The brand was founded by former NFL athlete Brad Pyatt, who said the partnership will enable PlantFuel to reach a broader audience and introduce more alternatives to the current whey-based offerings.
Amazon’s Launchpad
Pyatt told NutraIngredients-USA that his team's pre-existing relationships with Amazon and track record of launching winning brands on Amazon provided them the opportunity to partner up with Amazon’s exclusive launch pad platform partnership.
“Launchpad will allow us to get in front of millions of customers on day one and allow access to critical marketing tools to ramp sales rapidly,” said Pyatt. “ Also, we will be able to control our pricing and will be able to shut down any third party vendors trying to sell our brand on Amazon, which can be very damaging to a brand.”
According to Amazon, their Launchpad program allows startups and new brands to leverage Amazon's marketing tools, ecommerce expertise, and fulfillment network, while receiving unique merchandising opportunities, curated webinars, content creation tools, Amazon Web Service credits, and more. Launchpad then makes it easier for customers to discover these brands with a dedicated shopping destination.
Last month Pyatt also announced an agreement to launch five new products in GNC locations starting in August.
“We are launching both channels in conjunction as it’s very important to have a presence at both from a channel strategy. We believe that these two channels must be mutually exclusive to build a winning brand when done correctly. Our team is composed of some very smart and proven leaders in both DTC and Retail channels,” said Pyatt. “We have a former GNC and a former Amazon executive as part of PlantFuel’s leadership team who have helped craft a very smart and elaborate plan to maximize both GNC and Amazon while not diluting our brand and driving value to both our vendors.”
Formulations
“We will have the same products at both GNC and Amazon, other than Amazon will also offer a wider assortment of sizing and flavors. We also have a strong pipeline with more product assortments launching in Q4,” said Pyatt.
The new company’s formulation strategy relies on branded ingredients from well-established suppliers. Some of those ingredients include Wellmune by Kerry Company, Amino9 from Compound Solutions, and VitaCherry Sport by VDF Futureceuticals, to name a few.
PlantFuel line up
- All-in-One Nutrition: Features 20g of complete plant-based protein plus 29 fruits and vegetables, as well as clinically studied Wellmune beta glucan for immune system health.
- Performance Protein: Is 20g of protein with added vegan-fermented BCAAs as InstAminos and PeakO2 performance mushrooms.
- All-in-One Pre-Workout: Includes patented 3DPump Breakthrough with vegan-fermented citrulline, glycerol and Amla fruit extract to support exercise performance, recovery and nitric oxide; along with 250mg of Purcaf Organic Caffeine plus 85mg of Dynamine to increase perceived energy and alertness.
- All-in-One Recovery: Offers vegan fermented BCAAs as InstAminos with essential amino acids as vegan Amino9 plus vegan CreaPure Creatine and BetaPrime to reduce soreness and recovery time, and optimize muscle protein synthesis.
- Daily Immunity + Hydration: Includes clinically proven ingredients Wellmune to for immune support and Aquamin calcified sea algae to provide superior hydration benefits.
Pyatt told us that he has spent the last three years building PlantFuel to bring a meaningful brand and products to the vegan space. “Our goal is to be able to get the non-vegan customer into our brand by offering the next wave in plant based wellness,” said Pyatt.