The Making of a New Product - Mamma Chia Joyful Greens

Mamma Chia Joyful Greens was featured in Phil's Food Reviews as a Pick of the Week! We caught up with Janie Hoffman, Mamma Chia Founder and CEO, to find out more about how this hit new product was developed.

What inspired you to create your new product? Is there a particular niche or segment of the market you were focusing on? 

We have an amazing community of Mamma Chia fans who are constantly inspiring us to create new ways to enjoy the Magic of Chia. With the increased popularity of green beverages, we saw an opportunity to improve on the nutritional profile of this healthy choice.

What makes your product different and able to stand out against similar ones? How important has differentiation been in developing this product?

Our organic Chia & Greens delivers a whopping seven grams of fiber and four grams of protein and are much lower in sugar than many other offerings in the category. Chia & Greens is a natural evolution of our company’s desire to offer tasty and nutritious foods and beverages. While the nutritional properties of chia – Omega-3s, protein, fiber and more – are important to our community, they most love that our products are fun, delicious and satisfying. That is really the core Mamma Chia differentiator – our products taste great while also having an impressive nutritional profile. Chia & Greens comes in four tasty varieties – Grateful Greens (Kale & Mint), Love Greens (Beet & Ginger), Joyful Greens (Ginger & Lemongrass) and Soulful Greens (Cayenne & Lemon) – each delivering 2500mg of Omega-3s, seven grams of fiber, four grams of complete protein, 25% RDA of Vitamin A, and 95mg RDA of calcium.

What was the process like of designing your package, and how do you feel the final result has impacted perceptions of your product? 

Mamma Chia created the first chia seed beverage that magnetically attracted consumers with the allure of the chia seeds suspended in gem-colored juices. The chia seeds suspended in our Chia & Greens drinks are equally eye-catching and alluring on the shelf. We chose to use our signature, curvy glass bottles and changed to clear labels to showcase the suspended chia seeds and differentiate the line from our other beverages.

Does your product have relevant health attributes? What are they? 

Chia is one of the most nutrient-rich foods on the planet. Those tiny seeds are packed with Omega-3s, fiber, protein, calcium, iron and more. Chia seeds have eight times more Omega-3s than salmon, 70 percent more protein than soybeans, 25 percent more fiber than flaxseed, 600 percent more calcium than milk, 200 percent more potassium than a banana, and 30 percent more antioxidants than blueberries. They truly deserve their “superfood” status. 

What sustainability efforts have you made with your product/packaging?

Part of the Mamma Chia mission is to uplift and honor the soul of humanity and the soul of the planet. We are members of 1% for the Planet, a Certified B Corp, a founding member of Slow Money and a member of the Whole Planet Foundation. Since social consciousness is part of the company’s DNA, it was a natural choice to have chosen glass bottles for our beverage lines.

Through creating a new product, what would you say were the most difficult parts of the process and what came the easiest? 

When we first started working on our original Vitality Beverages, there were many times when we were told that my kitchen recipes could not be commercialized. But through perseverance and creativity, we created the first chia seed beverage and leveraged that same know-how in creating our Chia & Greens. It was also our goal with Chia & Greens to combine the nutritional powerhouse of chia with a variety of super greens to deliver a truly healthful beverage that wasn’t high in sugar yet still tastes delicious.  

Anything you would change if you were starting from scratch again?

We are very proud of our Chia & Greens line and think every flavor is delicious! The four fantastic flavors we’ve created have been so well-received, that we wouldn’t change a thing.

Besides your product, what's one out on the market that you admire?

The food and beverage industry has many wonderful, inspirational brands, and one that stands out to us is Smari Icelandic Yogurt. Smari is rooted in history and has brought organic Icelandic yogurt to the masses because it’s what they are passionate about. Smari is an authentic brand with a commitment to healthy, organic, delicious products, just like Mamma Chia.