1800Hotline 031 // David sold out in 30 minutes, True Religion wants $1B, and zombie cells arrive at Ulta

Hey and Happy Thursday,

This week we have two stories on the opposite ends. David’s frozen pints sold out in half an hour and that got them into Target nationwide. Little Spoon took a no from Whole Foods years ago and used that to fuel building direct instead.

We saw Khloé Kardashian’s popcorn hit Costco. Hard not grab a couple handfuls!

Let’s get into it.

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This edition is presented by Glass Vault.

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1800DTC Resources: TikTok Shop

TikTok Shop's numbers speak for themselves at this point. The harder problem is operating a shop once the volume comes knocking. Two recent guides on 1800DTC, both guest authored by experts worth listening to:

The SPS Score Handbook covers the 0 to 5 score that gates your organic reach, affiliate inbound, and GMV Max spend, and makes the case that by the time the number moves you’re already two to four weeks behind. Authored by Ali Mirzaei, who runs Dimension Studios and has built four #1 category shops, including the platform’s top shop overall. → Read

Affiliates vs. Paid Creator Partnerships answers the question of when to use each with TikTok Shop exploding. If your strategy is just one or the other, you’re probably missing out. Authored by Josh Durham, who built Aligned Growth Management after taking his own brand from $30K to $6.5M on influencer marketing. → Read

Brand We’re Watching: Khloud

Khloé Kardashian handing out samples, courtesy of Khloud

Founded by Khloé Kardashian, Khloud puts out a delicious protein popcorn and recently expanded into protein chips. The brand is now landing at Costco for the first time, and it’s doing it with its biggest bag yet.

Launched this week, more than 50 Costco locations across LA and Orange County are carrying Khloud’s White Cheddar Protein Popcorn in a new value-size 12oz bag. Each serving brings 7g of protein and 100% real cheddar cheese, with no seed oils, GMOs, or gluten. The Costco debut pushes Khloud past 30,000 retail doors, with a track to top 32,000 by August.

We popped a bag and can confirm it’s savory, cheesy, and dangerously easy to finish in one sitting (at least there’s protein). The Costco-exclusive run is available for a limited time, so don’t let this one pop off without grabbing a bag if you’re in Cali.

Check out protein from Khloud

Unwrapped w/ Russell & Julia from COZY Foods

COZY began during one of the hardest moments of their lives, then became a mission to create snacks made with ingredients that could be trusted.

18 months from idea to launch. 8 real ingredients. Now in 55+ retailers across California. Read more about their inspirational story.

David is in Target nationwide, weeks after the pints went live online

The frozen line from David launched in June and was gone in under half an hour. There was no slow build. One sellout, then a national set that followed.

I keep coming back to how fast that conversation must have moved. Most teams would milk a drop like that for months of email fodder before booking a buyer meeting, partly because that’s the advice everybody gives.

→ Full story

Whole Foods fell through, and Angela Vranich built the biggest DTC kids food brand in the country instead

Little Spoon aimed to launch fresh baby food into Whole Foods. It fell apart. Vranich, who co-founded the company and runs product, pointed everything at direct instead and sold over a million meals in year numero uno.

She didn’t swear off retail, but just put it on pause. Little Spoon ran direct for years, got past 100 products across ambient, refrigerated and frozen, and only then went into an exclusive with Target.

Read David above, then get into then. Love how they play against each other.

→ Full episode

True Religion wants $1B and is chasing it through TikTok Shop and TJ Maxx simultaneously

The CEO walked Modern Retail through the plan.

1. Double the store count
2. Build TikTok Shop out properly
3. Keep moving volume through off-price.

Range turned out to be the odd part. More physical doors and heavy social commerce get treated as opposing bets, or at least as things you do in sequence. True Religion is doing both because the Y2K denim cycle handed them a young audience on short-form while the original mall customer never left. That translates to two customers, two channels, one P&L.

Let’s see if that billy lands.

→ Full story

• Kate Farms designed for GLP-1 users and got more Walmart shelf out of it.
  The brand started in 2012 on organic plant-based formula for pediatric tube feeding. That’s about as far from a grocery aisle as a food company gets. Turns out what GLP-1 users need most, dense protein and nutrition in a format that goes down easy, is what Kate Farms had already spent a decade engineering. Same capability, much bigger market.

• Sollos, the beverage brand backed by Barron Trump, is on Gopuff across the East Coast.
  The launch got a news cycle for reasons that had nothing to do with what's in the can, and rather than ride it the team moved from headlines and built distribution. 12 oz. pineapple + coconut cans rolled out.

• Juni is in more than 600 Albertsons stores across California.
  Albertsons, Safeway, Vons and Pavilions, all at once, for a sparkling adaptogen tea. Six hundred doors out of one announcement is a lot, especially when it takes you to more than 8,500 locations nationwide. It also means the adaptogen beverage set has stopped being a curiosity grocery buyers humor and started taking serious shelf space.

• Peach & Lily is betting "zombie cells" can move a $59 moisturizer across 1,500-plus Ulta doors.
  Senolytics target senescent cells, the ones that stop dividing but stick around driving inflammation. Real enough science? Yes. Whether it's explainable to someone standing in an Ulta aisle holding a $59 jar is the actual thing worth keeping an eye on, and I'd watch it if you're sitting on a similar ingredient story and wondering whether the shopper will follow.

• Crown Brands Group bought Cosabella, months after Hanky Panky.
  They've said more is coming and not only in intimates. Two direct brands into one portfolio inside a year. Worth knowing who's assembling it if you're running something with real equity and flat growth in a fragmented category.

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That’s Field Notes for week 031.

David took a half hour and turned it into a Target rollout. Little Spoon waited years and got a better deal for the wait. There’s no one right answer.

Which way would you play it? Hit reply.

See you Tuesday.

— Zach and the 1800Hotline Team

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