Crisp helps Nature’s Bakery make the most of every sales season
Mars’ Nature’s Bakery uses Crisp to improve their supply chain efficiency and inventory management, supporting their rapid growth into 2025.
Situation
New data frontier
Nature’s Bakery, a beloved snack bar brand under the Mars healthy snacking division, has seen net sales skyrocketing by high double-digit growth since its 2020 acquisition. With a new production facility set to open in Salt Lake City in 2025 to meet growing nationwide demand, Nature’s Bakery is preparing for its next chapter.
The brand’s explosive growth, fueled by increasing household penetration and customer loyalty, underscored the need for a robust, strategic supply chain. Adriane Walters, Director of Grocery Sales since 2017, explains, “In the last couple of years, we’ve not been able to produce to the level that’s wanted by our customers.”
As a seasoned CPG veteran with over 30 years of industry experience, Adriane understands the critical role of data in navigating growth, particularly in managing lean inventory levels during rapid expansion.
Solution
Fruitful partnership
When UNFI and Crisp launched the UNFI Insights platform in 2023, Adriane immediately recognized its value. As an early adopter, she quickly saw how the platform automated and streamlined manual processes, giving her renewed optimism about its potential for the growing business. Building on this success, Nature’s Bakery adopted Crisp’s KeHE solution in 2024. “With Crisp, we can access all our sales and inventory data in such detail, so fast,” Adriane shares. “The Master Data Management tool enables us to view our data exactly how we want to.”
The Nature’s Bakery team used Crisp’s MDM tool to categorize and structure their diverse product portfolio. This clean, granular reporting empowered the team to stay informed and act strategically, helping maintain lean inventory levels through remarkable growth.
Crisp’s UNFI and KeHE distribution dashboards provide planning and supply chain teams with visibility into forecast and on-order quantities, allowing them to track inventory movement from distribution centers to individual store levels. This ensures precise reordering during busy seasons like ‘Healthy Habits in January,’ ‘Spring Snacking,’ and the highest-demand ‘Back to School’ period.
Results: Raising the bar
- 75% time savings on data analysis
- Achieved triple-digit growth in new retailers like The Fresh Market
- Saw 80% sales growth at e-commerce grocer Thrive Market
- Increased UNFI Bars category share by 39% YOY
Favorite Insight:
Distribution Inventory
Nature’s Bakery leverages these to track inventory movement from DCs to stores, ensuring precise reordering during peak seasons and into the new year.
“With UNFI Insights, we gain a clear view of trends, the health of each account, and the performance of new product launches, allowing us to apply our learnings to future initiatives.”
Adriane Walters
Director of Grocery Sales
Always be Data Ready with Crisp
Crisp allows food brands and retailers to stay ahead of rapidly evolving consumer behavior, identify potential supply chain disruptions, track inventory and product performance. It’s easy and quick to get started so you can be Data Ready.