Nutty Bliss, High Fibre Brownie Bars Are Adopted By Virgin Airways

November 26 sees a further evolution of the Nourish/Virgin Airlines alliance with the launch of a bespoke, minimally processed 20g brownie bar (Nutty Bliss) that over the next 12 months will become the long-haul snack of choice for Virgin’s upper class, growing cohort of health-conscious travellers.

Building on recent successes within Whole Foods Market and Holland & Barrett (online) this step-change listing underpins Nourish’s growing role as a high fibre snacking pioneer who actively promotes improved gut health and blood sugar balance via its clean label, almond butter snacks.

In Feb 26 a survey by dnata Catering & Retail stated that:

• 47% of UK airline passengers said they are/would be more conscious of wellness than indulgence when choosing inflight food & drink than 5 years ago.                                                                                       
• 45% stressed that they wanted access to more protein-rich offerings 
• 56% wanted products made with minimally-processed/fresh ingredients
• 19% would pay extra for foods & drinks supporting gut health

Such significant shifts in snacking priorities might well explain why British Airways now lists Novel Foods (British Crunch) gluten-free, high-in-fibre savoury snacks (May 26), American Airlines lists Blake’s Seeded Protein-rich breakfast bars (25) and Boundless secured a Bidfood listing for its gut happy snacks (25).

Nutty Bliss is itself a divinely chocolatey, fudgy coconut brownie packed with delicious crunchy almond nut butter and covered in rich dark chocolate.  This fibre-rich bar is both dairy-free & gluten-free and made without refined sugar.

According to Nourish founder, Ineke Nugteren, ”Naturally we applaud Virgin’s ongoing conviction to seek out and support smaller brands championing a healthier living agenda; because as Virgin Airways knows better than most, biggest isn’t always best.”

The growing prominence of functional snacks within airlines and foodservice mirrors wider trends within food & drink retail:

• Waitrose (Sept 26) initiated wellness bays to bring protein, gut health, collagen and creatine themed products into the weekly shop
• Nielsen IQ reporting a 9.6% growth in protein-food sales over the last 26 weeks (Feb 26)

Source: Nourish

  Ineke Nugtren, Nourish, Nutty Bliss, Virgin Atlantic