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Khlo\u00e9 Kardashian is off camera on Zoom, scrolling through her old emails. She\u2019s looking for the date she started working on her protein popcorn brand Khloud, which over the past year has taken the snack aisle by storm. With pastel-colored bags and friendly clouds on its packaging, the product stands out both in the snack aisle and in a sea of bro-coded protein-maxxing. She finds the first emails: 2023. \u201cIt\u2019s been a few years,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Of all the brands in the Kardashian-Jenner family\u2014Skims, Kylie Cosmetics, 818 Tequila\u2014Khloud may have had the best timing. Kardashian and her team started working on the brand before consumers\u2019 protein craze really kicked off, and were ready to launch in spring 2025. \u201cIt just so happened that it was in this protein-frenzy era,\u201d Kardashian says. \u201cHow long it takes to produce snacks and food and packaging and all of the really boring things\u2014you can\u2019t just wing that and get it on the shelves quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last fall, the brand brought on Jeff Rubenstein as CEO; he\u2019s an alum of Poppi who helped the soda brand secure a $1.95 billion acquisition by PepsiCo. With Kardashian, he\u2019s turned Khloud over the past year into the \u201cfastest-growing salty snack with protein at Target\u201d and obtained a Starbucks deal that contributed to doubled sales on Amazon as consumers discovered the product.<\/p>\n
This week, Khloud is launching protein chips that also include collagen (official name: Khloud Plus Collagen Protein Chips), a Walmart exclusive that experiments with how many health-maxxing ingredients consumers want packed into their snacks. Kardashian and Rubenstein spoke with Fortune <\/em>about the launch, the brand\u2019s growth, and what prepared the reality TV star for this chapter of her career. This conversation has been edited and condensed.<\/p>\n Tell me about collagen. When did you start taking it and what has it done for you?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Khlo\u00e9 Kardashian: <\/strong>I love collagen. I started taking it in a powder form in my coffee maybe three or four years ago, and I just love the way it makes me feel. It helps with joints, all that kind of stuff, but aesthetically, I really do think it helps with the fine lines and wrinkles and all of that kind of stuff.\u00a0<\/p>\n Where do you think we are in the consumer cycle with collagen? If you compare it to protein, does everyone know about it yet? What new ways do you think we will see collagen being offered to consumers?<\/strong><\/p>\n K.K.: Collagen in food, I think that is a newer thing. I haven\u2019t seen it really done in a lot of places. Collagen being baked into snacks that you could readily buy, I think that\u2019s pretty innovative.<\/p>\n Jeff Rubenstein: I would agree with that. If you think about the history of where collagen has been found\u2014bone broth and chicken cartilage\u2014it\u2019s very different, a lot less mainstream, and much more niche. What we\u2019re doing is we\u2019re democratizing collagen in food, and that I think is really novel.<\/p>\n Khlo\u00e9, what have you learned over the years about what makes a brand of yours successful?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n K.K.: A lot of it was trial and error. I\u2019ve learned that I have to go after the things that I\u2019m passionate about. Consumers are so incredibly smart, and they know when someone genuinely believes and uses a product versus someone licensing their name. When I first started, you\u2019re just so green and you\u2019re so excited and you can\u2019t even fathom that you\u2019re getting the opportunities that you\u2019re getting. So maybe I did things or said yes to things that weren\u2019t so much in my wheelhouse or weren\u2019t things that I had such a passion for. The older I got and the more long-term and established I got, I got more confidence. I understood how much authenticity matters and how smart the everyday consumer is, and how I wanted to be proud of the brands that I\u2019m building and what I\u2019m standing for. I really do think it\u2019s so transparent. People can smell it, they can breathe it, they can see it.\u00a0<\/p>\n I will say every business definitely has its uncertainty. So I\u2019m not saying just because you\u2019re passionate about something and just because you believe in it means it\u2019s going to be successful. But eventually, you\u2019re just going to have to trust yourself and put yourself out there and say that you believe in this product or brand enough to start something. You believe in it enough to take that risk.