Kodiak Cakes began in 1982, with a red wagon full of paper bags carrying their coveted flapjack mix and a set of simple instructions. Since then, the brand has grown significantly, but with the same goal in mind, creating better-for-you products packed with nourishing ingredients and great taste.

Today, the company sells over 80 products across multiple categories, and can be found all over the US. They are active conservationists, with close ties to nonprofits and organizations preserving wild spaces.

Kodiak’s outdoors spirit and planet-friendly mission made them the perfect partner for Ecodrive.

For Earth Month 2024, Kodiak pledged to plant a tree for every product sold in-store at select Sprouts retail locations. Ecodrive was on hand to ensure that the environmental impact consumers were signing up for with their purchases would be delivered.

Today, we’re joined by some of the Kodiak team behind the promotion - Tara Mundy, Shopper Marketing Manager, and Ally Del Cañal, Senior Regional Sales Manager - to explore the results.

It’s an eye-opening discussion about the power of sustainable messaging, how to succeed in physical retail, and the importance of protecting the great outdoors.

Jump into the full conversation below.

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Ecodrive: Hey guys, a big thank you for joining us today! First up, can we find out a little bit more about Kodiak, your background, and what your roles at the company are?

Tara: Yes! I'm on our shopper marketing team where I assist sales managers with retailers like Sprouts. And I also manage our Instacart business.

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Ally: Hey! I lead our natural channel on the sales side. I'm the primary person managing relationships with Sprouts and any other natural retailers, as well as independent stores. We define independents as any retail store or chain that has less than 30 locations.

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Tara: Kodiak was founded in 1982. Our original founder actually went around his neighborhood and was handing out brown paper bags of flapjack mix and trying to get his neighbors to purchase it. Obviously, it has grown a bunch since then, and we now sella whole range of products. We have flapjack and waffle mix, we have frozen products, granola bars, oatmeal...and we still have that same mission of just creating better-for-you ingredients and breakfast foods. Our products are protein-packed and whole grain rich, without compromising on taste.

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Amazing story! And how does sustainability play a role in the company today?

Tara: I would say we are definitely working sustainability into our company more and more through our Keep It Wild campaigns. We are focused on preserving wild places for future generations. We partner with organizations like the Vital Ground Foundation and Katmai Conservancy and we are dedicated to spreading awareness around furthering wildlife conservation.

We partner with artists who create exclusive merchandise for sale on our website and all proceeds are donated to important conservation efforts. Kodiak actually matches those proceeds dollar for dollar as well!

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Very cool. How important do you think sustainability is to your customers?

Tara: Sustainability is really important to our customers. A lot of our consumers are very active, they care about the environment and getting outside. And I think that we really speak to them with these campaigns that we've kicked off.

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Ally: We’ve also recently launched our Kernza Cakes using climate-friendly ingredients. Kernza is not a GMO and its use supports regenerative farming, decreases carbon emissions, retains clean water, and so much more.

So that's another way that Kodiak has really said “sustainability is important to us”, and we're going to continue to work towards it. We’re super happy to see the product get accepted into every major natural outlet that we work with. If you look up reviews from customers they are really positive, so we do think the message resonates!

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For Earth Month 2024, in conjunction with Ecodrive, you pledged to plant a tree for every product sold in-store at Sprouts retail locations. How easy was it to implement Ecodrive technology and get customers taking part in the project?

Tara: The Ecodrive technology was really easy to integrate into our systems, and it was a seamless process for our team to push out instructions to Kodiak consumers on how to plant a tree and follow its journey. The Ecodrive portal is user-friendly and intuitive so there were really no fire drills or glitches along the way!

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Ally: I know that historically Ecodrive is more of an ecommerce technology, but the willingness to work to bring our vision for the campaign to life within physical retail spaces really got us excited.

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Ecodrive: You mentioned the third aspect of the relationship which was Sprouts. What was their feedback like? Was this type of in-store promotion quite novel for them?

Tara: I think it was pretty new for Sprouts and that's why they were really interested in participating. They hadn’t had any other brands come to them and bring a technology partner like Ecodrive to the table.

They actually ended up showcasing us at their Sprouts annual planning summit. There are 800 attendees and we all gather to talk about what works, and what doesn't with regards to shopper experience and marketing initiatives, and we were actually highlighted as a best in class campaign! So, they were really happy!

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The campaign contributed to your most successful month in Sprouts stores to date. Can you share any numbers around sales, sign-ups, AOV etc. that you can attribute to the project?

Tara: Yes, with the help of Ecodrive, once we executed the campaign, it had really wonderful results. I was actually warned that April was usually our slowest month but sure enough, the stats were very positive. All in all, it was the highest sales month at Sprouts for Kodiak.

We saw a $67,000 increase in incremental dollar sales, a 95.2% increase in units sold versus the year previous, and a 53.9% increase in dollars spent.

