The fastest-growing infant formula company since the 1980’s joins the ranks of Disney, Tiffany & Co., and more, for its parent-first response to the formula crisis
As the only US infant formula brand whose customers did not face a shortage, Bobbie led with mission, innovation, and advocacy
Bobbie has been named to Fast Company’s prestigious annual list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies for 2023, the first infant formula company to ever be recognized in this list. This year’s cohort highlights the businesses at the forefront of their industries, paving the way for the innovations of tomorrow. These companies are setting the standard with some of the greatest accomplishments of the modern world.
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Bobbie, the Mom-Founded and Led Organic Infant Formula Company, Named to Fast Company’s Annual List of the World’s Most Innovative Companies 2023. (Photo: Business Wire)
Bobbie was selected as a part of the Rapid Response category for its groundbreaking work amidst an industry in crisis during the formula shortage of 2022 when American parents could not find the critical food they needed to nourish their babies. In response, Bobbie’s co-founders, both mothers, made parent-first decisions internally to pivot their business model from growing the company to serving peace of mind to their existing customers across the country. They closed their online storefront for seven months to ensure that not a single Bobbie customer would face a formula shortage.
During the peak of the shortage, as shelves remained bare nationwide, Bobbie was the only US company to expand into retail. By launching into Targets nationwide, the company sought to support more parents in need of Organic formula and help fill local shelves. Despite their online store being closed to new customers, and against the backdrop of a national crisis, Bobbie grew from serving less than 1% of the market to 4.5% of the market in 2022 and well over 70,000 families in every state across the US.
Bobbie’s parent-first approach to an unprecedented industry crisis meant getting loud on behalf of all formula feeding parents fed up with the inability to find a reliable food source for their babies here in the US. Bobbie’s CEO and co-founder, Laura Modi pushed for industry reform with lawmakers in DC. Meanwhile, Bobbie elevated the voices of frustrated parents directly to The Hill, turning parent voicemails into a letter to Congress through its Hungry for Change campaign.
Further, Bobbie made a White House Commitment to deploy up to $100m by 2030 to advance infant nutrition, strengthen domestic manufacturing to increase scale, redundancy, and resiliency in the industry and expand Bobbie Labs, the R&D hub of the business focused on holistic wellness and nutrition for year-one infants and mothers. The commitment also includes plans to fund critical research to evolve the nutritional framework for product development and share across the industry, and increased formula access, quality, and options for WIC participants.
“With our storefront closed to new customers for seven months amidst the formula crisis, we had two choices: go quiet or get loud. We did what we do best by boldly and unapologetically continuing to shake the formula stigma and spoiler alert – we were louder than ever,” said Kim Chappell, VP of Marketing at Bobbie and mom of three. “As the only mom-founded and led formula company and a mother of three babies myself, I felt a responsibility to ensure that we use our platform, our resources, and our voice to advocate for all formula feeding parents being callously told to ‘just breastfeed’ by society. What happened in our industry and in our country last year was unacceptable.”
“What a strange and thrilling year it has been to honor this year’s Most Innovative Companies. This year’s list compiles some of the most cutting-edge groundbreakers who are changing our world every single day, from legacy organizations like McDonald’s to upstarts like MrBeast and institutions such as NASA. Everyone on this list does something completely, uniquely different, yet, they all have one thing in common: innovation,” said Fast Company editor-in-chief Brendan Vaughan.
Fast Company’s editors and writers sought out the companies making the biggest strides around the globe. They also judged nominations received through their application process. The World’s Most Innovative Companies is Fast Company’s signature franchise and one of its most highly anticipated editorial efforts of the year. It provides a firsthand look at the inspiring and innovative efforts of companies across all sectors of the economy.
Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies issue (March/April 2023) is available online here, as well as in-app form via iTunes, and on newsstands beginning March 14. The hashtag is #FCMostInnovative
About Bobbie:
Bobbie is an Organic Infant Formula company that exists to build a parenting culture of confidence, not comparison, where every parent is supported in the feeding choice that is right for them and their baby. Bobbie launched in 2021 as the first direct-to-consumer, subscription-based infant formula company in the US. Today, Bobbie is the only mom-founded and led infant formula in the country and the fastest growing infant formula to enter the US market since the 1980’s. Bobbie’s recipe is modeled after breastmilk and designed to meet the most recent EU nutritional standards for critical ingredients like DHA and iron, while also complying with all FDA nutritional standards for infant formula. Bobbie is focused on providing a purposefully sourced, USDA Organic infant formula with Organic Valley milk from pasture raised cows. It was the first-ever infant formula to receive the Clean Label Project Purity Award and certification as a Pesticide-Free Product. Bobbie was founded in 2018, is based in San Francisco, and is venture-backed. For more information on Bobbie, visit www.hibobbie.com, and follow Bobbie on Instagram @bobbie.
ABOUT FAST COMPANY
Fast Company is the only media brand fully dedicated to the vital intersection of business, innovation, and design, engaging the most influential leaders, companies, and thinkers on the future of business. Headquartered in New York City, Fast Company is published by Mansueto Ventures LLC, along with our sister publication Inc., and can be found online at www.fastcompany.com.
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