When Jessica and Ian Saultz moved with their toddlers from Germany to the US in 2018, they were disappointed in the supermarket snack options for young kids. “There’s a halfway decent amount of good quality stuff for [babies] and older kids,” Ian told Retail Brew. But “a lot of the bars out there are full of refined sugars. They’re mass produced.”
The pair spent months testing recipes and packaging for an all-natural snack bar (Ian had worked in business development previously), and they rolled out Dino Bars in May 2020.
- The company racked up $200,000 in B2C revenue last year, and expects to hit $800,000 in 2021.
The days of Dunkaroos and Gushers are memories of the past. Enter: the modern lunch box.
Millennials are parents to 50% of the kids in the US, per the National Retail Federation in 2018—and they’re choosing CPG brands that mirror their own values and aesthetics: better-for-you versions of cafeteria classics, Andrea Hernández, founder of the Snaxshot newsletter, explained to us. “Gen Alpha can’t feed themselves.”
New kids on the block
When young parents are sussing out snacks, they’re thinking about health, convenience, and nostalgia, Hernández said.
“Millennial parents are trying to go for healthier alternatives...while letting kids be indulgent in a measured way,” Hernández explained. This mentality has given rise to CPG companies re-creating products like Pringles, Almond Joy, and Drumstick ice cream cones with healthier ingredients. (See: Good Crisps, Unreal, and Muddy Bites.)
- According to NielsenIQ data, the top five most important food attributes for US households are “heart-healthy” (62%), “low sugar” (60%), “high protein” (56%), “low sodium” (55%), and “high fiber” (54%).
Better than you remember? “There are brands that are really trying to reinvent the snacks the millennials are familiar with. Because, if you think about who’s building these brands, it’s the ’80s and ’90s kids who grew up with Lunchables and Cheetos,” Hernández said.
Data from the CPG research firm Catalina shows nutritional bars and variety snack packs are the top categories for the 2021 back-to-school season. Sales are up 24% and 26%, respectively, for the period ending August 21 over the same time last year. Meanwhile, low and reduced fat snack sales are up 17%.
- Brian Moore, Catalina’s sales director of media and data services, said the numbers reflect an interest in convenience and wellness. “Compared to last year, it suggests a trend toward healthier items.”
It’s a lifestyle
As millennial parents pack snacks for their next gen tots, they’re seeking “handy and convenient” food options, Hernández added. WFH 9-to-5ers “don’t have time to prepare lunches.”
- Dino Bars, for example, incorporate a thin layer of “edible paper” to keep hands and faces clean and stickiness free. “The whole idea behind it is a healthy, easy-to-consume, on-the-go snack,” Ian said.
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Social moves: Kids’ CPG brands know their audience. And their audience is on Insta—still the millennial go-to.
“All our marketing is done through social media, mostly Instagram, because that’s where our demographics are,” Ian added. Dino Bars’ main customer (well, the one doing the buying) is anywhere from 25 to 40, with kids up to seven years old.
Ann Bumpus, senior brand manager at Unreal Snacks, said she started noticing the company’s packaged chocolate treats in Instagram momfluencers’ lunch boxes during this back-to-school season.
- “We love being able to offer clean, reinvented, responsible versions of treats that people miss so much,” Bumpus said. “And I think that's when it gets more to the parent...than the kid.”
+1: Re-creating what’s familiar does more than tap into nostalgia. At the end of the day, kids’ lunch box items—like pudding packs, granola bars, and fruit snacks—reflect “some of the most stable and predictable” shopping behaviors across grocery, according to Instacart. Hence, its “Pudding Pack Index,” a barometer for normalcy.
- The PPI found sales started to pick up in the spring, once Covid-19 vaccines began to roll out, but the Delta variant is shaking things up. Growth has slowed in July, per Instacart.