The Path to a Product Launch: How We Build Better Products for People & Planet

At Thrive Market, every product we launch starts with a simple question: How can we better serve our members—without compromising our commitment to our shared planet?

This Earth Month, we’re pulling back the curtain on what it takes to bring a Thrive Market branded product from idea to your doorstep, and introducing you to the team of experts who ask the tough questions so you don’t have to. From organic peanut butter to plant-powered kitchen cleaners to humanely raised meat and seafood, these products take time, effort, and labor to produce—and our team ensures that each step of that process is done according to our industry-leading standards. 

If you’ve always wondered how we create the best-of-the-best groceries, home supplies, and personal care products, read on to learn more. 

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Our Quality Standards 

Our Quality Standards are the foundation of every decision we make: they set the standard for which ingredients we allow in our products, and which we restrict or ban entirely.

Today, we maintain a list of 1,000+ restricted ingredients, and we continue to expand and refine it each year across food, supplements, home, and personal care.

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Step 1: Starting with Purpose

With our Quality Standards as a starting point, every product begins with intention. Before we ever talk to a supplier, our team defines:

• What our members are looking for 
• Gaps in the market 
• Ingredient and quality expectations 
• Sustainability goals—from sourcing to packaging 

We don’t just ask “Can we make this?”, we ask “Can we make this better?”

Here are some examples of products we’ve launched that start from a place of purpose: 

• Regeneratively Grown Organic Brazil Nuts that are harvested in a way that helps protect the rainforests where they’re grown 
• Organic Dark Chocolate Bark made using cacao sourced without problematic practices like child labor and deforestation 
• All Purpose Cleaner Concentrate made from plant-based ingredients and packaged in refills to help avoid single-use plastics 
• Movie Theater Popcorn Kernels purchased directly from family farms to help prevent food waste 

Step 2: Sourcing with Integrity

Finding the right supplier isn’t just about cost or convenience, it’s also about value alignment.

We partner with suppliers who meet our high bar for:

• Ethical sourcing: Verified through third-party audits covering labor practices, wages, and safety
• Environmental responsibility: Including deep supply chain tracing, even for “hidden” ingredients like palm-derived glycerin
• Transparency: Every claim must be backed by documentation

“We’re regularly told by our vendors that our documentation and testing requirements are above and beyond what any other retailer requires,” says Carla Hechler, Vice President of Food Safety & Quality at Thrive Market. “We don’t just take their word for it; we require documentation to back up every claim and detail.” 

Step 3: Sampling, Testing, and Perfecting

Before a product earns the Thrive Market name, it goes through extensive evaluation. The supplier will send product samples of both the product and its potential packaging to our team. Then, a panel of Thrive Market employees perform sensory tests, evaluating the product’s taste, texture, and aroma. The team goes back and forth with the supplier, tweaking things like taste and nutrition. 

Products are refined again and again until they meet our standards—and are often sent to our members themselves for final testing and approval. 

Step 4: Deep Ingredient & Safety Vetting

This is where we truly stand apart.

We don’t just review ingredient lists—we investigate them. At this stage in the process, our supplier completes compliance specification documentation with food safety and regulatory details. 

Our team then:

• Benchmarks ingredients against leading global organizations like EWG and EFSA
• Reviews Certificates of Analysis (CoAs) to verify purity and safety
• Conducts third-party testing when needed

Step 5: Packaging with Purpose

Our commitment to the planet doesn’t stop at a product’s ingredients; it also extends to the way it’s packaged and even what’s printed on that packaging. Our talented team members are experts at balancing art and creativity with sustainability and nutrition compliance, creating beautiful packaging that is made with recycled (or recyclable) materials and is accurate when it comes to the nutrition label.

Every detail—from claims to certifications—goes through rigorous stakeholder, vendor, legal, and regulatory reviews before the approved artwork file is routed to the supplier. Then, finally, the packaging proofing process begins. 

In 2023, we achieved Plastic Neutral Certification for all plastic packaging used in our owned brand products, which means that we recover just as much plastic as we use, neutralizing its impact on the environment. (For more information on Plastic Neutral Certification, head here.) 

Step 6: Production & Testing 

At this point in the process, the product really comes to life—but that still doesn’t mean it’s ready for our members to purchase. Before launch, our cross-functional team of experts once again review these first production samples to ensure everything meets our expectations when it comes to quality and consistency.

Only after final approval do products ship to our fulfillment centers (and eventually, to you).

Step 7: Add to Cart! 

Finally, the new product is available on the Thrive Market website for you to purchase—made with only the highest quality ingredients, packaged in the most sustainable materials possible, and made to fill a need in your life.