A former corporate lawyer is doing what legacy waffle brands have not. Emily Groden’s Evergreen is bringing better-for-you frozen waffles to 9,000-plus stores, and the shoppers following her there are largely new to the category.
TLDR
- Evergreen founder left law to build a veggie-forward frozen waffle brand.
- Distribution now exceeds 9,000 stores, including Kroger.
- Kroger data shows better-for-you frozen waffles attract new category buyers.
- Category expansion, not share theft, is the growth story here.
- The brand signals a durable operator opportunity in better-for-you breakfast.
Emily Groden didn’t come up through food. She came from corporate law, which may explain why she saw what category veterans missed. Evergreen launched with a simple premise: give parents a frozen waffle packed with vegetables that kids would actually eat. According to FoodNavigator-USA, the brand now sits in more than 9,000 stores nationwide.
Kroger is a key retail partner. Significant.
Better-for-You Frozen Waffles Are Drawing New Shoppers
The more important data point isn’t distribution. It’s what Kroger’s own sales data reportedly shows: better-for-you frozen waffles are pulling in shoppers who weren’t buying in the frozen breakfast set before. That’s category expansion, not cannibalization. Retailers and suppliers should read that distinction carefully.
For operators, this matters beyond one brand’s success. The frozen breakfast aisle has long been dominated by commodity formats with limited nutritional differentiation. Evergreen’s traction suggests that clean-label, vegetable-forward positioning can unlock a new consumer segment entirely. Watch this.
What Kroger’s Surge Signals for Suppliers
Kroger’s reported surge in better-for-you sales aligns with a broader pattern thefutureoffood.org has tracked across multiple categories. Shoppers with children are increasingly willing to pay a premium when a product delivers on both nutrition and convenience. Evergreen sits squarely at that intersection.
However, distribution scale alone doesn’t guarantee staying power. Brands at 9,000 stores face velocity pressure fast. The question for Evergreen, and for any challenger brand scaling into major retail, is whether repeat purchase rates hold. In short, the category expansion story is compelling. The execution story is still being written.
Source: FoodNavigator-USA. https://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Article/2026/05/15/better-for-you-frozen-waffles-are-expanding-the-category-not-just-competing-in-it/