Kids’ food – a growing category you need to know about

A quiet revolution has been bubbling under the surface of the British food and drink scene. One propelled by mission-driven investors, businesspeople and parents, as they seek to enact change in a sector that has been stagnating for quite some time – kids’ meals.

As a speciality retailer, passionately advocating for artisan cheeses, preserves, spirits and the like, you might not have given much thought to younger consumers. The ones who trundle into store wrapped warmly in a blanket in their buggy, or twisting and fidgeting alongside a parent or grandparent. 

But noticing these youthful palates, engaging with them, and catering to their needs, could unlock a whole new stream of revenue for your business, say the new generation of children’s meal producers coming along the line.

This is especially true of farm shops and garden centres, which have become more than the sum of their parts – experiences to be enjoyed by the entire family (children included) at weekends.

According to Statista, revenue within the baby and children’s food sector in the UK is due to grow from £1.4billion in 2020, to £1.7billion by 2025. While Mintel points to the trend amongst parents to be pickier in this category, searching for organic, natural, and nutritious options for their offspring.

What’s behind the new kids’ food scene in the UK?

The enduring story from founders of new brands is that they’ve carved out their own place in the market due to necessity, and their own experience. They’ve recognised the sparsity in the sector…but also the desire (for people like themselves) for higher quality products.

Cherrelle Beckitt, for example, set up The Family Food Co and is CEO of Pots for Tots. Her mission began with her own feeding journey while weaning her first child, and noticing a gap for guilt-free, nutritious options for her baby. “I found the choice of convenience food for children pretty disappointing,” Cherelle says. “Hidden nasties, mush-like consistency – it just didn’t ever feel like real food.”

Cherelle was also keenly aware of the omnipresence of childhood obesity in the UK, which has become a significant public health concern, leading to heightened scrutiny of the nutritional content of what they eat.

“This has led to an increasing emphasis on providing balanced, nutrient-dense options for children in the last few years.” And the formation of several better-for-you kids’ food companies.

More Toddler Meals founder Edward Van Der Lande’s story will chime with many working parents. Being placed overseas with the Army, he spent a great deal of time away from his pregnant wife and young son. “I think 2022, while I was in Somalia, was one of my most formative experiences,” Edward explains. “My wife was working full time, but we were conscious about doing weaning properly, introducing textures and tastes as per the guidance, batch cooking what we ate and freezing it.” There was so much to it, he says, and he felt guilty about the strain weaning was putting on his wife while he was away. Surely there could be a better solution?

“Looking at the toddler food market, it’s broadly split into two areas,” Edward continues. “One side is fresh options, with a lot coming up that’s good quality, but not necessarily very convenient as you have to take it out of the freezer and put it in the microwave. You can’t take it with you.

“The other side is pouches and sachets, which are super convenient, but they aren’t all high quality.” Edward developed a series of freeze-dried meals for children. Crafted with the guidance of a nutritionist, weighing only 40g, low in salt, but high in plants and protein, all parents have to do is “add water, and they’re ready to go”. 

“They’re designed to alleviate those pain points for parents.”

He sees the products as being part of an exciting new movement, amongst a number of challenger brands who are “appreciating the value of feedings kids actual food, rather than rusks, or something out of a jar.”

Freeze drying to retain nutrient value is exactly what Eva and Darren Joseph have done while bringing to market their own kids’ food brand – Eden’s Bloom – a range of powdered plant-based baby purees, made from whole fruits, vegetables and grains from sustainable sources.

Eva resonates with her fellow founders. “As a new mum starting to wean my six-month-old, I wanted to feed my daughter natural meals without compromising on quality,” she says. “I didn’t want to resort to shop-bought pouches and jars, so I spent hours in the kitchen batch cooking food in the evenings, which would then be mashed or pureed and frozen for the week ahead.”

When she lost her eyesight and was later diagnosed with a brain tumour, Eva knew something had to give. “This was the lightbulb moment that made me decide to set my sights on creating a product for children that would offer natural convenience feeding without the nasties.”

Through her research, and using protein and powdered nutrition supplements herself, she wondered why this approach couldn’t work for children too…and Eden’s Bloom was born.

Jess Cooks founder, Jess MacKenzie’s, own lightbulb moment landed when a friend marvelled over her freezer full of handy, homemade children’s meals, which she would whip out at a moment’s notice during play dates, serving them up with rice, pasta or potatoes. “My youngest was at primary school and I spent a lot of time with other mums, giving their kids tea,” Jess says. “I was really struck by how limited the options were for busy working parents once children start school and grow out of the baby and toddler products. I’m a keen cook and I wasn’t working full time, so I would take the time to cook from scratch, not falling back on the usual frozen options. But it made me think…what if you’re a mum or dad, working long hours? How often are you having to fall back on processed frozen food? I just felt I had to do something.”

