Kate Farms creates plant-based, science-backed nutrition shakes and formulas designed for tube feeding and drinking. Their premium products are thoughtfully prepared from high-quality ingredients such as organic pea protein, prebiotic fiber, and phytonutrients.

All Kate Farms products are Certified USDA Organic, Non-GMO Project Verified, and made without common allergens. The brand’s commitment to quality and care is rooted in its origin, as it was crafted by two parents for their daughter.

Kate Farms traditionally sold their nutrition shakes in packs of 12 and came to MyFBAPrep to help make their items more accessible by repacking and offering packs of 6.

We spoke with Dean Evenson, Senior Director of eCommerce Marketplaces at Kate Farms, to learn how they found us, why they chose us, and where that choice led their business.

Launching 6-packs for more accessible trials

Kate Farms’s shakes and formulas were traditionally sold in packs of 12 with a single flavor. As Dean notes, their products are “big and heavy, and they’re premium-priced because they’re a premium product.”

Reducing the minimum purchase from 12 packs to 6 made it accessible to consumers interested in trying Kate Farms, but didn’t have the space or budget for 12 at a time.

“We needed someone that was responsive, quick, and the fact that you create the FBA shipments and Walmart shipments and track them through all of that has just been perfect.” — Dean Evenson, Kate Farms Senior Director of eCommerce Marketplaces

Kate Farms started with one product, expanded to five or six, and is now using MyFBAPrep to prep 12 different 6-packs for Amazon.

Offering 6-packs led to subscription and 12-pack sales growth

Upon launching 6-packs on Amazon, Dean needed to ensure their 6-pack sales weren’t cannibalizing their 12-pack sales.

Remarkably, Dean and the Kate Farms team discovered that launching 6-packs led to more 12-pack sales and subscriptions.

“We saw a notable acceleration and growth of the 12-packs. We also got a significant number of subscriptions.” — Dean Evenson, Kate Farms Senior Director of eCommerce Marketplaces

Dean observed that the 6-packs enabled consumers to trial the products at a lower price point than the 12-packs, creating new customers. Many of their shoppers also mixed different flavors, opting for a 6-pack of vanilla and a 6-pack of chocolate, for example.

Another use case is those in senior living facilities that only have so much space and budget for a 6-pack twice a month, rather than a 12-pack all at once.

When it came time to reassess what was working between Kate Farms and MyFBAPrep, Dean said “I know that when we started talking it was pretty clear that this was right.”

Leveraging MyFBAPrep’s expertise for Amazon and Walmart prep

“It has been really close to flawless…it was just clear that this is your focus.” — Dean Evenson, Kate Farms Senior Director of eCommerce Marketplaces

Dean liked “the fact that you obviously specialize in Amazon, but also know Walmart. There’s a lot of groups that just know Amazon and don’t help with Walmart.” He mentioned that we use the Amazon and Walmart exception programs, so proper stickering and understanding the process for unusual cases helped things go smoothly when it came to figuring out logistics.

Dean also notes that we were able to check his listings, set up shipments, help create case packs, and advise on the best way to send things in. For example, instead of sending in 6-packs as eaches, we would send 8 in a corrugate. He liked that we could suggest boxes, weights, configurations, and overall strategy while “completely understanding what we would need.”

Optimizing time and steps to sale

“[MyFBAPrep has] the ability to take our product in, and then create the shipment up to Amazon. We don’t have to shift it back and reinventory it, then ship it into Amazon. It adds up, that’s a lot of money and time, and not a capability we had with our 3PL. Same thing for Walmart—I can send inventory and say ‘send this much to Walmart’ and ‘send this much to Amazon’ and it gets done.” — Dean Evenson, Kate Farms Senior Director of eCommerce Marketplaces

What set MyFBAPrep apart when Dean was searching for logistics partners was that we could prep their goods expertly and then send those items directly into Walmart or Amazon. This would help speed up time to saleable goods, and once Dean saw that was a possibility he “didn’t even look [at alternatives] anymore.”

Optimizing for inventory availability

One example Dean shared is that since we also now set up 4-packs of Kate Farms, they have been able to better optimize their inventory in cases of excess or overstock. We are also able to use 4-packs to fulfill 12-pack orders when needed, helping to ensure their customers can always access the volumes they want.

In cases where a 12-pack from a manufacturer needs to be broken down, MyFBAPrep can quality-check all units and prep them for other packs.

“We salvaged a couple hundred thousand dollars worth of inventory…It’s just another example of how easily you could have said no, but you said ‘yeah we’ll help with that.’” — Dean Evenson, Kate Farms Senior Director of eCommerce Marketplaces

The MyFBAPrep advantage

Dean’s favorite thing about working with MyFBAPrep is “an overarching can-do attitude” and a penchant for saying yes to whatever Kate Farms needs to grow. Dean notes he doesn’t spend a lot of time going back and forth on briefs or emails, he can give us a call, explain what he needs, and MyFBAPrep gets back to him with “yeah we can do that.”

“It is really refreshing just to get things done.” — Dean Evenson, Kate Farms Senior Director of eCommerce Marketplaces

MyFBAPrep has been privileged to watch Kate Farms grow so successfully on Amazon and Walmart marketplaces, and to help launch the first Kate Farms in-store retail program, especially because their product is doing so much good for those who need it.