Like I said, the Kodiak “Plant a Tree Earth Month” event was highlighted at Sprouts Annual Planning Summit as a best-in-class shopper event from that year!

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Ally: For our slowest month to end up being as strong as our typically strong months, really shows that our customer does care about sustainability and will support brands that stand behind it.

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That’s incredible to hear! For those brands who want to get into department and retail stores like Sprouts, how highly do you think those guys value sustainability? Are those questions that you're asked when you want to get products into larger chains?

Ally: I definitely think that those retailers are being more and more demanding in terms of transparency around where your products are made, where ingredients are sourced, what you’re contributing as an organization, what certifications you have etc.

I highly recommend that brands be aligned with a positive mission when trying to break into these spaces.

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Did follow-up marketing and email campaigns drive revenue into the future?

Tara: Yes. Our CRM team sent out emails and SMS notifications to Kodiak subscribers, and then they sent follow-up emails with updates on their tree's journey. We had a 45% open rate and a 5% click through rate. So, I would say that these are really good results.

Sprouts actually had a landing page and some notifications that really helped spread the word and keep people engaged too which was successful.

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Was this an enjoyable project to work on? And could you foresee doing something like this again in the future?

Tara: Yeah, I think we’ve already talked about executing this again in 2025! It was obviously a lot of meetings and brainstorming and collaboration between our team, Sprouts and Ecodrive, but I think overall it was very easy to work together on such a big initiative, across three different companies and brands.

And I would say a lot of that had to do with Ecodrive just kind of making it super user friendly and intuitive to get in the portal, track our trees and impact. So, yeah, we definitely really enjoyed working on it, and would love to do something like this again.

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What's your relationship with sustainability and the planet personally?

Ally: In my household we're very passionate about sustainability. We upgraded our AC, we try to make sure that we're ordering from brands who don't use anything that's not biodegradable or compostable. So, definitely no Styrofoam when we’re ordering! We try our best to be educated on what's most sustainable in terms of eating and always try to support local businesses too!

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Tara: I think something that comes to mind for me is fast fashion. I try not to order clothes from those cheap but quick brands. I love to shop, I love fashion, but I've been very conscious of maybe spending more on a brand that is more environmentally friendly or has a really great initiative on how they are reusing materials to make their clothes and sending out packages that aren't hurting the environment.

We also have a lot of local farms in Colorado and I try to subscribe to monthly boxes of fresh produce, or produce that was going to expire and would be wasted that we can then purchase. Always trying to do more but those are two things for me!

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Do you guys have a favorite place in the US to get outdoors? Whether it's a National Park or otherwise?

Tara: This is a hard one. there's so many places that I love to get outside, especially around Colorado, but I would say Zion National Park is beautiful and Yellowstone National Park also comes to mind. I really just love getting out into the mountains around Colorado, camping and hiking - that's what most of my weekends consist of living in a place like this!

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Ally: I am actually based out of Florida so for me, it's anywhere near the ocean. I'm a big diver. So going underwater, some of the best diving is in Jupiter, Florida. And then the Keys is an amazing place to be outside as well.

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And do you both a go to snack or recipe from the Kodiak range?

Tara: Hmm I would say our protein balls. It's so nice for work when you have meetings all day to just have those and be able to get some protein in, but it's also a really tasty treat. I’ve been eating those since I started at Kodiak three years ago and I haven't got sick of them!

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Ally: Protein balls are definitely a winner. If we're talking about functionality, I'm a crunchy bar girl, but if it's more of an indulgent choice I really like our brownie cup! It's so great when you do it a little undercooked and then add ice cream - not the healthiest that way, but it tastes really great!

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Both ends of the spectrum there, we like it! Do you guys have a favorite bear?

Tara: I am fascinated by grizzly bears. I find them majestical and scary, but really beautiful and I love to learn about them.

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Ally: I love panda bears. They're just so cute!

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Finally, what's next for Kodiak? Are there any new recipes or big events coming up? And how can our community support the brand and the causes close to Kodiak?

Tara: It's going to be a really big year for us. We’re expanding into some new categories which is super exciting. We are in most major retailers and regional retailers in the country, so go buy our products there and also at kodiakcakes.com

As far as helping out with the environmental causes that we support, people can sign up for our VIP SMS list on our website and that way they will get first dibs on any ‘Keep It Wild’ merch. 100% of the sales from those items go to organizations that support wildlife and conservation of land.

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Ally: And I'll just add, if sustainability is really important to you, please try out our Kernza cakes. It’s actually my favorite pancake mix just from taste alone but also because of what the product stands for sustainability wise!

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Amazing, thanks so much for the insight guys, and good luck with everything you’re working on!

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Learn more about Kodiak’s commitment to sustainability here.

And discover how you can grow your business whilst doing good for the planet with Ecodrive by contacting a member of our customer success team here.

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