Mid-Day Squares crosses 85 million bars sold with presence in Target and Costco
The Montreal chocolate brand has reached 85 million bars sold and now operates in more than 10,000 retail doors, including Target and Costco, after building its own factory following rejections from 26 manufacturers.
- Bars sold
- 85 million+, per the company
- Retail doors
- 10,000+ across North America, including Target and Costco
- Daily production capacity
- Up to 150,000 bars per day, per the company
- Founders
- Lezlie Karls, Jake Karls, and Nick Saltarelli
- Manufacturer rejections
- 26 co-manufacturers declined before the brand built its own factory
Mid-Day Squares has passed 85 million bars sold, a milestone the Montreal-founded chocolate brand is marking as it operates across more than 10,000 retail doors in North America. The company's distribution footprint now includes Target and Costco, two of the continent's most demanding retail partners for emerging food brands.
The scale-up came after a difficult early manufacturing period. According to the company, 26 contract manufacturers declined to produce the product before the founders, Lezlie Karls, Jake Karls, and Nick Saltarelli, built their own factory. That facility now produces up to 150,000 bars per day, giving the brand direct control over capacity and supply chain, a structural advantage that becomes increasingly important as retail commitments grow.
The trajectory from a Montreal condo kitchen to a nine-figure unit-sales milestone illustrates the pressure that functional and better-for-you chocolate brands have placed on the conventional confectionery set. Mid-Day Squares has competed by treating its supply chain as a strategic asset rather than an outsourced cost.
Why it matters
Securing shelf space at Costco and Target simultaneously signals that Mid-Day Squares has cleared the two most distinct retail hurdles in North American grocery: Costco's high-velocity, value-driven club format and Target's trend-sensitive general merchandise floor. Few emerging chocolate brands manage both, and the combination suggests the brand has built demand broadly enough to satisfy very different buyer requirements. The decision to own manufacturing, born of necessity when outside partners declined, now functions as a competitive moat at scale, insulating the brand from co-packer capacity constraints that routinely cap growth for category peers.
What to watch
The open question is whether Mid-Day Squares pursues outside capital or a strategic partnership to fund continued capacity expansion. At 150,000 bars per day, the factory is a significant fixed-cost base, and sustaining distribution at 10,000-plus doors while growing further will test how far a family-built balance sheet can stretch without external investment.
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