A morning chewable without added sugar, with Darren Litt and Adam Gillman

Two teaspoons of sugar at the bottom of a vitamin bottle changed mornings for two Los Angeles dads. They wanted full body nourishment for children with zero added sugar and zero gummy junk, built as a routine a family can keep.

It looked like candy that had melted in transit. Darren Litt and Adam Gillman had ordered a pediatrician recommended gummy from Amazon, and it arrived stuck together, brightly colored, with sugar settled like sand. That small kitchen counter moment set three years of work with pediatricians, nutritionists, scientists and parents in motion.

Litt and Gillman were former co workers raising young children in Los Angeles. They had done what careful parents do and followed the pediatrician suggestion. Then they asked a plain question. If they would not give that bottle to their own kids, why offer it to anyone. Hiya started on March 2, 2020 as a direct to consumer chewable with 15 essential vitamins and minerals plus a blend of 12 fruits and vegetables, sweetened with monk fruit for a morning routine. The brand now reports more than one million subscription parents and a line that includes probiotic, greens, iron and more. The Daily Capsule reads the story as habit design. No added sugar. No gummy additives. No synthetic dyes. No fillers. What was removed shapes how the routine fits breakfast, the counter and the month.

Your label shows zero added sugar and the site names monk fruit as the sweetener to take with breakfast. For a parent reading at 7 a.m., what proves that claim on paper, and what stays hard to see in sweetener or flavor chains?

Paper proves it through the formula record plus the finished label. The Supplement Facts panel lists total sugars and added sugars on separate lines. The other ingredients line must name the sweetener and flavor system. When monk fruit extract is the sweetener, that name appears there. When added sugar were present, it would show in both spots.

Across the industry, flavor remains difficult. Natural flavor can stand for a complex blend from several suppliers. A buyer reads two words. The maker keeps the detailed breakdown under confidentiality. That step stays opaque and we watch it closely. What we refuse is clear. We refuse added sugar. We refuse gummy additives. We refuse artificial dyes. We refuse fillers. For what is traceable, we point to the panel and the lot test. For what is not yet fully open, we point to flavor houses where full disclosure would need supplier permission. What would show it is straightforward. Itemized flavor parts by lot, shared under the same certificate as potency and contaminants.

You spent three years formulating with pediatricians, nutritionists, scientists and parents before the March 2, 2020 launch of the daily habit. Which early lots made the cut for real food ingredients, and which did you reject?

We began with the refusal list. No sugar, no gummy junk, only what kids actually need. That reads simple. In sourcing it is not simple. A gummy relies on glucose syrup, gelatin or pectin, color and coating to hold shape. Take those away and chew, taste and stability must be rebuilt from something else.

Pediatricians shaped the levels, nutritionists shaped the forms, scientists shaped stability, and parents shaped whether a child would actually chew it. The brief asked for 15 essential vitamins and minerals plus 12 fruits and vegetables, sweetened with monk fruit. Lots that required added sugar to taste right were out. Lots with synthetic dyes for color were left out of the morning chew routine. Fillers that added weight without function were left out of the daily bottle. We kept lots where the certificate confirmed identity and where taste came from real food and monk fruit. We view our product not only as the vitamin you put in your mouth, but an experience that kids love. Kids do not wake up excited about vitamins as such. The chew had to earn its place on the counter next to the toothbrush.

That Amazon bottle arrived stuck together with sugar settled on the bottom, and you later compared the category to a piece of chocolate cake for sugar load. What did that teach you about where kids vitamins begin?

That bottle showed us we were looking in the wrong place. We were two dads trying to build a routine that works. We asked the pediatrician, we ordered what was recommended, and what arrived looked like candy that had melted and reformed. It was sticky. It left sugar on the paper when we planned the habit. Our kids liked the taste for the wrong reason after dinner.

