text: Food-hacking is coming to 7-Eleven. 
   
   The convenience store chain is set to begin selling bottles of Soylent, the liquid meal replacement marketed to people who don’t have time to eat, at 18 stores in the greater Los Angeles area on Monday (July 10). It’s the first time that Soylent will be available for purchase in a traditional brick-and-mortar store, instead of just on its website and through Amazon. 
   
   Soylent advertises itself as a nutritious, complete meal replacement. It is one of Silicon Valley’s most stereotypical exports, popularized by the “hacker” lifestyle and generally associated with efficiency and millennials. The company, also known as Rosa Labs, is privately held and raised $50 million from investors in May, bringing its total funding to $74.5 million. 
   
   The quintessential version of Soylent is a bag of powder (the minimalist labeling on the bag literally includes the phrase, “powdered food”) that is mixed with water to produce a “meal.” The resulting mixture resembles a watery pancake batter and tastes, among other things and per a very official Quartz analysis, like wet cardboard, glue, licking stamps, and stale Cheerios. 
   
   The Soylent sold in 7-Elevens stands a chance of appealing slightly more to the regular consumer. That’s because the company plans to stock three flavored versions of Soylent—Cacao, Cafe Coffiest, and Cafe Chai—which will probably look more at home than the standard one alongside energy drinks and various iced coffees and frappuccinos. 
   
   “Soylent is a differentiated product for the on-the-go, millennial,” Todd McFarland, a senior product direct at 7-Eleven, says in a press release. “It is exciting that the demand for our breakthrough line of drinkable meals has moved beyond e-commerce,” adds Rob Rhinehart, Soylent’s founder and CEO, in the same release. The companies didn’t comment on whether the partnership would expand beyond greater Los Angeles, but called the 7-Eleven deal the “first step in Soylent’s retail distribution plan.” No details were provided on pricing. A case of 12 sells for $39 online. 
   
   In the meantime, Soylent might want to consider updating the FAQ section of its website, which still advises that “any products labeled as Soylent” but sold outside Solyent’s webpage and Amazon are “unauthorized imitations and we strongly advise against their consumption.” Come Monday, 7-Eleven will be the exception to that rule. ||||| Photo: (PRNewsfoto/Soylent 
   
   Somehow, life’s about to get even easier for the meal-replacement-diet crowd: Soylent says it’s moving “beyond e-commerce” and into the brave new world of actual retail presence. It’s inked a deal to test sales at 7-Eleven stores in California. Starting Monday, July 10, customers at 18 locations in the Los Angeles area will find three flavors of bottled Soylent (Coffiest, Cacao, and a new one, Chai) presumably stacked right next to the Muscle Milk, Red Bull, and a dizzying array of other convenience-store supplement drinks. 
   
   Soylent says please consider this step one of a broader “retail distribution plan,” although it elaborates no further. It’s clear the company dreams of growth, though it’s unclear where. Recent marketing efforts give a pretty clear look into their perceived audience: the Silicon Valley gamer types who comprise a good percentage of Soylent’s customer base. 
   
   Soylent kicking off the New Year with new flavors: Cacao + Nectar! Follow the link in our bio for our full blog. A post shared by Soylent (@soylent) on Jan 3, 2017 at 10:35am PST 
   
   this is a real soylent ad pic.twitter.com/hvtJhjMn04 — alexander (@shitshowdotinfo) July 5, 2017 
   
   Also worth noting: Soylent’s users are apparently still having “issues” digesting the products, which literally went through four recalls in 18 months. Reddit’s r/soylent channel, always a hum of activity, has seen a wave of new complaints pop up again in the past month, with many commenters saying they’re still getting sick on the new Nectar and Cacao flavors, which seems like a predictable outcome for people trying to replace real food with some goop in a bottle. ||||| Soylent to Test Ready-to-Drink Meals at 18 Participating 7-Eleven® Stores 
   
   Rosa Foods, the makers of Soylent, today announced that the Company will test its suite of nutritionally complete, ready-to-drink meals at 18 participating 7-Eleven® stores in the Greater Los Angeles area beginning Monday, July 10, 2017. The 7-Eleven locations currently plan to sell three Soylent flavors: Cacao, Cafe Coffiest and the new Cafe Chai. 
   
   “It is exciting that the demand for our breakthrough line of drinkable meals has moved beyond e-commerce,” said Rob Rhinehart, Soylent Founder and CEO. “This new collaboration with 7-Eleven will make Soylent an even better option for customers looking for convenience without sacrificing their health. We are thrilled to be working alongside the talented 7-Eleven team and look forward to building our retail presence nationwide.” 
   
   The 7-Eleven deal marks the first step in Soylent’s retail distribution plan. Products will be available at the following 7-Eleven locations in the Greater Los Angeles Area, subject to change: 
   
   1100 North La Cienega Blvd., Los Angeles 
   
   7600 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles 
   
   5600 San Vicente Blvd., Los Angeles 
   
   5279 West Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles 
   
   10834 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles 
   
   11656 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles 
   
   11666 West Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles 
   
   3018 West Manchester Blvd., Inglewood 
   
   610 South Rampart Blvd., Los Angeles 
   
   3450 Overland Ave., Los Angeles 
   
   1516 Lincoln Blvd., Venice 
   
   630 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica 
   
   4436 Sepulveda Blvd., Culver City 
   
   5880 West Manchester Avenue, Los Angeles 
   
   1519 South Bundy Dr., Los Angeles 
   
   2541 South Barrington Ave., Los Angeles 
   
   11299 West Washington Blvd., Culver City 
   
   11075 West Olympic Blvd., West Los Angeles 
   
   “Soylent is a differentiated product for the on-the-go, millennial. It is a great example of a product that has reached online success in a short period, and we are excited to collaborate with Soylent to bring the drinkable meals to our stores in a single serving,” said Todd McFarland, 7-Eleven senior product director for vault. 
   
   Soylent’s line of ready-to-drink products are designed from the ground-up to provide the vitamins, minerals, fats, carbohydrates and protein that the body needs - all in a convenient, ready-to-drink package.
target: – Move over, sugary Slurpees—a trendy new drink that purports to offer a whole lot more in the nutrition department is about to hit the shelves at 7-Eleven. Quartz reports that the chain launched its first run of Soylent products Monday in 18 stores across the greater-LA region. It’s the first time the meal-replacement drink has been offered in stores, with all sales previously done online via Amazon and the company’s website. "Eating isn't easy," Soylent’s website says, vowing to make meals less stressful via its range of drink and powder mixtures described by Quartz as tasting like “licking stamps” and “stale Cheerios.” Marketed toward millennials, the time-starved hacker-set, and efficient Silicon Valley-types, the products offer a nutrition-dense meal replacement you can down in a few gulps rather than stopping to get lunch. According to the Soylent blog, three flavors will be available at the 7-Eleven locations: Cacao, Cafe Coffiest, and Cafe Chai. No word yet on whether the products will expand to more stores, but Soylent CEO Rob Rhinehart has hinted that this is the first step in offering their products more broadly: “We are thrilled to be working alongside the talented 7-Eleven team and look forward to building our retail presence nationwide.” But per Grub Street, not all the kinks in the drinkable meal revolution have been worked out. After a whopping four product recalls within 18 months, including food bars that reportedly made people violently sick, some consumers still complain of digestion issues with some of the company's products.