\u00a0<\/p>\n With Khloud, for example, it was created because there was such a lack in the market of protein snacks that weren\u2019t so bro- or gym-focused. I wanted to create something that would fit into the way that I actually ate, the way I wanted my kids to eat. I didn\u2019t just want another celebrity product out there and to put my name on it. Every single product genuinely needed to earn a place in my pantry before it earned a place on any market shelf.\u00a0<\/p>\n That\u2019s how Khloud started, and it just so happened that it was in this protein-frenzy era. But none of that was perfectly timed. How long it takes to produce snacks and food and packaging and all of the really boring things\u2014you can\u2019t just wing that and get it on the shelves quickly. The timing was everything. I kissed a lot of frogs to get here is what I\u2019m trying to say.<\/p>\n Making a protein option that\u2019s not so bro-y\u2014what has the response been to your branding, the pastels, the clouds? Are women shopping the brand or is it being bought by everyone?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n K.K.: I sort of see that it\u2019s being bought by everyone. Kids even relate to the packaging a lot\u2014the nostalgia of the packaging, the colors are soothing. We did a lot of research seeing what else was on the shelves, and we wanted something that had a lot of contrast so it stood out when you\u2019re going up and down the store aisle. I don\u2019t think we looked and were like, we need this to be female-oriented. That wasn\u2019t really the plan there.<\/p>\n J.R.: With this new [collagen] product, we\u2019re going into a set which is called the wellness set at Walmart, where you primarily have science-backed brands like Quest and Wild. These are chips that have 20, 30 grams of protein designed for the Bro Alpha. That entire area is masculine. The whole thing looks like a scientific GNC, right? And we\u2019re coming with bright and light and fun and flirty, and I think we\u2019re going to appeal a lot more to women. We serve as a disruptor.<\/p>\n Jeff, what strategies are you bringing over to Khloud from Poppi?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n J.R.: The most important one is community. All the things that we did at Poppi, we are replicating here: college outreach, ambassador programs, affiliate programs, interactions with key influencers at sororities who make and define a culture on a campus. Nutritionists, we\u2019re employing here, and that playbook is not unique to Poppi. It\u2019s also being used by Bloom and Vital Proteins and all the other folks that have come before us. But it seems to be working really, really well on this brand, partially because of the packaging and partially because so many young people want to be the next Khlo\u00e9.<\/p>\n What can you tell me about the size of the Khloud business right now?<\/strong><\/p>\n J.R.: We are the fastest-growing popcorn brand in America. We are the fastest growing salty snack with protein at Target. We are the No. 1 fastest-growing salty snack at Sprouts for protein. We have the No. 1 fastest growing overall brand in the natural channel. We\u2019re only in our first full year of revenue, and we\u2019re already tracking to do more than what Poppi did in year three.\u00a0<\/p>\n We launched in April at Target. We then started picking up grocery like Kroger and Albertsons and natural channels like Sprouts and Fresh Market. But Starbucks was a big win for the business. We launched with them with one SKU in a test of 12,000 doors. They were so pleased with the performance they added a second SKU, and that was in May. And just two weeks ago, they came back to us and added another 5,000 doors, which are for the licensed stores\u2014airports, college campuses, Barnes and Noble\u2014and then they\u2019ve added Canada and the Caribbean.\u00a0<\/p>\n How big do you both think this brand can be? What scale are you chasing?<\/strong><\/p>\n K.K.: For me personally, success is having it be a household name and a brand that you can trust and you feel good about. Listening to everything Jeff said, I am pinching myself. I can\u2019t believe that there\u2019s been that much growth so quickly. It\u2019s really a pinch-me moment.\u00a0<\/p>\n J.R.: In my opinion, this is a once-in-a-generation brand, and I really mean that. This is so different from what everybody else is doing in protein. This appeals to a different audience for a different occasion. It becomes much more routine-oriented, and it\u2019s speaking in a very different voice. Today we\u2019re playing in popcorn. We have other innovation that\u2019s coming, all designed to reach a $25 billion total addressable market size. That\u2019s the goal. We\u2019re thinking about all kinds of other ways that consumers can bring protein into their lives.