The Numbers Come First
Khloud, Khloé Kardashian's protein popcorn and chips brand, has become the 'fastest-growing salty snack with protein at Target,' according to the company. The brand is now stocked at Target, Walmart, and Starbucks, and a Starbucks partnership contributed to doubled sales on Amazon.
The timing was not accidental — it was operational. Kardashian began working on Khloud in 2023, two years before its spring 2025 launch, building out supply chains, packaging, and formulation before the broader consumer protein craze reached its current peak. 'How long it takes to produce snacks and food and packaging and all of the really boring things — you can't just wing that and get it on the shelves quickly,' Kardashian told Fortune.
The Executive Behind the Shelf Space
Last fall, Khloud brought on Jeff Rubenstein as CEO. Rubenstein is an alumnus of Poppi, the soda brand whose $1.95 billion acquisition by PepsiCo he helped secure. His retail and distribution experience has been central to Khloud's rapid expansion across major national chains.
This week, the brand is launching Khloud Plus Collagen Protein Chips, a Walmart exclusive that combines protein with collagen — an ingredient Kardashian says she has used in powder form for three to four years. 'Collagen being baked into snacks that you could readily buy, I think that's pretty innovative,' she said.
Rubenstein framed the move as a market-opening play. 'If you think about the history of where collagen has been found — bone broth and chicken cartilage — it's very different, a lot less mainstream, and much more niche,' he said. 'What we're doing is we're democratizing collagen in food, and that I think is really novel.'
Authenticity as a Business Model
Kardashian was direct about the lessons behind Khloud's positioning. 'Consumers are so incredibly smart, and they know when someone genuinely believes and uses a product versus someone licensing their name,' she said. She described an earlier phase of her career in which she accepted brand deals outside her genuine interests, and contrasted that with Khloud's founding principle: 'Every single product genuinely needed to earn a place in my pantry before it earned a place on any market shelf.'
The brand was built around a gap she identified personally — protein snacks that were not, in her words, 'bro- or gym-focused.' The pastel packaging and cloud branding are a deliberate departure from the aesthetic that dominates the protein supplement aisle.
The Market Has Already Voted
Khloud's trajectory illustrates a principle that free-enterprise markets enforce without sentiment: preparation and product-market fit beat celebrity alone. Of all the ventures in the Kardashian-Jenner portfolio — Skims, Kylie Cosmetics, 818 Tequila — Khloud entered its category at the right moment because the founders did the unglamorous work years in advance.
Rubenstein brings institutional retail credibility. The Starbucks deal brought discovery. The Walmart collagen exclusive tests how far health-conscious consumers will follow a brand they already trust. Capital rewards clear rules, and the rule here is simple: solve a real problem, build the supply chain, and let the shelf space follow. Khloud is doing exactly that.
