St. Petersburg-based Naked Earth has launched a line of ceremonial-grade cacao ritual packets, entering a functional beverage category increasingly crowded with coffee alternatives targeting consumers seeking focus without the crash. The single-serve squeeze packs retail at $65 for a box of six 35-gram servings via direct-to-consumer at nakedearth.love, with wholesale accounts available on request.
The Product
Each packet combines ethically sourced cacao with MCT coconut oil, cardamom, rose, vanilla, sea salt, and sunflower lecithin. The formula is certified organic, vegan, sugar-free, and gluten-free. Packs can be prepared hot or iced, giving foodservice and retail buyers flexibility in daypart placement — a meaningful consideration as operators look to expand non-coffee morning and afternoon beverage options.
Co-founder Elliot Rivera, who developed the recipe alongside his wife Alyna Rivera over roughly a year, said the duo found no market equivalent matching their quality and sourcing standards. "There was nothing on the market like what we were looking for, so we created it ourselves," he said.
Category & Supply Context
The launch arrives on favorable timing for the functional beverage segment. Research published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology found that participants consuming high-dose cocoa polyphenols daily for 30 days reported significantly greater calmness and contentedness versus a placebo group — the kind of clinical framing that resonates with buyers at specialty retail and better-for-you foodservice concepts. Consumer demand for coffee alternatives has accelerated across QSR and fast-casual dayparts, with adaptogen drinks, mushroom coffees, and now ceremonial cacao all competing for the morning and mid-afternoon slot.
On the supply side, Naked Earth sources cacao through direct-trade relationships with small farms in Central America and Africa, claiming a beyond-fair-trade standard. The squeeze packs use industrially biodegradable packaging — a procurement detail likely to surface in ESG-conscious operator and retail buyer conversations. The company also donates $1 per purchase to the Ana Iris organization and the indigenous Boruca community in Costa Rica, adding a cause-marketing component that operators have found useful in menu storytelling.
At $10.83 per serving at the current DTC price point, Naked Earth is positioning well above mass-market hot beverage SKUs and closer to premium café-channel beverages, suggesting an initial target of specialty wellness retail and boutique foodservice rather than broad-line distribution. Whether the brand pursues co-packing partnerships or expands its direct wholesale program will determine how quickly it can scale unit velocity — the key metric for any emerging functional beverage seeking shelf space or back-bar placement.
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.
