NEWPORT BEACH, CALIF. — SYSTM Foods is seeking to fill the gaps in the better-for-you beverage space. Andy Fathollahi, co-founder and chief executive officer of SYSTM, believes the company’s multi-brand platform which includes Rebbl, Chameleon cold brew and Humm kombucha is well positioned to take up such a cause, satisfying consumer needs for high-protein, low-sugar, no-sugar and coffee beverage products.

Fathollahi said the SYSTM aims to capitalize on the number of consumers that are growing increasingly mindful of the health and wellness effects of products they consume, along with the prevalence of less healthy options.

“So much of what is out there in so many channels is just not great for you,” he said in an interview with Food Business News. “I think for so long that we got into this mass-produced cycle of things that just weren’t really great options to be consuming.

“We just want to meet the consumer, meet their needs and be there for them when and if they come to realizations about what they’re consuming, how they’re treating their bodies and how there’s the mind and body (connection).”

Such changes in consumer attitudes have helped create success for SYSTM’s portfolio, and Fathollahi pointed to the importance of lower-sugar products as an example. Reduced sugar offerings are a key focus of the company’s Humm brand, which was acquired in early 2024, along with functional benefits.

“I've got younger kids, and the first thing they do is flip a bottle over start reading the ingredients,” Fathollahi said. “So, our focus on low and no sugar options is super important to us. And it’s not just because my son, it’s because I think the younger consumers are super aware of these things.

“Humm, to us, is this standout player in the space where it’s this incredibly approachable, delicious kombucha product that’s low and no sugar … (kombucha) has been super strong the natural space forever, but it still has a lot of growth for the average consumer and conventional channels.”

Further growth potential may lie ahead as shoppers become more aware of the food as medicine movement and seek to utilize their consumption choice as a form of proactive health care.

“It’s just a better option than waiting to get sick and trying to go solve it the conventional way,” Fathollahi said.

Sustainability marks another key focus for the company. For instance, SYSTM’s plant-based beverage brand Rebbl introduced a 26-gram protein shake line formulated from upcycled barley proteins, and the brand uses recycled PET plastic for packaging.

“If you want to operate at a really high level and be authentic with the consumer, you’ve got to live and breathe these mantras,” Fathollahi said. “You’ve got to get in there and find ways to be efficient and lightweight your bottles, save plastic where you can and where it makes sense, transition to aluminum if you can and use glass appropriately.”

Looking to the future, Fathollahi said he sees the company continuing to lean on brand synergies within its portfolio to build efficiencies and scale. He also emphasized focusing on “appropriate” product and flavor innovations rather than innovation for the sake of innovation, pointing to something like dark chocolate being a better fit for natural channels while milk chocolate may be preferable for conventional channels.

“For us it’s growing and overlapping with appropriate product lines,” he said. “So, the appropriate product for Humm in the natural channel, the appropriate product for Rebbl in those conventional channels and the appropriate products for Chameleon in those conventional channels.