Stick packs aren’t new, but they’re having a real moment in supplements; here’s the barrier science and the nostalgia behind why

Walk down any supplement aisle right now, and you will start noticing the same small paper packet showing up across categories that used to live almost exclusively in bottles and tubs. Stick packs, the narrow, single-serve sachets long used for drink mixes and sweeteners, are becoming a real format choice for brands launching creatine, hydration blends, and probiotics.

Part of the shift is genuinely about the packaging science.

A stick pack is typically built from a multi-layer laminate, foil, film, and a sealant layer bonded together, which creates a strong moisture and oxygen barrier around the product inside. For a powder that is sensitive to humidity, like many probiotics or flavored creatine blends, that barrier matters more than it looks like it should. Every time a jar gets opened, the product inside is exposed to ambient air and moisture. A stick pack is sealed and single-use, so each dose stays protected until the moment it is opened. That same structure is why stick packs work well for formulas that need one ingredient isolated and precisely portioned until the point of use.

There is a market signal behind the shift too, not just a packaging preference.

NBJ’s 2025 Summit strategic analysis calls out stick packs specifically as a format innovation direction for creatine, tying it to consumer demand for convenience alongside the sports nutrition category’s continued growth. The same report lists stick pack and flavored powder development as part of the broader innovation pipeline it is tracking across the industry, not a one-off trend confined to a single ingredient.^[1] SPINS’ 2026 Annual Trend Predictions separately tracks on-the-go formats as one of the categories it is watching for continued growth, which suggests this format shift is showing up in the data brands use to plan next year’s line extensions, not just in anecdotal packaging choices.^[2]

Then there is the part that is harder to quantify but still worth naming: nostalgia.

Stick packs look and feel like the powdered drink mixes and candy packets a lot of adult consumers grew up with. That familiarity can lower the psychological barrier to trying a new product, especially in a category where an unfamiliar delivery format, an odd capsule size or a strange gummy texture, can quietly turn a shopper away. A format that already feels familiar does some of that trust-building work before the ingredient list ever gets read. That is an observation about consumer psychology, not a claim backed by a specific study, and it should be read that way.

None of this makes stick packs the right choice for every formula.

Products that need a larger dose, multiple actives with different flow properties, or a format built for slow release will usually still call for a capsule, tablet, or jar. But for single-dose, flavor-forward, moisture-sensitive powders, and for brands trying to launch something that feels immediately familiar to a shopper on the go, stick packs are proving to be more than a packaging trend. They are becoming a real format decision, backed by both the barrier science behind them and the market data tracking their growth.

Questions about formulating for stick packs? Reach out to Lief’s product development team.

Resources

1. Nutrition Business Journal, “2025 Summit: A Comprehensive Strategic Analysis.”
2. SPINS, “2026 Annual Trend Predictions.”