A heavyweight name in the kids’ food sector, Annabel Karmel agrees that there are plenty of problems parents need to solve when it comes to feeding their children. Not only time, but the matter of health. And she believes that has a direct link to the number of start-ups in this sector – especially those in the profitable and growing frozen category.

“As the cost-of-living crisis continues to impact the country, retailers are putting their focus on the frozen aisle to offer customers great value, while still hitting the mark with high quality, nutritious products,” she says.

Right now “consumers aren’t prepared to gamble on their shopping budget, and our strong growth in frozen is testament to how crucial a freshly frozen, nutritionally-balanced range is in supporting busy, cost-conscious families.”

Inflation, Annabel continues, has undoubtedly given the frozen aisle a much-needed boost, but having the right line-up of trusted products is essential. “Consumers want great value but, rightfully, expectations remain high when it comes to packing in goodness.”

Why does kids’ food matter?

As Annabel has already explained, it’s all about health - educating children in healthy eating, and making healthy choices. And that starts at an early age.

“There’s so much in the media at the moment about unethical packaging and ultra processed foods aimed at children,” agrees Cherrelle. “I think it’s about time it was highlighted and addressed. I know first-hand how busy parents can be, and we need to be able to fall back on convenient food sometimes. We want parents to be able to do so without being misled by packaging, or compromising on their children’s health.”

Cherrelle thinks the industry faces many challenges in this respect, but also holds significant opportunities for innovation and improvement in delivering more sustainable, better food options for children. Though “healthier foods are not enough on their own. We need the bigger brands to take accountability and be more transparent with their food labelling. This also comes with a greater need for stricter regulations, advertising and marketing when it comes to children’s food.”

Parents are more concerned than ever before about what they give their children, adds Annabel. It matters to them. And it should matter to the NHS and government, with a pressing need to halt our obesity crisis, and in turn preventable disease. This is against a backdrop, though, Annabel says, of parents “juggling work, school, appointments, after school clubs, and the endless piles of laundry” which “doesn’t leave much time in the day for making healthy, homecooked family meals”.

Jess feels so strongly about turning the tide on children’s diets that she has recently founded the Kids Food & Drink Collective, bringing together other likeminded brands, having been inspired by a collective of hot sauce businesses who joined forces at a trade show she attended. “I just thought it was a brilliant idea. A way to shout louder about our cause, because we are very cause-led. We’re not just businesses. We do want to drive change, and we do want to improve children’s diets and to make things better.

“It’s a pretty dire situation at the moment in terms of children and diet and health, and we feel we have a part to play.” The collective, Jess hopes, will drive consumer and buyer awareness, while seeking to impact policy change around children’s food.

What is resonating with parents in kids’ food?

Health, as you may have already gathered, is THE buzzword not only in kids’ food, but in food generally right now. “In recent years the UK has witnessed a significant increase in demand for healthy meals,” says Cherrelle, adding that it’s a trend indicative of a broader societal shift towards prioritising wellness. 

“This surge has led to a proliferation of convenient, healthier choices for adults across various food sectors, including frozen meal delivery services and supermarkets. This appetite for healthier eating shows no signs of slowing down, and is now quickly filtering down to the baby, toddler and children’s food industry.”

Consumer trends, Cherrelle continues, show parents want to improve the way they feed their children, and are looking for ‘real food’ options when they don’t have time to cook.

Steering away from ultra processed food is a major consideration for today’s parents, adds Annabel. “In the UK, UPFs make up more than 60% of the average child’s daily caloric intake,” she reveals, saying that parents are “right to scrutinise prepared foods in their supermarkets”.

Eva has seen an explosion of desire amongst consumers for healthier options, and says she feels the children’s sector has been left to fester, putting young eaters at a disadvantage. But she hopes this is changing as parents put more emphasis on better food for their kids. “Historically, baby food pouches have been built on convenience for parents, but often they have had to compromise on the nutritional element,” Eva explains. “Most current baby food brands use a process of heating to ensure that their products contain nothing that is ‘alive’ such as bad bacteria, but this process can also kill the good bacteria too. Some of these products can also include nutrient powders to add vitamins and minerals, as well as emulsifiers or acids to keep the colour and consistency looking nice.”

All of these things, Eva says, are turn-offs to the modern parent. 

Guilt hangs heavy around parents’ necks, says Jess. Essentially, if we’re busy, and not able to devote the time to cooking well for our family, that weighs on us. As does the guilt that we’re possibly serving up the same dull, bland, beige food (such as fishfingers and nuggets) over and over again. “It’s really important to parents that their children’s food is better for them, and is made only with ingredients they would use at home.”

