Crisp helps ready-to-eat MUSH become ready-to-buy everywhere

Amid fierce 2023 market conditions, MUSH recorded double-digit growth in retail thanks to Crisp’s real-time insights.

From functional fitness fuel to breakfast essential, MUSH reimagines everyday oats for our modern lifestyles. Named one of Mark Cuban’s “favorite Shark Tank companies of all time” and crowned Instacart’s #1 Fastest-Growing Emerging Brand in 2023, MUSH has become a symbol of innovation and market ascension in grocery retail.

So how does this breakfast brand start their day? With data, fueling efficiency and growth.

Since 2021, MUSH has partnered with Crisp to optimize inventory flow, expand retail distribution, and achieve exceptional results – including doubled sales velocity for their top-ranked Peanut Butter Chocolate SKU.

Named one of Mark Cuban’s “favorite Shark Tank companies of all time” and crowned Instacart’s #1 Fastest-Growing Emerging Brand in 2023, MUSH has become a symbol of innovation and market ascension in grocery retail.

Stirring up change

MUSH’s success in overnight oats didn’t actually happen overnight. The company faced challenges in its quest to disrupt its category and bring a healthy, daily breakfast option to a wide audience.

One major challenge in scaling the brand was inventory management, with the team facing 40% out-of-stock rates due to growing demand – which has now been addressed. 

According to Mary Schwappach, Sr. Manager, Grocery at MUSH, this was rooted in a lack of real-time data. In its first few years, each team member individually downloaded spreadsheets, manipulated data, and created pivot tables to get a sense of inventory and sales patterns, resulting in a lack of clarity across teams, and impacting their ability to make informed decisions.
Recognizing the importance of data for visibility, MUSH sought a tool to enhance inventory management and guide strategies with real-time insights. They implemented Crisp to help kickstart their next phase of transformative growth.

Daily bytes and insights

“Now that we have Crisp, we have a consistent and visual view of our operations,” touts Mary. The enhanced visibility has revolutionized how MUSH manages distribution across its network of over 11,000 retail locations, including with major partners Whole Foods and KeHE. Schwappach explains that Crisp helps guide forecasting, production, and shipping, enabling precise sales planning and execution.

“We’re a growing business, but our distributor partners don’t understand our future state – they only look backward,” Schwappach explains. With Crisp, MUSH leverages trends and data analytics with distributors to proactively revise purchase orders (POs). With this strategy, MUSH swiftly increased store fill-rate percentages by a notable 5% between 2021 and 2022, and they exceed 90% fill-rates with distributor partners today.

Additionally, Crisp has significantly enhanced collaboration at MUSH, with teams across the company utilizing the platform to effectively monitor progress toward KPIs – effectively streamlining operations and improving decision-making across different departments.

Crisp has significantly enhanced collaboration at MUSH, with teams across the company utilizing the platform to effectively monitor progress toward KPIs – effectively streamlining operations and improving decision-making across different departments.

Rising and shining

2023 presented an intensely competitive landscape for CPGs, marked by rising inflation and shifting consumer spending habits. This called for brands like MUSH to adapt quickly to the changing market dynamics. By leveraging data to optimize its product strategies, MUSH adeptly navigated these challenges, significantly expanding its reach and reinforcing its reputation as an innovative and reliable retail partner. The brand’s crowning recognition by Instacart demonstrates this ability to effectively adapt to a digital retail environment.

At Whole Foods, where MUSH has achieved full-chain distribution, the focus in 2023 shifted toward product assortment optimization. By using Crisp to monitor sales trends and refine its portfolio of top-selling SKUs, MUSH strengthened category leadership with the grocery retailer across regions.

With KeHE, MUSH focused on unlocking distribution growth, leveraging Crisp data to identify and support expansion opportunities. In 2023, the brand has recorded a 47% total increase in points of distribution (PODs), with an 85% increase at Sprouts where its leading SKUs are now fully distributed. Overall in 2023, MUSH achieved 64% growth through KeHE, seeing, in Crisp, a robust increase in sales and units for its top four SKUs.

Taste of tomorrow

Strong retail performance has enabled MUSH to unlock further growth by improving shelf positioning and launching new products – all with their buyers’ support and enthusiasm. “The better we’ve serviced our retailers utilizing Crisp, the more they’ve leaned into us,” Mary says. “It’s how we’ve launched our seasonal oats like Pumpkin Pie and Snickerdoodle, and introduced our new nostalgia-inspired SKUs with flavors like PB&J and Maple Cinnamon.”

With data at the helm, we expect to see MUSH continue to make waves in new retail channels with innovative offerings in the coming year and beyond.

To learn more about how Crisp can supercharge your CPG growth strategies, book a demo here.