Soylent makes its first foray into bricks & mortar stores via 7-Eleven trial

By Elaine Watson

- Last updated on GMT

Soylent makes its first foray into bricks & mortar via 7-Eleven trial
Soylent – which has thus far focused on online sales – will make its first foray into the bricks & mortar channel on Monday when its ready-to-drink meals (Cacao, Cafe Coffiest and Cafe Chai) will debut at 18 7-Eleven stores in the Greater Los Angeles area.

"It is exciting that the demand for our breakthrough line of drinkable meals has moved beyond e-commerce," ​said Rob Rhinehart, Soylent founder and CEO.

"This new collaboration with 7-Eleven will make Soylent an even better option for customers looking for convenience without sacrificing their health. We are thrilled to be working alongside the talented 7-Eleven team and look forward to building our retail presence nationwide."

"Soylent is a differentiated product for the on-the-go, millennial. It is a great example of a product that has reached online success in a short period, and we are excited to collaborate with Soylent to bring the drinkable meals to our stores in a single serving,"​ said Todd McFarland, 7-Eleven senior product director for vault.

Ready to drink meals

Soylent​ - which is looking to expand the audience for its ‘nutritionally complete’ beverages – recently closed a $50m Series B financing round​ led by GV (formerly Google Ventures), bringing its total funding to $74.5m, and hired ex KeVita exec Bryan Crowley​ as its president.

Despite a challenging few months​, ​Soylent - which has until fairly recently conducted most of its business via its own website - has performed well on Amazon​ and built a loyal and highly engaged online community of fans​, which helps to explain why it has attracted so much interest from investors.

That said, the success of the brand - which was launched in 2013 - has both intrigued and baffled trend-watchers, given that its sterile packaging and utilitarian ‘food as fuel’ approach appears to fly in the face of the culinary trend towards ‘minimally processed,’ colorful, flavorful whole foods that are inherently nutritious rather than fortified with nutrients.

However, there has been growing interest in more portable nutrition and drinkable meals and snacks, and Soylent has recently expanded its portfolio to provide fans with more flavor options (the latest additions to its RTD line up are Cafe Vanilla and Cafe Chai​).

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