Put simply, we brought a Silicon Valley discipline to childrens health. We read the Supplement Facts panel line by line before setting a schedule. We read the other ingredients line while planning what to stack. We learned the average childrens supplement carries two teaspoons of sugar given to kids each and every day. Sugar addiction is an epidemic, and yet there it sat in a product meant for daily use. Our mandate is to offer a childrens vitamin that does what it is marketed to do, without the unnecessary sugar and gummy junk. If kids ate steamed kale every day, they might not need a multivitamin in the routine. Most do not. So the daily format counted, but the starting material had to change.

Your promise names 15 essential vitamins and minerals plus 12 fruits and vegetables in one chewable sweetened with monk fruit for daily use. How does that powder turn into a tablet without gummy additives, and where do drying or extraction fit?

The chain begins as produce and finishes as a pressed chewable. Between those points are drying, milling, blending and pressing. Fruits and vegetables are dried to remove water, then milled to powder so a small fill weight fits the chew. Vitamins and minerals arrive as separate inputs with their own lots to track. Everything meets in a blender, then moves to a press that forms the chewable.

Extract ratio counts here. It records how much starting plant makes one part of extract. Standardised means one marker compound is held to a set level from lot to lot for steady dosing. Those two terms explain why two powders with the same name can act differently. We set the formula, the supplier supplies the lot paperwork, and the finished chewable must hold together without the gummy system. That required time. Monk fruit gives sweetness without added sugar, and the flavors found in candy are not in this tablet. The outcome is a chewable made in the USA that ships in a refillable glass bottle with monthly refill pouches, which also meant the tablet had to survive the pouch, the mail and a kitchen counter.

Hiya states its products are third party tested and made in the USA for routine trust. For the multivitamin lot a parent holds, what gets checked, by whom, and what appears on the certificate of analysis?

We grew very fast, likely as fast as any direct to consumer company out there, yet we refused to compromise on safety, quality and testing. That line guided each scale choice. Third party tested means a lab independent from the maker and the brand checks the product against a specification.

For a chewable multivitamin, a certificate of analysis usually lists identity of inputs, potency of key vitamins and minerals against label claim, and limits for contaminants including heavy metals and microbes. For the daily habit heavy metals means lead, cadmium, arsenic and mercury measured in parts per million or parts per billion against a limit. Microbial testing checks for indicator organisms and pathogens. The certificate ties to a specific lot and batch. Batch is what was produced together. Lot is how the daily supply is tracked. Parents can read the Supplement Facts panel for levels and the other ingredients line for excipients before starting timing. The seal or statement on the label should identify the tester or program. We retain that paperwork because trust without a document is only a claim.

We read the Supplement Facts panel line by line before it joins the routine.

Darren Litt and Adam Gillman

Hiya launched direct to consumer with a refillable glass bottle and monthly pouches, and you refuse plastic bottles in the habit. What does that packaging change for fill weight, forming and stability through the month?

Glass shifts moisture and light exposure. A refillable glass bottle with a snug closure guards chewables from kitchen humidity better than a thin pouch left open. Monthly refill pouches use less material per serving than a fresh bottle each month, yet the pouch film still must block moisture during mail transit.

Fill weight is the mass in each chewable or scoop you take daily. Encapsulation here means forming and guarding that mass, whether as a pressed tablet or a powder in a pouch. Stability testing tracks potency, moisture, texture and taste over time in the real package. A tablet that stays firm in glass can soften in a pouch if the film breathes. A powder that pours well on day one can cake if moisture gets in. So the package acts as part of the formula. We picked glass for the counter and pouches for refills because parents reuse the bottle and get a fresh lot each month. The lot on the pouch should align with the certificate for that month.

The Kids Daily Probiotic lists 10 billion live cultures selected for childhood needs in one chew. How do you follow a live organism from tank to chewable, and what does testing show at end of shelf life?

A probiotic begins in a fermentation tank. That is a clean vessel where a single bacterial strain is fed and grown under controlled temperature and pH for the nightly dose. The culture is harvested, concentrated, dried or stabilized, then blended to a routine target count measured in colony forming units. Colony forming units, written CFU, estimate live cells able to grow under test conditions for your stack.

