Protein had its moment. Now the food and beverage industry has a new nutrient darling, and it's the one nutritionists have quietly championed for decades: fiber. Datassential recently named fiber the next big health trend on the heels of protein, more than 9 in 10 Americans still don't get enough of it, and legacy snack giants are scrambling to bolt added and fortified fibers onto their portfolios.
Sitting squarely at the center of that surge is That's it., the 100% real fruit snack brand that has been delivering fiber from fruit for nearly 15 years, long before "fibermaxxing" became a social-media rallying cry.
Fiber's Moment Has Arrived, and the Numbers Are Big
That's it. is on track to deliver 350 million servings of fruit and more than 1 billion grams of fiber from fruit this year, up from 250 million fruit servings the year before. To put that in perspective, that's enough fiber from fruit to give 40 million students a full day's recommended intake.
The brand's back-to-school lineup is built around one to four simple ingredients, fiber from fruit, plant-based protein, and no added sugar, designed to slot into a lunchbox, a backpack, or a dorm-room drawer without a parent having to squint at a label.
- Fiber Fruit Bars: Available in Fun Size, Minis, and full-size Bars, with 4 to 7g of fiber from fruit per serving and just 2 to 4 ingredients, spanning kids ages 2+, teens, college students, and parents.
- Fruit Crunchables: A crunchy 100% real fruit snack with only 1 to 2 ingredients and 2 to 3g of fiber from fruit per pouch, with no preservatives, juices, purees, or concentrates. Suitable for ages 2+.
- Fruitola Fruit Granola: A fruit-based granola made with only 4 ingredients, delivering 12 to 16g of plant-based protein and 5 to 7g of fiber from fruit per serving, in Cinnamon, Strawberry, Banana, and Blueberry.
Why the Timing Is Bigger Than the Trend
This is the first back-to-school season since the release of the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. While the new guidelines have sparked debate, their guidance for kids echoes what nutrition experts have said for years: children should avoid added sugars through age 10, limit or dilute 100% fruit juice, and get more fiber from whole foods.
According to the brand, every That's it. snack has met those standards since 2012. And as a wave of new snacks made with isolated and added fibers floods shelves, experts keep pointing families back to the original source: whole fruit, where fiber naturally occurs alongside water and nutrients.
"As a dad packing lunchboxes myself, I want the fiber my kids eat to come from real food, in a format they love and will actually finish," said Dr. Lior Lewensztain, founder and CEO of That's it., a doctor turned entrepreneur and father of two school-age daughters. "That's exactly what we do at That's it. We create simple, nutritious snacks parents can trust, designed for every age and stage, and made with fiber from 100% real fruit."
From Lunchbox to Cafeteria: A Multi-Channel Play
That's it. meets kids and parents where they are, in the lunchbox, the backpack, the car, and the cafeteria. After sampling millions of snacks in K-12 schools and on college campuses, its Fruit Crunchables and Mini Fruit Bars are now served in schools to over 1 million K-12 students nationwide.
On the retail side, the products are available in more than 85,000 doors, including Costco, Sam's Club, BJ's Wholesale, Walmart, Target, Kroger, and Whole Foods Market. Founded in 2012, the Los Angeles-based company pioneered the real fruit bar category with its flagship Fruit Bars, now the #1 fruit bar in America, made with just two ingredients: fruit + fruit.
Why It Matters
For operators, procurement directors, and institutional buyers, the "clean fiber" wave is a real merchandising and menu signal, not just a headline. Here's the practical takeaway:
- Fiber is the new margin driver on the better-for-you shelf. With protein saturated, fiber-forward SKUs give grocers, QSRs, and convenience operators a fresh claim to build promotions and grab-and-go sets around.
- "Whole-food fiber" is a defensible differentiator. As added and isolated fibers proliferate, snacks with short, recognizable ingredient decks let buyers answer parent scrutiny without a fact sheet, an easy story to merchandise.
- Institutional and K-12 foodservice buyers gain compliance cover. Products aligned with the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines' no-added-sugar and whole-food-fiber cues simplify menu approvals for schools, campuses, and healthcare accounts.
- Format flexibility widens placement. Fun Size, Minis, and full-size options let operators match portion and price to lunchboxes, vending, cafeteria lines, and dorm channels alike.
The broader lesson for the food and beverage industry: the brands winning the fiber conversation aren't the ones adding it last-minute, they're the ones who can credibly say they had it all along.
For more on how operators are turning nutrition trends into menu and beverage strategy, read our take on the new economics of craft and how functional snacks are scaling through better-for-you positioning.
Is fiber the next protein for your menu or shelf set? Tell us how you're building it into your back-to-school and better-for-you programs in the comments.
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 founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
