The Formulation Angle
Day Out Snacks is rolling out two limited-edition fall flavors — Apple Pie and Pumpkin Cheesecake — built on the brand's core substrate of nut butter and dates, a combination that delivers binding, natural sweetness, and a clean-label ingredient deck without gums, emulsifiers, or sugar alcohols. Each 4.5-ounce bag contains nine protein balls portioned into three servings, with 9 grams of protein per serving. Both SKUs are gluten-free and non-GMO, and the line is free from artificial flavors, seed oils, and fillers — positioning it squarely within the better-for-you, clean-label functional snack segment.
Apple Pie combines a sweet apple flavor profile with a warm spice blend, drawing on the same fall-spice positioning that has driven strong seasonal sell-through across confection and snack categories. Pumpkin Cheesecake pairs pumpkin spice with white chocolate chips and creamy cheesecake notes, and is notable as Day Out's first formula to incorporate dairy — a meaningful spec change that will require allergen statement updates and distinct COA tracking relative to the brand's otherwise dairy-free portfolio.
Seasonal Innovation as R&D
Becky Dheri, founder and CEO of Day Out, framed the limited-edition launch as an intentional product-development tool. "Seasonal flavors give us room to explore the tastes people are actively seeking while staying true to our focus on dessert-inspired snacks with real nutritional value," Dheri said. The Apple Pie SKU was directly influenced by consumer feedback on last year's Apple Cider Donut flavor, with fans requesting more apple intensity and spice complexity — a signal that LTO architecture is functioning as a structured consumer-insights mechanism rather than a pure marketing event.
This approach mirrors a broader trend among better-for-you snack brands using limited production runs to stress-test flavor concepts before committing to full-scale retail distribution. For co-manufacturers and ingredient suppliers, this translates into smaller initial batch commitments with the potential for rapid scale-up if seasonal velocity data supports a permanent rollout.
Distribution and Pricing
Both flavors are available exclusively direct-to-consumer at getdayout.com and on Amazon while supplies last, offered in four-, six-, and eight-bag bundles. A four-pack retails at $33, a six-pack at $49.50, and an eight-pack at $66 — pricing that reflects the brand's small-batch production model and premium ingredient sourcing. The DTC-first channel strategy allows the brand to maintain tighter inventory control on limited-edition SKUs, reduce minimum order quantity exposure, and gather first-party purchase data before any potential brick-and-mortar expansion.
For suppliers of pumpkin spice blends, natural apple flavor systems, and white chocolate inclusions, the fall seasonal window represents a compressed but commercially significant opportunity. As better-for-you formats continue to absorb flavor trends from indulgent categories, demand for clean-label spice preparations and fruit-forward flavor solutions that meet non-GMO and allergen-management requirements is expected to remain firm through Q4 and into next year's early-stage planning cycles.
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.
