Falsetto's betting good-for-you-candy will further the thinkThin weight wellness mission.  A former model who spent the 80s stepping in and out of designer fashion on the runways of Japan, Lizanne Falsetto knows what it feels like to face the pressure of the scale.  “I’m no stranger to body issues or to having my measurements taken for sample-sized dresses,” she says. Years of watching her peers suck down cigarette after cigarette to stave off hunger, the now 49-year-old beauty knew there had to be a better way to look great and feel healthy.  Early experimenting led to thinkThin, the high-protein, low-sugar and gluten-free snack bar that’s grown steadily through the booming aughts and bucking recession, finishing 2012 with estimated revenues just over $70 million.  Falsetto, the company’s founder, President and CEO, won’t call it a weight loss aid, or even a meal supplement–which she considers to be the old guard of health and nutrition products. “For me eating right and thinkThin is about weight wellness—feeling good about yourself even if you wake up and your jeans are a little tight because you know you’ve made healthy choices.”  For 2013, she hopes those healthy choices extend to the candy aisle. Today thinkThin launches its newest offering, the Divine bar, a product that Falsetto hopes bridges the relationship between nutrition and candy and adds several more SKUs to her expanding product line (five varieties in more than a dozen flavors). The three coconut-based flavors will hit shelves this week and offer more protein, less sugar and eight times the dietary fiber of a Snickers bar.  “The Divine bar falls right into our weight wellness platform,” she says. “It’s about having choices of foods that you can reach for at different times of the day. Where you might be dreaming about a dessert or a glass of wine after dinner, we’re talking about a healthier option and a decision you can feel good about.”  It’s no secret that nutrition bars are big business in the $90 billion snack food industry, and food “trendologists” and analysts consistently name it among the strongest categories as Americans continue to look for new ways to cut calories. Nor is it a surprise that the gluten-free phenomenon is going strong, something Falsetto has cashed in on as early as 2000, laying claim to being the first bar in the nutrition aisle without the controversial ingredient.  Pairing these dietary concerns with the still-struggling economy is where Falsetto believes she has found her niche, telling me that sales have increased by as much as 400% over the past three years. “I really think that the down economy was a factor in thinkThin’s taking off,” she says. “It’s hard to go out and spend money on a huge meal during hard times” which she says resulted in an uptick in consumer spending on nutrition bars—and not just on a grab and go basis. According to Falsetto’s accounting more than 40% of annual sales are comprised of boxed sales of multiples rather than single bar purchases.
For a brand based on eating delicious foods and still staying slim, will high-fiber, high-protein candy be the next big thing?