Be LOVE™, the Austin-based functional beverage brand founded by Vital Proteins creator Kurt Seidensticker, has extended its portfolio into the protein beverage segment with the launch of Power + Restore™, a clear, non-carbonated ready-to-drink protein drink now available nationally at Sprouts Farmers Market and via DTC channels.
The product launched June 29 and marks Be LOVE's first entry into the protein RTD category, joining its existing Energy + Restore™ and Hydration + Balance™ lines. The move signals a calculated SKU expansion strategy as the brand attempts to capture shelf space across multiple functional beverage occasions — energy, hydration, and now protein recovery.
The Product Specs
Each can of Power + Restore delivers 15 grams of total protein — drawn from 13 grams of clear whey protein isolate and 5 grams of collagen peptides — alongside 100% daily value of vitamins and minerals including Vitamin C, Zinc, and B-vitamins. The formula is zero sugar, free of artificial colors, flavors, and sweeteners, and packaged in BPA- and PFA-free cans. The non-carbonated, clear-liquid format is a direct departure from opaque, heavy-texture legacy protein shakes, targeting the same consumer daypart occasions that functional hydration and enhanced water brands have colonized in off-premise retail.
Six flavors comprise the initial lineup: Strawberry Swirl, Orange Dream, Rocket Pop, Cherry Vanilla, Peach Mango, and Lemon Drop. Three of those — Rocket Pop, Lemon Drop, and Cherry Vanilla — will debut as exclusive in-store flavors at Sprouts Farmers Market, a planogram strategy that typically signals a negotiated promotional partnership and gives the retailer a differentiated assortment to drive trial.
Route-to-Market
The retail anchor at Sprouts positions Power + Restore in the natural and specialty off-premise channel, where better-for-you functional RTDs tend to prove concept before broader conventional grocery or club rollouts. Beyond Sprouts, the full six-SKU range is available DTC at drink.love and through Amazon, giving the brand a multi-channel distribution footprint from launch.
Seidensticker built Vital Proteins into a mainstream collagen platform that eventually reached mass retail and club channels before its acquisition by Nestlé in 2019. That distribution playbook — natural channel first, then scale — appears to be informing Be LOVE's go-to-market sequencing. The brand also carries a cause-marketing component: through a partnership with GivePower, each can sold is tied to providing ten people with one day of access to clean drinking water via solar-powered desalination systems.
Market Positioning
The clear protein RTD segment has attracted increasing attention from both established sports nutrition brands and emerging functional beverage entrants. The format competes directly with whey-based protein waters and collagen-enhanced beverages that have proliferated in natural retail planograms over the past two years. Be LOVE's differentiation rests on nostalgia-driven flavor positioning, collagen co-fortification, and its existing brand equity in the energy and hydration adjacencies.
"When we built Vital Proteins, we helped people discover the power of collagen," said Kurt Seidensticker, Founder of Be LOVE™. "Power + Restore™ isn't about making another protein shake. It's about creating a protein drink people genuinely want to reach for every day."
For distributors and buyers evaluating the segment, the Sprouts placement provides early velocity data that will likely determine whether the brand pursues broader wholesale distribution partnerships or accelerates its DTC and marketplace volume first. Coverage of related functional beverage launches and non-alc RTD distribution trends continues across Beverage B2B.
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.
