Elmhurst 1925 is taking its Clean Protein ready-to-drink beverage line to scale, securing Sprouts Farmers Market as its first national retail partner for the product — a move that signals the brand's intent to compete directly in the fast-growing functional-beverage segment alongside established dairy and plant-based protein players.
The Clean Protein line leads with 27g of plant-based protein per serving at 190 calories and as few as 3g of sugar, with no artificial colors, flavors, or sweeteners. The nutritional positioning mirrors the clean-label brief that has driven category gains across the better-for-you beverage set, where operators and retail buyers alike are scrutinizing ingredient decks as a purchase driver. Elmhurst has not disclosed AUV projections or velocity targets for the Sprouts rollout.
The Sprouts network — roughly 430 specialty-grocery units concentrated in health-conscious metro and suburban markets — gives Elmhurst immediate access to a shopper base that over-indexes on functional nutrition and plant-forward SKUs. For a brand built on minimal-ingredient oat, nut, and grain milks, the RTD protein extension represents a meaningful daypart play: the ready-to-drink format competes with post-workout and meal-replacement occasions that have historically belonged to whey-based incumbents such as Premier Protein and Fairlife.
The broader plant-based protein beverage segment has faced mixed unit-velocity signals at conventional grocery, but specialty and natural channels have held firmer, buoyed by consumers trading up on protein quality. Brands that can demonstrate clean-label differentiation — short ingredient lists, no artificial anything — have shown more durable shelf placement than mass-market plant-protein entries that leaned on price alone. Elmhurst's positioning aligns with that trend, though foodservice and away-from-home channel penetration remains an open question as the brand scales the new SKU.
No franchisee or area development structure is involved in the retail launch, but foodservice buyers sourcing plant-based protein beverages for café, gym, and healthcare-dining programs will be watching sell-through at Sprouts as a proxy for broader channel viability. A strong retail velocity number at a specialty banner typically strengthens a brand's negotiating position when approaching noncommercial and limited-service accounts. Elmhurst has not announced foodservice distribution agreements tied to the Clean Protein line at this time.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
