GET ON THE BUS!

Healthy, Natural Options Abound To Stock The Natural Lunchbox

While the summer reading lists sit gathering dust, it seems unfair to bring that big yel low bus into your s tore, reminding children of the fleeting joys of summertime fun. However, for retailers, advance planning can help maximize exposure and remind parents there are healthy options for this year’s return to the hallways.

“Back to school continues to be a key time for retailers,” noted Aimee Sands, public relations and community marketing manager, Annie’s Homegrown. “As parents shop for new books, clothing and supplies, they’re also considering easy school lunch opt ions , study break snacks and nutritious treats. Parents are hungry for information about healthy choices, and retailers can drive sales and build excitement by filling this need.”

Blaine Yates, chief executive officer (CEO), Xlear, agreed there i s great potential for retailers of natural products. “Back to school is still a category that retailers rally around,” he said. “For the natural and organic food category, opportunity still exists for those families that would rather their children pack their lunches and eat healthier snacks while at school.”

In addition, the back to school push can serve as a gateway into the larger natural and organic category. “This is a great time to at tract new consumers,” said Nicole Bernard Dawes, president, Late July Organic Snacks. “It’s the time of year where parents reevaluate their buying choices and take time to learn about healthier alternatives.”

In fact, consumers are taking action, becoming more articulate and informed about organic foods. Laurie Demerit t, president of The Hartman Group, a market research and trends firm, said bloggers and mom’s groups are sharing information about food and food processing; she added when parents hear something through their social network that resonates with their values, it has a major effect on purchase behaviors.

This interest is helping drive sales of organic products across the board. The Organic Trade Association’s (OTA) 2007 Manufacturer Survey showed U.S. organic food sales totaled nearly $17 billion in 2006, representing 3 percent of all retail sales of food, which was up from 2.5 percent in 2005.

Interestingly, one of the greatest growth opportunities appears to be in the children’s products area. “There’s been a huge opportunity in children’s packaged foods for quite a while to create organic versions of products in traditional key categories like snacks, on-the-go foods and frozen foods,” Demeritt said. “Until recently, we haven’t seen a lot of entrants into children’s packaged foods that are doing a great job of capitalizing on that. If manufacturers really understood why consumers are entering organic and what they’re using it for, I think we would see more entries into the organic children’s food space.”

There are several factors as to why consumers are selecting organic foods, and looking for more kid-friendly opt ions. Yates said, “Parent s are looking for healthier alternatives for their children, but products their kids will actually eat or drink. In addition, there is a great push by industry and government officials on manufacturers to produce offerings that are healthier for kids, i.e., less sugar, less fat, more whole grains, etc. The combination of parent s, lawmakers and medical professionals is putting pressure on retailers to make healthier products more readily available. So natural and organic food and beverage manufacturers have a great window of opportunity to promote the benefits of their products and capture store shelves from their less healthy competitors.”

Carmelle Druchniak, Stonyfield Farms , agreed there is greater awareness opening up the category. “Parents want to know they’re providing their children with healthy foods, and limiting their exposure to empty calories as well as artificial colors and flavors,” she said. “More parent s are al so learning about the benefits of organic foods, made with ingredients grown without the use of toxic and persistent chemicals in favor of more ‘ear th friendly’ practices that work in harmony with nature.”

This concern with food safety, illustrated by theme lamine contamination and subsequent media attention, is also having an effect. “This has underscored to parents the need to care where their food comes from, what ’s in it and the impact of their buying choices on the food chain,” Dawes said. “Parent s are checking ingredients twice to avoid sending their kids to school wit h products that contain trans fats, highly refined sugar and food grown with dangerous pesticides.”

Dawes also noted children are be coming more educated and informed about nutrition at earlier ages. Brad Halpern, CEO, Eggology, agreed, adding: “Children are smarter regarding nutrition, and more exposed to advertising than ever before. This combination makes for a strong effort to remake a category that by-and-large has historically been one of the worst nutritionally.”

Those nutritionally-deficient food choices have had a significant health cost—childhood obesity—possibly the primary driver in the move toward healthier children’s foods. The American Obesity Association (AOA) notes approximately 30 percent of children ages 6 to 19 are overweight with a body mass index (BMI) at or above the 85th percentile, with half of those children qualifying as obese (BMI at or above the 95th percentile) . And the prevalence of obesity has quadrupled over the past 25 years, according to the Center s for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

“Media attention on the issue of health and obesity has exploded,” said Roberta Greenspan, founder, Maddie’s Beverage Co. “You can’ t cross the street without hearing about childhood obesity, and the possibility that these children will have a shorter lifespan than their parents. That’s hard to miss and makes parents want to instill healthy habits early.”

