Are HighKey Cookies the Next Sugar-Free Oreo Alternative?

Low-sugar, keto-friendly snack brand HighKey announced it will be launching a sugar-free sandwich cookie featuring two crispy chocolate wafers around a layer of vanilla crème. While it may sound like an Oreo in terms of ingredients, each two-cookie serving contains no sugar, two grams of net carbs, seven grams of fiber, 60 calories and are made with gluten-free, soy-free and keto-friendly ingredients.

SANDWICH COOKIES ARE HERE🚨

⚠️This is not a drill
1. Remain calm🧘‍♀️
2. Add to cart https://t.co/LPBD0WTbS6
3. Await patiently for your crunchy, chocolaty cookies with a sweet, creamy filling to arrive
4. DUNK WITHOUT THE JUNK 🥛 pic.twitter.com/Th6j6Pyn5B

— HighKey (@highkeysnacks) January 4, 2023

“We are so excited to unveil our latest dunking delicious creation,” said Joe Ens, CEO of HighKey, in a press release. “We’ve spent the last year testing and perfecting the best-tasting, low-sugar sandwich cookie on the market. We thought about everything consumers want in this type of cookie from the perfect crunch to dunkability to the sweet, creamy filling so we could truly deliver something that tastes as good as the original.”

So, are HighKey Cookies the next sugar-free Oreo alternative? If its slogan — “Dunk without the junk!” — is any indication, then the answer is yes. Not to mention, HighKey says its new Sandwich Cookies will be milk’s new best friend and that they are packed with flavor and none of the “stuff” — all of which are apparent references to Oreo cookies.

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While the Oreo brand launched Oreo Thins in 2015 as a healthier alternative to its traditional cookies, the product has not seen the success that its owner Mondelez International was hoping for. In the summer of 2022, Mondelez confirmed that it would no longer be selling Oreo Thins in the UK and Ireland. The food giant recommended that retailers focus on the core products from its popular range.

Since consumers aren’t looking to the Oreo brand for healthful, nutritious snacks, HighKey is looking to expand its reach in the sugar-free, keto-friendly snack space. Since it was founded in 2018, HighKey has focused on creating snacks that satisfy sugar cravings without sacrificing taste. All its snacks are made with naturally-derived sugar substitutes and quality ingredients including almond flour.

HighKey’s products include its cult-favorite Chocolate Chip Mini Cookies, which have garnered nearly 70,000 reviews (including over 44,000 five-star reviews) and are the number one best-selling chocolate chip cookies on Amazon. Highkey’s product range also includes wafers, brownie bites, crackers and chocolate candies. 

Although HighKey Cookies have amassed a following, the brand falls within the highly competitive multi-billion-dollar keto snack market. In 2020, “keto” was the most Googled food-related topic in the world with 25.4 million searches and the keto diet market is predicted to reach a global value of $15.6 billion by 2027.

A combination of factors can be attributed to the rise in demand for low- or no-sugar and/or keto-friendly foods including better-informed consumers, a rise in snacking, demand for healthier foods and an increase in online shopping for specialty foods. The market is dominated by players like Perfect Keto, Glanbia PLC, Nestlé and Pruvit Ventures Inc.

With its consistent fanbase and the release of its new sandwich cookies, HighKey is hoping to take a bite out of the keto diet market and join the dominating players. Highkey Cookies will be available for purchase on Amazon and at select retailers nationwide in 2023.