Kraft Heinz is on a mission to transform Lunchables and dominate the school cafeteria.
The prepackaged meal kits, already a billion-dollar business, will be served as a lunch option in some U.S. schools this fall.
According to a quarterly report published in May, the company estimates that education foodservice is an untapped potential market of $25 billion.
To meet federal guidelines for the National School Lunch Program, Kraft Heinz has modified its turkey-and-cheese and pizza lunchables to increase protein content.
However, the modified product, which increases the portion size, has resulted in an increased sodium content compared to the store version. reported the Washington Post.
A cafeteria worker prepares Lunchables for lunch at Pembroke Middle School in North Carolina
To meet federal guidelines for the National School Lunch Program, Kraft Heinz has modified its turkey and cheese lunchables and pizza to increase protein content
Making the iconic yellow meals eligible for school lunches is a deliberate strategy to reach a new generation of consumers, which it hopes will also boost supermarket sales
However, Kraft Heinz said the brand is focused on cutting sodium, sugar and saturated fat, and recently reduced salt and oil ingredients in its crackers.
It also recently launched a new line of Lunchables featuring fresh fruit, which it plans to sell in grocery store aisles.
Executives told the Wall Street Journal the company would likely offer a wider selection of Lunchables to schools in the future.
The company has promoted the meal boxes, first introduced in 1988, as a way for schools to reduce their labor costs.
Eligibility of the iconic yellow meals for school lunches is a deliberate strategy to reach a new generation of consumers, which they hope will also boost supermarket sales.
“The kids have it and then they go to retail and see it,” said the company’s new CEO, Carlos Abrams-Rivera. the Wall Street Journal.
“(It’s) a penetration machine,” current CEO Miguel Patricio added.
Consumers have long been concerned about the salt content and processing in Lunchables, but during the pandemic people have tended to lean away from more natural products and return to well-known big brands.
The company has promoted the meal boxes, first introduced in 1988, as a way for schools to reduce their labor costs
It says the brand is focusing on reducing sodium, sugar and saturated fat in their future product offerings
The move to serve Lunchables in student cafeterias has drawn resistance from some child nutrition advocates and school lunch officials
Kraft Heinz is on a mission to transform Lunchables and dominate the school lunch market
The move has drawn resistance from some child nutrition advocates, school meal officials and parents who see the products as a step backward for school meal programs.
“While it is brilliant marketing on Kraft’s part, we have sold our children for Kraft to build market share in this way,” Barbara Whitaker, a mother from Washington state, wrote in a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Some advocacy groups, including the Center for Science in the Public Interest, said the addition of Lunchables to school menus is little more than a symptom of a broken system for feeding children.
The Biden administration proposed new rules earlier this year to limit the amount of sugar and salt in school meals.
Earlier this month, the government also announced $30 million in grants to boost school feeding in more than 250 small and rural communities.
Kraft Heinz’s focus on schools is part of an effort to boost its foodservice division, which largely focuses on restaurants and bars.
North American foodservice accounted for 9 percent of Kraft Heinz’s total sales last year, compared to 66 percent from retail, the company said.
In the long term, Kraft Heinz targets organic sales growth of 5 percent in the foodservice division, compared to 1 to 2 percent in US retail.