Among those healthy habits are choosing more natural products and watching calorie intake. “Portion control has also become a lot more prevalent in the natural channel,” said Kent Spaulding, director of marketing, Barbara’s Bakery. “Also, Americans are on-the-go consumers, so anything you can do to address that lifestyle with healthy alternatives that taste good helps the cause and can inspire interest.” In fact, there are a growing number of manufacturers developing and launching on-the-go, healthy options for children. Druchniak noted, “The selection of organic and all - natural snacks has never been greater for back-to-school, health-conscious shoppers. In 2003, when Stonyfield

Farm launched its healthy vending machine-initiative, we were hard-pressed to find many organic and all-natural foods in snack size. Now companies like Late July, Heal thy Handfuls, Clif and others are providing parents with healthy choices, whether for lunch boxes or after-school snacks.”

Dawes noted Late July’s entry into the healthy snack space was driven by parents’ expectations. “As a child of the 1970s natural food movement, my own lunch box of carob-covered rice cakes and Nori snacks is a world away from what kids can get today,” she said.

“Now, organic snacks are conventional in look and feel, but better for you and better for the planet. As a busy working mother, I’m constantly in the position where I need to give my children a snack on the go, but I’m not willing to compromise on the integrity of the ingredients for convenience. Organic snacks offer me the ability to offer quick bites between meals without forcing me to sacrifice my ideals. Mothers like me are driving the success of this segment because we see snacks as a necessary part of childhood, but we want to make better choices.”

Several mothers are actually the driving force behind several of the companies serving this segment. Debbie Reynolds, founder, Healthy Handfuls, noted her company has had tremendous response to its line of good tasting, portion-controlled snacks. “Small children don’t like to sit still and eat, so snacking is a greater part of how they’re getting nutrition,” she said. “Children and parents need nutrition in them on the go, and healthy snacks are better.”

Other moms on the scene include Annie Bennett, founder, My Family Farm, which offers a line of all-natural and organic cookies and crackers; and Mary Schulman, co-founder, Snikiddy Snacks, which developed portion-controlled packages of cookies and crackers made with unrefined sugars to help avoid blood sugar spikes. Greenspan, too, launched her line of aseptic-packaged waters to fill a personal need. “After I had my first child, I didn’t want to give her a lot of juice, but couldn’t find a portable, healthy beverage,” she recalled. “This is a convenient, tactile item for the child with the straw, and it looks child-friendly. It’s just water with the flavor, so it tastes good without adding sweeteners or other ingredients.”

Sweeteners are an important issue when looking at labels, and some companies are using more natural options with added health benefits. Xlear, for example, developed a line of products using xylitol, an all-natural sugar alcohol that has been shown to decrease the risk of dental caries. “Our Spry chewing gum and mints come in multiple flavors and can help cure the sweet tooth,” Yates said, “and kids will not be able to tell the difference between sugar-flavored candy and our SparX candy.”

Having a clean label is increasingly important. “It’s certain you want your kids to eat an apple over a bag of cookies, but if they’re going to eat cookies, choose a natural alternative that can avoid putting more artificial flavors, preservatives and hydrogenated oils in their bodies,” Spalding said.

Ultimately, retailers can use the back-to-school time to help educate parent s about the many opt ions available to meet their health and convenience requirements. “From product highlights in weekly mailers to prominent product location in stores to coupons and discounts, retailers can certainly drive consumer interest in the natural and organic food and beverage offerings for children,” Yates said.

And there’s always the option of the big yellow bus, Greenspan said. “Why shouldn’t natural product s retailers have their own school bus filled with legitimately healthy options,” she said. “They have the opportunity to discriminate and single out truly healthy products, and work with those manufacturers to bring the story to interested shoppers.”

Multis Support Kids’ Health

While natural products shoppers are turning to organic and natural foods to support their children’s health, more than one-quarter of all U.S. children are hungry or atrisk for hunger. Children with nutritional deficiencies, even mild malnutrition, may suffer stunted growth, chronic illness and impaired brain function.

Fortunately, the natural products industry has been working to help support the health of at-risk children. Vitamin Relief USA’s Children First program distributes free, high-quality children’s chewable vitamins through collaborative distribution sites, such as Head Start centers, public schools and other community-based organizations across the country. Currently, more than 26,000 children in 31 states receive daily multivitamins to support their health. The impact has been striking, according to teachers and parents. A recent report from VRUSA discussed the impact the program has had in some of the poorest areas of the Mississippi Delta, where Natural Alternatives International (NAI) has provided more than 6 million children’s chewables since March 2006. Elementary school parents in Sunflower County whose children received NAI’s vitamins exclusively for six months reported dramatic improvements in their children. Eighty percent of surveyed parents reported an increase in the children’s energy, while 78 percent reported an increase in appetite. More than half of the parents said children showed an increase in physical activity, sleep and wellbeing; over 40 percent reported higher self-esteem, more positive attitude, improved grades and social behavior. When planning back to school promotions, consider raising funds to support VRUSA or other organizations seeking to help all children improve their health and school performance. www.VitaminRelief.org 

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