Noon reimagining the breakfast occasion

NEW YORK — Most ready-to-drink protein beverages, from Huel, Boost to Ensure and Naked, have been positioned as supplements, meal replacements or targeted nutrition solutions targeted toward adults and the elderly populations. With Noon, co-founders Cade Fleming and Tamir Triguboff are taking a different approach by building a breakfast-focused beverage and platform designed for the whole family.

“We’re not creating another protein shake, supplement or meal replacement,” Triguboff said. “We’re focused on a simple consumer need — a fast, nutritious, great-tasting breakfast that fits modern lifestyles.”

Noon, which launched in Australia in January, is formulated with dairy protein, oats fruit purees and chicory root, which contributes to the high fiber content, Fleming said.

“We use oats to fortify the product and improve satiety, so it functions as a real, complete breakfast, not just a drink,” Fleming said. “We saw liquid breakfast as kind of the wedge into the (breakfast) category because it was a non-format occasion. People were consuming drinks and replacement meals, but none of them had really been reformulated or developed with the breakfast occasion in mind and leading with this dual benefit positioning of protein and fiber.”

Triguboff added, “Noon is not a GLP-1 product or a weight loss product. The relevance of GLP-1 is that it has accelerated interest in areas Noon was already built around, including protein, fiber and satiety. But the opportunity is much broader than GLP-1. We’re building a modern breakfast brand designed for a wide range of consumers looking for a better morning meal solution.”

Noon offers 20 grams of protein, 5 grams of fiber and zero grams of added sugar.

Varieties include milk chocolate, creamy vanilla and honey banana.

“We’ve been really intentional around the way we’ve formulated the product from the level of protein in the drink, the level of fiber in the drink and the level of calories in the drink,” Fleming said. “We only have 20 grams of protein versus some others (protein beverages) that have upwards of 40. An adolescent or child doesn’t need 40 grams of protein in one sitting nor could they probably consume that.”  

While other fortified protein beverages can taste chalky or gritty, Fleming is reassuring consumers that Noon is similar to drinking chocolate milk.

“With this protein beverage craze, I think the experience has actually become pretty poor,” he said. “Noon is a lot thinner and doesn’t have that artificial aftertaste, chalkiness or grittiness.”

Noon differentiates in the RTD beverage category by owning the breakfast occasion, not just delivering a functional benefit, Triguboff said.

“While many products compete around protein or nutrition alone, Noon is designed to complete a morning solution,” Triguboff said. “Combining the nutrition consumers want with the taste and convenience required to become a daily habit.”

The bootstrapped startup has raised a $2.5 million pre-seed round, led by Boulder Food Group (BFG Partners,) a Boulder, Colo.-based venture capital firm that invests in early stage companies, that will be used to support its US launch into around 2,000 Target stores nationwide.

“We have an aggressive growth plan from both a distribution perspective, launching into more channels like natural grocery,” Fleming said. “Further mass retailers, bodega and convenience throughout 2027.”

Fleming said Noon is only the beginning of the company’s ambitions in the breakfast category.

“The liquid breakfast drink is very much the wedge and arrow to our space,” he said. “But the role we’re really going to be playing in the category is having a number of exciting formats and products that will support that positioning.” 

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