After that the chain centers on survival. Heat, moisture and time lower live count. So the lot record notes strain identity, input CFU per gram, blend weight, and finished CFU at release. A careful label also accounts for CFU through end of shelf life, not only on the day it was made. Testing at release and at stability points indicates whether the count held. Storage guidance on the label forms part of that proof. For parents reading the panel, strain names and the CFU number go together. One without the other leaves origin unclear. The chewable format adds another check, since pressing force and moisture must stay within limits that keep the count where the label states it is.

The Kids Daily Greens plus Superfoods lists 55 whole food sourced ingredients with zero sugar and a chocolate taste for kids to drink mornings. With that many inputs, how do you keep farm origin and lot identity straight from blender to canister?

Fifty five inputs means fifty five lots to log for the powder. Each whole food ingredient comes in with its own origin, harvest date and lot number. Greens, fruits, vegetables and other plant powders are dried and milled before they enter the blender. The blender record is where traceability either holds or breaks for every scoop.

We maintain it by holding each input lot apart until blending, then tying every input lot to one finished batch number. The finished canister bears that batch number. The certificate for the batch lists test results for the blend you stir daily. Chocolate taste without sugar comes from cocoa plus monk fruit and flavor, all listed in the other ingredients line. How it is used stays simple by design. Stir powder into milk or a milk alternative with breakfast. Behind that instruction sits a blend sheet that notes how many grams of each lot went into the tank. When a parent asks where exactly does this come from, the honest reply for a 55 part blend is a list, not a single farm. We keep the list by batch so the routine stays steady.

In 2024 USANA acquired a controlling stake implying a 260 million dollar valuation, with projections of more than 100 million dollars in net sales and over one million subscription parents in routine. How does that scale shift sampling, testing and what you can still name by grower?

Scale shifts sampling first. More lots per month means more certificates, more retain samples and more stability pulls to support use. Retain samples are sealed units saved from each batch so the maker can retest if a question comes up later. At our volume, each batch is tested against specification before release. That discipline made growth possible.

Your instincts help you see what others missed and solve problems, and the data keeps your routine honest. But do not overindex on either when judging results. That is how we manage sourcing. Instinct told us parents would pay a premium for trust rather than chase the lowest price. Data keeps that honest through test pass rates, complaint rates and stability results across refills. I preferred not to make much money on a steady routine rather than always be capped at what I can do working for somebody else. Independence still guides choices, even inside a larger structure. What we can name by grower is strongest where the chain is short and easy to repeat. Where the chain passes through brokers or flavor houses, we mark the step as not yet fully traceable and explain what paper would close the gap.

Closing note from the desk

What remains after this talk is a refusal list kept steady through fast growth. No added sugar. No gummy additives. No synthetic dyes. No fillers. No plastic bottles on the daily counter. The founders speak parent to parent, and the detail that sticks is practical rather than promotional. Lot numbers, blend sheets, retain samples, stability pulls keep the habit safe.

The aim was to rethink the daily childrens vitamin as full body nourishment that a child will actually chew. The brand reports what the label shows and leaves added claims off the page. Some stages, notably flavor breakdowns and multi farm blends, stay partly opaque. The desk credits what is traceable and flags what paper would still help. Set the bottle by breakfast, pair the chew with food and water, track the month by the pouch lot.

Product spotlight

Kids Daily Multivitamin, 30 dollars for a one month supply for one child, taken as one daily chewable with food. It holds 15 essential vitamins and minerals plus a blend of 12 fruits and vegetables, sweetened with monk fruit with zero added sugar. Take it in the morning with breakfast as part of the monthly subscription with refillable glass bottle and refill pouches.

Kids Daily Probiotic, 30 dollars for a one month supply for one child, taken as one daily chewable at night. It shows 10 billion live cultures from strains picked for childhood needs, with levels and strain names on the Supplement Facts panel. Take it daily for routine gut support as described on the label, stored as directed to guard live count. Space it from hot drinks and track whether the habit holds through travel and school weeks.