Khloud, the functional snack brand co-founded by Khloé Kardashian, has entered Costco for the first time with a value-size 12oz bag of its White Cheddar Protein Popcorn — a format created exclusively for the club channel and priced at $9.89. The launch spans more than 50 Costco locations across Los Angeles and Orange County, and the brand says it is tracking toward 32,000 retail doors by August 2026.
For food and beverage buyers watching the better-for-you snack category, the move is instructive. Club channel entry typically requires a format and price-point strategy that differs meaningfully from conventional grocery — larger pack sizes, tighter margins, and a consumer willing to buy in bulk. Khloud's 12oz offering is its largest format to date, built specifically to meet Costco's value-pack expectations rather than simply repurposing an existing SKU.
Retail Expansion Signal
Crossing 32,000 doors in the near term puts Khloud in the same distribution tier as established better-for-you snack brands that took years to reach comparable shelf presence. The Costco debut suggests the brand's retail partners are gaining confidence in sell-through velocity — club buyers rarely take on emerging brands without evidence of strong turns at conventional retail first. For operators and procurement teams sourcing snack and impulse categories, this trajectory is worth tracking as a benchmark for how celebrity-co-founded brands with clean-label positioning are converting cultural equity into distribution scale.
On product credentials: each serving delivers 7 grams of protein and is made with 100% real cheddar cheese, without seed oils, GMOs, or gluten. The clean-label architecture — no seed oils in particular — aligns with a formulation trend that foodservice and retail buyers are increasingly fielding questions about from health-conscious consumers. Brands that can credibly hold that position across a value-size format, where ingredient costs are under greater pressure, are signaling real supply-chain discipline.
What Buyers Should Watch
The limited-time nature of the Costco placement is also worth noting. Club retail often uses time-limited windows as a test-and-learn mechanism before committing to a permanent planogram slot. If Khloud's velocity holds at Costco, a permanent or expanded SKU authorization becomes the logical next step — and that would push the brand's door count and brand awareness numbers higher still.
For food and beverage operators considering private-label or co-branded snack programs, functional protein popcorn is a category showing durable consumer demand. The growth of brands like Khloud at the retail level is useful intelligence for hotel F&B teams, stadium and entertainment venue operators, and corporate dining buyers who are evaluating which snack SKUs have genuine pull-through versus trend-driven spike. Brands clearing 30,000-plus doors with club channel acceptance tend to carry the vendor credibility that simplifies procurement conversations.
You can track broader retail-readiness frameworks and buyer-deck strategy in our brand launch coverage and monitor snack category procurement shifts in operator intelligence.
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 Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
