CPG brand urges consumers to choose fresh produce over packaged snacks

Kind Snacks is calling on Americans to eat fresh, whole foods, such as whole nuts, seeds, vegetables, fruit and grains, instead of packaged foods — including the company's own products that include packaged nut bars, protein bars, breakfast bars and other snacks

“There’s a time and place for eating a Kind bar, but we believe it should never replace eating the whole, fresh foods that are essential to staying healthy,” Russell Stokes, CEO at Kind, said in a statement. “Since our founding, we’ve always advocated for nutrition transparency and encouraged people to eat better, even if that means buying raw almonds and fresh apples over our bars.”

While Kind says all of its snacks are made with a nutrient-dense first ingredient such as nuts, whole grains or fruit, the N.Y.-based company’s latest nutrition initiative aims to educate people that its snacks are a “runner-up option” to snacking on whole foods such as fresh fruit, raw nuts and seeds on their own.

At the same time, Kind has launched what it calls its “healthiest” offering yet: The Kind Whole Fruit and Nut Box. Filled with fresh fruit, raw nuts and seeds, the box will be available exclusively on the Kind website while supplies last, according to a press release. 

To further promote the consumption of nutrient-dense whole foods and in celebration of National Nutrition Month in March, Kind will stop selling its packaged snacks on kindsnacks.com on March 1 and 2, while encouraging consumers to purchase its Whole Fruit and Nut Box instead. 

“According to the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention], only about 12% of American adults are eating enough fruits and vegetables,” Sammi Brondo, registered dietitian and Kind spokesperson, said in a release. “Instead, they are relying on easy, convenience foods that usually don’t contain the same important nutrients as fresh produce. Kind’s efforts will be a small, but highly effective, way to help in our nationwide effort to make fruits and vegetables more easily accessible and readily consumed.”

In conjunction with its new product launch, Kind debuted a faux Kind bar-filled vending machine in New York City’s Greenwich Village neighborhood on Feb. 23 and 24. When consumers attempt to purchase a snack from the vending machine, they are instead invited to enter the Secret Kind Farmers Market, where they can fill their baskets, free-of-charge, with fresh, whole produce such as fruits and vegetables, rather than packaged snacks.