The pressure is on to provide children with healthier and fresher options, but mums still enjoy putting small treats in lunchboxes - as long as they’re part of a balanced diet
Lunch wouldn’t be the same without a choccie biscuit or cake bar tucked into the Tupperware box and many consumers are looking for a treat to lift the working day.
Kit Kat is the real lunchbox stalwart and Nestlé Rowntree is launching a 27-variety pack of Kit Kat, with milk, white and dark bars for £2.99. “It allows mums to put a variety of different bars into lunchboxes and makes them more interesting,” says Graham Walker, Nestlé Rowntree’s sales communication manager.
“And the fact we have advertised the two-finger product on TV for the first time helps crystallise the lunchbox usage occasion.”
Other manufacturers are keen to give consumers a bit of variety at lunchtime and Fox’s Biscuits, for example, has developed different products and packaging - from individually wrapped bars to small portion packs.
It reckons mums are still happy, within the
context of a balanced diet, to include a chocolate biscuit bar in their children’s lunchbox as a trea, and targets its Rocky brand at young families, including its Rocky RUKs, a caramel and chocolate cream sandwich for children launched this month. Fox’s Echo, meanwhile, is the adult offering.
However, kids are rapidly becoming off limits for manufacturers at lunchtime. Blanket media coverage about the dangers of too much fat and sugar, and even some schools banning what they perceive as unhealthy fare, has meant parents are under pressure to pack their kids apples and oranges rather than something sweeter.
Rebecca Allinson, marketing manager at McVitie’s Cakes, explains: “Parents are getting more conscious of what they’re putting in children’s lunchboxes and switching to products that are perceived to be healthier.”
Burton’s Foods has responded by reducing levels of sugar, salt and artificial flavours in its products for children and has also dropped the number of biscuits in its Mini Jammie Dodgers packs from six to four as it realised it was being over-generous with its portions.
The decrease of the effectiveness of ‘pester power’ means that manufacturers such as McVitie’s can really only target adult lunchboxes with its products such as flapjacks, adds Allinson.
Martin Wiltshire, marketing controller at Memory Lane Cakes, reckons a combination of local authority/Ofsted recommendations, parental concerns and parental peer pressure are making cakes less and less welcome in kids’ lunchboxes.
Still, cakes are seen by some as more wholesome and Cadbury Mini Rolls are eaten by all the family, reckons Manor Bakeries. Marketing director Jill Caseberry is confident the category has even more potential.
“The cake category has a lower penetration with kids than other sweet snacks, yet the inherent foodie quality of cakes scores highly with mums, so there is a good opportunity for long-term growth,” she says.
Lunch wouldn’t be the same without a choccie biscuit or cake bar tucked into the Tupperware box and many consumers are looking for a treat to lift the working day.
Kit Kat is the real lunchbox stalwart and Nestlé Rowntree is launching a 27-variety pack of Kit Kat, with milk, white and dark bars for £2.99. “It allows mums to put a variety of different bars into lunchboxes and makes them more interesting,” says Graham Walker, Nestlé Rowntree’s sales communication manager.
“And the fact we have advertised the two-finger product on TV for the first time helps crystallise the lunchbox usage occasion.”
Other manufacturers are keen to give consumers a bit of variety at lunchtime and Fox’s Biscuits, for example, has developed different products and packaging - from individually wrapped bars to small portion packs.
It reckons mums are still happy, within the
context of a balanced diet, to include a chocolate biscuit bar in their children’s lunchbox as a trea, and targets its Rocky brand at young families, including its Rocky RUKs, a caramel and chocolate cream sandwich for children launched this month. Fox’s Echo, meanwhile, is the adult offering.
However, kids are rapidly becoming off limits for manufacturers at lunchtime. Blanket media coverage about the dangers of too much fat and sugar, and even some schools banning what they perceive as unhealthy fare, has meant parents are under pressure to pack their kids apples and oranges rather than something sweeter.
Rebecca Allinson, marketing manager at McVitie’s Cakes, explains: “Parents are getting more conscious of what they’re putting in children’s lunchboxes and switching to products that are perceived to be healthier.”
Burton’s Foods has responded by reducing levels of sugar, salt and artificial flavours in its products for children and has also dropped the number of biscuits in its Mini Jammie Dodgers packs from six to four as it realised it was being over-generous with its portions.
The decrease of the effectiveness of ‘pester power’ means that manufacturers such as McVitie’s can really only target adult lunchboxes with its products such as flapjacks, adds Allinson.
Martin Wiltshire, marketing controller at Memory Lane Cakes, reckons a combination of local authority/Ofsted recommendations, parental concerns and parental peer pressure are making cakes less and less welcome in kids’ lunchboxes.
Still, cakes are seen by some as more wholesome and Cadbury Mini Rolls are eaten by all the family, reckons Manor Bakeries. Marketing director Jill Caseberry is confident the category has even more potential.
“The cake category has a lower penetration with kids than other sweet snacks, yet the inherent foodie quality of cakes scores highly with mums, so there is a good opportunity for long-term growth,” she says.
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