A new, healthy food startup called More, Please Organics led by self-proclaimed foodie mom Ellen Green focused on hiding more nutrients in foods for her growing toddler. With recipes for hiding spinach in brownies or using beets for color in red-velvet cupcakes, Ellen was sneaking good ingredients into snack foods for her children and local birthday parties in Austin, Texas. The popularity of her products with likeminded parents led Ellen to create a set of starter puree recipes for babies and toddlers, energeticly named Hip Hip, Purees. Ellen looked to consider broader distribution, assistance with making the product standardized and ready to sell, along with go-to-market strategy in the hopes that she could make America’s children healthier one bite at a time.
Understanding the Market
The market for organic and specialized baby food was growing in 2008. Companies like Happy Baby (now Happy Families) and Plum Baby (now Plum Organic) were getting distribution in local markets like New York and London with Plum Baby distributed to 2,500 grocers in the UK. Organic baby food sales in the United States in 2005 generated approximately $116 million dollars and was growing at a steady clip year-over-year in the time since. By 2009 studies showed that, consumers were willing to pay 17-26% more for products that were labeled organic for their children.
Finding the Yum Factor
The genesis of the brand name More Please came from the idea that when children really like foods, they ask for more (please). Striking a blance between what kids like and what parents will buy meant focusing on two demographics, parents and the children who they feed. The target age for the first line of products was babies and toddlers, so the only pester power we could generate would be making the food yummy. In our focus groups, we learned that parents wanted organic and healthy foods that kids love. They wanted sustainable packaging and easy to carry, offer, and dispose of. Many parents had concerns about developing picky eaters and wanted simple recipes that could introduce their children to new flavors in a subtle manner.
Graduating to a Commercial Kitchen
Once we identified our target demographic, assessed their needs and preferences, and created a set of recipes that would have the kids asking for more, we realized it was time to move out of Ellen’s kitchen. We were fortunate to find a fractional kitchen whose owner was also a wealth of knowlege about food preparation,storage and transport laws. This was a huge time savings and shortcut that allowed us to learn on the spot and create partnerships to help better understand the complicated landscape of starting a food business.
Designing Packaging
In 2008 when we were engaged in this product, there weren’t clever, ready-made pouches available for liquids and purees. In fact, the baby food market likely pioneered this packaging. In looking at our original explorations, we tested the materials for pouches like many of the purees on the market today. However, in the end, due to the strong preferences of our target market we opted for purees in jars as they could be recycled and followed on with a spoon in the lid for final packaging.
