. It’s because of relationships with folks like yourself that we see the opportunity to build a generation-defining brand that stands up for health. Or as we like to say: “Stay Salty!”