It’s 6am: Do You Know What Millennials Are Feeding Their Babies?
For the last 15 years, millennials have made quite an impact on the food and beverage industry. They demand food that tastes good, is good for them, and is also good for the environment. And now that they’re entering the parenting years, their preferences are influencing a whole new category: baby food.40% of millennials—that’s 32 million people—are parents who are paying close attention to the food they serve their kids. A new study by the Culinary Visions Panel’s Mindful Dining Initiative Project asked 1500 American consumers their feelings on ethically sourced foods. While 50% of general consumers say organic foods taste better, 60% of consumers younger than 35 equated organic foods with better taste. Another study from Nielsen revealed that three out of four millennials are willing to pay more for products and services that come from companies committed to making a positive social and environmental impact.So it should come as no surprise that millennial parents are also concerned with what’s in the food they’re serving their kids. Parents who want to give their kids flavorful food are also looking for a thorough understanding of baby and toddler food ingredients.Tiny Human Food is a baby food brand I bumped into at Expo West. I met the inspiring founder, Ashley Rossi, and needed to share all that is great about this brand.Quickly discovering the unsatisfactory way shelf-stable foods are processed, and the way antibiotics and steroids are used in the meat industry, Ashley decided to make her own baby food. After creating a process that keeps the food in its most natural state (it really tastes like pureed veggies!), she decided to share her creations with other parents. Currently, her small-batch baby food is available in 6 different varieties.Most baby food is processed using ultra high temperatures that destroys the nutrients in raw ingredients, but Tiny Human Food is cold pressed under high pressure pasteurization to preserve its nutrient-dense profile. Then, it’s delivered fresh to your door -- no more worrying about shelf-stability!Tiny Human Food was awarded a Best in Class Certification from The Clean Label Project, an organization that tests for 130 harmful environmental and industrial contaminants and toxins. And of course, Tiny Human Food gives part of their proceeds to help end the cycle of homelessness for children in the Chicago area.As this trend in small-batch, sustainable baby food geared toward millennials continues to grow, you’ll see more and more brands popping up. Happy Family (originally Happy Baby) and Plum Organics (both of which have been acquired by Danone and Campbells, respectively) are also complete lines of organic baby food, formula, cereals, rice cakes, puffs, and teething wafers. Developed by inspiring founder Shazi Vizram, Happy Family’s mission is to change children’s health through nutrition. Both of these companies are certified B corporations (a topic we’ll tackle on here soon), which means they meet standards of social and environmental performance and accountability. Both are doing well with millennial parents.And if that wasn’t enough, check out the brand websites. Tiny Human Food is ADORABLE! I don’t have babies anymore and I want to buy it.But don’t just take my word for it. We ran one of our proprietary I-Factor® studies on the baby food category, and we know that the newer organic and natural brands are hands down beating the legacies. When we look across The 3 Components of Irresistibility, consumers are 37% more likely to share the brands that make a concerted effort to be transparent and demonstrate their guiding values around responsibility. But it doesn’t have to be that way.Need some help reaching millennial parents? Just shoot me a note.