Utah-born Trü Frü’s frozen chocolate-dipped fruit snacks will be manufactured in the Beehive State for the first time beginning next year, creating more than 100 jobs in Salt Lake City’s westside.

CEO Harvey Millar said opening this 35,000 square-foot manufacturing space was an “important milestone” for the company, which launched in 2017. The space, at 2331 N. 2200 West, is inside an existing Mars facility that already makes Nature’s Bakery products; Mars acquired Trü Frü in 2022.

Why the move to Utah now?

When Trü Frü’s founders started their company, they looked for co-manufacturing opportunities to make the treats. They didn’t find anything that fit their needs here, so they looked elsewhere, Millar said.

But now, Trü Frü has grown so much — net sales, Millar said, have grown five times since the Mars acquisition in 2022 — that it needs more manufacturing capacity to meet demand. (He declined to give specific sales figures.)

It was also “a super attractive proposition to find a way to do it in in Utah,” he said. The company moved its headquarters to Salt Lake City last year.

Given all that, it made sense, Millar said, to renovate and cohabitate in that Mars-owned space.

Mars spent $60 million to expand production capacity in Utah, retrofitting the baking facility to produce frozen snacks. Millar said the investment should support more than 100 new jobs at the site and produce more than 17 million packages of Trü Frü per year.

The planned jobs include roles in manufacturing, as well as food safety, maintenance and other areas.

The facility should be operating by early next year, producing the company’s bestseller: strawberries dipped in both milk and white chocolate.

Market research this summer showed that frozen fruit sales were up more than 9% year-over-year, with Trü Frü sales growing 13.5%, according to research data reported in the trade publication Frozen & Refrigerated Buyer. (Competitor Fruit Riot, which caters to sour instead of sweet palates, also saw huge growth, up nearly 60%, in sales.)

What makes Millar so sure that demand will continue for this “permissible indulgence” that costs around $7 (depending on where you buy it) for an 8 oz bag, as consumer sentiment remains low?

For one, Millar said, people like the product. It’s “simple,” he said, “tastes great,” and is made from real fruit.

“There’s so many better-for-you, healthy options out there,” he said, “but it really hits that sweet spot of being indulgent and tasting great.”

Second, Millar said, the company’s research has found that once someone tries Trü Frü, they often buy it again. They’ve also found that per year, about 9% of U.S. households buy Trü Frü. They are bargaining that if they increase exposure to the other 90%, those would-be customers will keep buying, too.

To get Trü Frü in front of more people, the company is putting money toward branded vehicles — including in Utah — that will give out samples. They’re also working to get more play in grocery stores, trying to increase the amount of products and varieties sold.

And Trü Frü has been innovating as well.

Traditional Trü Frü is most often eaten as an after-meal indulgence. The company is now trying to appeal to earlier-in-the-day snackers with Greek yogurt-dipped options. They’ve also leaned harder into desserts, launching a cherry truffle variety.

Millar added that as the price of cocoa remains higher than normal, the company’s hope is that producing its products in its own facilities, and investing more in efficient supply chains, will help keep prices from rising.