<\/p>\n Khlo\u00e9, after building brands in fashion and beauty, what have you learned from entering this new category?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n K.K.: I\u2019ve never done snacks or anything like that before. Food is so incredibly personal, and I think that\u2019s also what was so intimidating about it. But it\u2019s also something that people interact with every single day. I loved the challenge of creating a product that would fit into people\u2019s lives. It\u2019s so different from anything I\u2019ve ever done. I\u2019ve learned so much about the thoughtfulness\u2013the ingredients, what stores really need, which ones we go to first. Those are things that I\u2019ve learned even from owning my Dash store. Listening to your consumer\u2013it\u2019s not just about you. So many of those things were definitely stepping stones in building my business confidence. It reminded me that my job is to build a fantastic team, ask great questions, make thoughtful decisions, and rely so much on my team to help me do the rest.\u00a0<\/p>\n Is there anything in particular that you learned from Good American that you\u2019re bringing to Khloud, and how are you balancing those two today?<\/strong><\/p>\n K.K.: Good American has turned into this really fabulous business that now survives on its own, and I\u2019m so proud of that. With Good American, I learned about all these issues you can have with factories, the delivery dates, the deliverables, all of that. We have so many of those issues with food, so those things have definitely prepared me for some of the hiccups that we\u2019re having. Obviously, snacks and denim are different. Good American definitely sustains on its own. It has a great group of people that are all part of the team. I\u2019m not needed as much over there, and that was always the goal.\u00a0<\/p>\n What does a successful exit look like for Khloud? Every food giant is trying to figure out protein, so I imagine there would be a lot of interested parties.<\/strong><\/p>\n J.R.: You have no idea. That\u2019s an understatement. The amount of inbound phone calls that we have gotten from all walks of life is unbelievable. But at the moment, our heads are down, and we are very focused on execution, winning this week, winning this month, winning this calendar year. We are planning a three-year, long-term strategy, but an exit is not currently part of any conversation. We\u2019re just focusing on execution.\u00a0<\/p>\n Khlo\u00e9, what would it mean to you one day to have a very large, successful exit to a Fortune 500 company?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n K.K.: That would be a dream. It would be phenomenal. I really would be proud for many reasons, but really because we\u2019ve never sacrificed on quality. It\u2019s just a non-negotiable. Being able to be at that level and still have all of your morals and the ethos of the brand from start to finish\u2014to me, that\u2019s real success.\u00a0<\/p>\n You guys have done popcorn, tortilla chips. Any other products or categories on the horizon?<\/strong><\/p>\n K.K.: I have the longest list of categories that I would love to do, and my sisters just think that I\u2019m a magical protein fairy because the amount of things that they ask me to do is crazy. So I have a long list.\u00a0<\/p>\n Khlo\u00e9, what has really fascinated you the most about this whole experience?<\/strong><\/p>\n K.K.: Not all flavors do well with protein. We tried to make one snack, and it didn\u2019t do well with the protein. And I don\u2019t know if we are mixing it all together, or we\u2019re just going back to the drawing board, trying to see how we can do it where it doesn\u2019t have that that protein-coated taste to it, and then there\u2019s other snacks when you can bake things right into it that are so much easier to conceal. So I\u2019ve learned a lot about all of this stuff. It\u2019s very interesting, even when we were doing the popcorn. Our corn is from Nebraska\u2014things like, where we can get the freshest ingredients, the best-quality items. It\u2019s all very new to me.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n #Khlo\u00e9 #Kardashians #popcorn #brand #Khloud #ahead #protein #craze<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Khlo\u00e9 Kardashian is off camera… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2100,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1016,4141,1830,1979,405,4136,4139,4138,4142,1980,4140,4137],"class_list":["post-2099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance-news","tag-ahead","tag-brand","tag-craze","tag-female-founders","tag-food-and-drink","tag-kardashian-family","tag-kardashians","tag-khloe","tag-khloud","tag-most-powerful-women","tag-popcorn","tag-protein"],"yoast_head":"\n