Breanna Atkinson first stumbled upon a coconut spread while traveling in London for work a few years ago. She fell in love with it but couldn’t find anything like it in the United States. So what’d Atkinson do? She decided to make her own.
Atkinson worked on her vegan spread for 16 months before she began selling it under the Kokada brand in farmer’s markets in mason jars in October of 2020. It was a hit, and eventually, Atkinson began selling the spread in stores in North Carolina (Atkinson and her co-founder and fiance, Jared, both attended Duke). It’s now available online at Kodada’s website and Amazon and in 14 retail stores across the Mid-Atlantic region.
Kokada is made with less than 5 ingredients and without refined sugar, using mainly coconut and coconut treacle as a natural sweetener. What makes Kokada different from other spreads – other than its natural ingredients – is that it’s sold in the nut butter category even though coconut isn’t a nut. Coconut treacle is a healthier alternative to refined sugar and is ideal for people trying to avoid sugar spikes, such as parents of young kids or those who are diabetic.
In fact, most of Kokada’s customers are parents of young kids since they can’t pack their kids peanut butter because of allergies in schools. Their other target customer segment is people with nut allergies because their main alternative on the market is sunflower butter.
Kokada originally started with an original flavor, but people soon began asking for a flavor similar to Nutella (which is not vegan). Atkinson told me that their goal is to eventually have five different flavors, four permanent and one seasonal.
My roommates and I have at least five different dips or spreads in our room at a time, so when Atkinson offered me a sample, I had to try it out. Before Kokada, I had never heard of coconut spread (probably because Kokada is the first on the market in the US), so I was excited to try it.
We tried the original flavor, which is made with only coconut and coconut treacle as a sweetener, on top of a banana. The spread has a mild coconut flavor and a smooth texture with a few small pieces of coconut in it. I was surprised by the coconut flavor since I’ve never had it in a spread, and it was a bit sweeter than I expected. I also tried it as a sweetener in my matcha latte, and I liked the subtle coconut flavor it added but was a bit caught off guard by the coconut pieces in my drink.
We tried the brownie flavor, which I liked more than the original flavor. It had a very realistic brownie flavor without the overly artificial sweetness of Nutella. I added IT on top of a waffle and on top of some pancakes. A little bit goes a long way, but it complemented the pancakes and fruit very well. It’s since become one of my breakfast staples as I like the way the sweetness doesn’t give me a sugar overload in the morning.
Kokada will be focusing on developing their flavors and launching in major retailers in the next year, so keep an eye out for a jar on a shelf near you soon!
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