This is where premium kids’ meals, made by people who care, come in to save the day. Jess adds that parent founders bring their own expertise and experience with them to whatever they make. She, for example, ran cookery sessions for children for a number of years, which gave her a fascinating insight and grounding into how they operate around food, and how they feel about ingredients.

“We underestimate children’s palates,” Jess says. “I’ve become so aware of how much of the phenomenon of fussy eating is perpetuated by us as parents. From a kids’ brand, I don’t like the term ‘kids’ food’. If you look at the rest of Europe, the whole notion of children’s food doesn’t exist. From an early age they eat what the grown-ups eat. Fussy eating isn’t really a thing. One of my best friends is French and is baffled by the whole notion of fussy eating.”

From her experience, children are willing to try most things unless they have sensory issues or ASD. “They are more adventurous than we give them credit for. There’s no need for children’s food to be bland.”

As well as flavour, parents are turning to vegan or vegetarian meals for their children, tapping into the conversation about gut health, and trying to foster their delicate microbiomes from a young age.

In a now familiar tale, Wildly Tasty founder Louisa Mitchell said she couldn’t find nutritious, flavoursome plant-based convenience food for her child. Confronted with statistics about the amount of working parents in the UK, and their need for convenience while shunning unwanted additives, she set about founding her own kids’ food company. One with the clean ingredient decks consumers are actively looking for.

Louisa thinks more of us, but especially Gen-Z (the next generation of parents) are looking at the climate and food processes and trying to eat in a more ‘planet positive’ way. The Wildly Tasty brand packs in vegetables and pulses and doesn’t shy away from flavour, she says. “There’s a misconception that children like kind of bland food. But we’ve found the more flavour we added, the more our testers liked our products. We feel if children are tasting lots of different foods from a young age, they’ll grow up wanting to try more different things.”

Why should speciality retailers consider stocking premium kids’ meals?

“There’s a huge demand in the retail space for healthier children’s meals,” says Cherelle. “Retailers need to show they value the health of children by providing little ones with the real food they deserve,” she continues, “and parents the convenience they so desperately need, without the guilt of ultra processed ready meals and pouches.”

Shopping these days is about whole family nutrition, Edward agrees. “Gone are the days when we’ll feed the kids whatever they have at 5pm, while we have ‘proper food’ later. Kids are growing, and they need good quality food. It makes sense for farm shops to sell options for them as well. If we can raise the category, offering kids’ food in that setting, a family may very well buy more of their weekly shop there, knowing they can get everything in the same place.” Adding children’s meals is a good way to add value for customers, Edward exerts.

Waste is another consideration for retailers choosing premium frozen children’s meals, Louisa adds. “I’ve definitely noticed that for the farm shops and garden centres we supply, frozen is a ‘thing’. They are tapping into it more and more, and increasing the number of freezers they have.” Customers are taking premium frozen more seriously too, particularly home cooked-style food. And it’s a “low risk investment. You’ve got the potential to sell really nice quality food that has a (mostly) 12-month shelf life.”

Farm shops, Jess agrees, are in a very good position to offer up a dedicated freezer for kids’ meals, bringing together perhaps three or four complementary brands, to give shoppers a ‘hub’ where they can experiment and trial different products. “There’s strength in numbers,” she says. “We just need that recognition from retailers. Being seen is one of the hardest things to achieve. I’d love to see a freezer filled with Jess Cooks, Pots for Tots, Cook’s children’s range and others.”

If the new government “stays true to HFSS and clamping down on that,” she adds, “there will be a responsibility on retailers to create a healthier environment, and I hope there will be more room for us.” Premium kids’ food is an “untapped area” for retail, Jess continues. “The problem so far was that the category hasn’t been big enough for retailers to curate a whole range, putting the odd meal amongst the frozen chickens, but they need to take the plunge and have a whole frozen category dedicated to healthier options for families. Gradually the assumption that frozen is cheap and nasty is starting to shift here, as it has done with adult frozen food. Premium frozen food is a no-brainer.”

Annabel says retailers taking their first tentative steps into this arena would do well to ‘play it safe’ with tried and tested flavours before offering anything too exotic. “If you can pretty much guarantee your child is going to enjoy a meal with minimum wastage, you’ll invest in that product and brand,” she says. “Children are famously finicky eaters, so once a customer finds a product that their child enjoys, they will buy from those brands time and time again.”

With the bestsellers in premium ‘adult’ ready meals being curries and lasagne, and plenty of ‘child-friendly’ and healthy versions of these products emerging, the opportunity to ‘bridge’ meals across generations in a convenient way, has never been stronger.