What children (and parents) need for fall

Apples have it good. This sweet, hardy, portable fruit is in peak harvest season right when schoolchildren need packed lunches.

Talk about perfect timing, right?

A lot of North American produce becomes available in the fall, but regardless, many shoppers are sending their children off to school and have similar lunch-packing and snacking needs.

Fresh produce needs to be affordable, convenient and, possibly most important, actually eaten by children once their parents aren’t around to watch.

Healthy Family Project will kick off its back-to-school campaign August 8, focusing its marketing content on helping families acclimate to the new fall schedule.

This organization and its Produce for Kids program, the cause-marketing creation of Shuman Farms, Reidsville, Ga., raises money for food banks through Feeding America but also collaborates with produce suppliers and retailers to increase families’ produce consumption.

“This year, we’ve featured our produce partners in relevant lifestyle content,” said Amanda Keefer, managing director of Healthy Family Project. “We felt like it was important this year to not only share lunchbox recipes and easy weeknight meals, but incorporate our partner brands into lifestyle content.”

For example, blog posts “Tips for Boosting Immunity for Back to School” and “Healthy Sports Snacks” both feature Bee Sweet Citrus and Jazz apples.

And the organization’s health-conscious brand partners — all produce this year — are donating $14,000 to the Foundation for Fresh Produce to specifically fund programs that increase accessibility to fruits and vegetables in schools.

Campaigns

On August 27, select Hy-Vee stores will host Hy-Vee’s annual August Health Fair, inviting parents and children to receive back-to-school recipes and learn more about Hy-Vee’s health and wellness programs, including Healthy Habits and Freezer Meal Workshops.

“We have a few things in the works for back to school,” said Christina Gayman, assistant vice president of communications for the West Des Moines, Iowa-based grocery retailer.

The company will also participate in Food Marketing Institute’s National Family Meals Month, which is in September. The institute is trying to create an industrywide movement to raise awareness of the benefits of frequent family meals, offering retailer toolkits, which include infographics and supporting research, to spread the message to consumers and employees.

Hy-Vee’s Kids Eat Free program runs through August and September, involving Hy-Vee’s Market Grilles and Wahlburgers with the purchase of an adult entrée.

At Harps Food Stores, based in Fayetteville, Ark., the Produce for Kids Saturdays campaign has been successful with both shoppers and the produce teams at store level, Keefer said.

“Each week, the produce team hands out Produce Bucks allowing kids to try to new fruits and vegetables,” Keefer said, and “each week features a different produce partner of the store’s cause-marketing campaign, which supports food banks in the Harps market area.”
A fall Military Produce Group campaign will center on Family Meals Month and getting families in the kitchen, hosting a coloring contest and cooking class exclusive to military families.

Size matters

Smaller is better when marketing to families, at least for the individual produce portions. And then it helps to put those smaller fruits and vegetables in large packages that suit a family’s weekly shop. After all, they don’t have time to go to the store, or even order delivery, every day.

Lil Snappers from Stemilt Growers Wenatchee, Wash., are smaller apples than the usual size you see in bulk store bins. The fruit is “kid-sized,” Marketing Director Brianna Shales said.

“We chose the 3-pound size for Lil Snappers with great intent,” Shales said. “It’s the package size that meets the weekly shopping habits of parents and will ensure that two children can enjoy a piece of our fruit every day for a school week.”

Nature Fresh Farms, Leamington, Ontario, is launching its Nature Fresh Farms Snack Supplies line of medley tomatoes, tiny cucumbers and mini sweet peppers, said Jane Rhyno, vice president of marketing and category development.

“Families are looking for convenient snack options that aren’t loaded with sugar,” she said. “The grab-and-go bags are a healthy, tasty and convenient go-to choice for busy families.”

Valencia orange volume was up 41% through the second week of July, compared to the same time in 2021, with shoppers' preference towards 8-pound and 3-pound bag options at retail, said Christina Ward, senior director of global marketing at Sunkist Growers in Valencia, Calif.

“With this in mind, we have developed marketing campaigns geared towards families with school-aged children,” Ward said. “We know these families are looking for easy, nutritious and tasty solutions for weekday breakfasts, school lunchboxes and after-school snacks — especially as they readjust to the hustle and bustle of their school-year routines.”

Make it fun

Each 4-ounce pouch of Nature Fresh Snack Supplies includes collectable stickers, plus a kid-friendly game such as a word search, maze or crossword puzzle.

“When we were discussing packaging, our team reminisced about the games on the back of cereal boxes and the toys inside them that used to draw us in as kids,” Rhyno said. “We thought these same concepts could work for our Snack Supplies.”

Plus, the packaging design is bright, colorful, and school-themed to get kids excited about picking healthy snack options for their lunches.

The fun can be data-driven.

Sunkist Growers research found that 75% of shoppers are buying lemons for recipes, and shoppers also increase their basket spend by 38% when lemons and strawberries are purchased on the same trip, compared to the average strawberry trip, Ward said.

So, for a limited time through Labor Day, Sunkist is offering retailers a new square bin featuring the Wildbrain’s YouTube and Netflix Strawberry Shortcake series, “Berry in the Big City,” cartoon characters Lemon Meringue and Strawberry Shortcake to engage with shoppers at the point-of-purchase in-store.

Taste, innovation, convenience

But no matter how jazzy the packaging or display, the tasting experience must also convince children and adults alike.

“We need to continue to breathe life into the produce industry with items that will not only resonate with retailers [to increase] their product offering but with consumers who are looking for healthy alternatives,” said Chris Veillon, chief marketing officer of Pure Hothouse Foods Inc. and the Pure Flavor brand, based in Leamington, Ontario.

“A new pack style for an existing item won’t increase consumption,” he said. “Fresh new items that are focused on convenience or enhanced flavor profiles can help ring the bell on several levels.”