Fresh & frozen gourmet baby food

While organic and gourmet baby food aren’t new, they’ve mostly been limited to jarred varieties. Start-ups in two categories are widening the options for parents who want to feed their infants something fresh, but don’t have the time or talent to prepare their own gourmet purées. They also provide inspiring examples for entrepreneurs interested in catering to this niche. Fresh First, there’s the refrigerated, prepared foods section. Following the lead of fresh convenience foods for adults, companies like Swedish Gapa are focused on creating fresh, healthy and tasty foods for tiny people. Gapa, which is Swedish for open your mouth, is conservative-free and sold in cheerful containers in Sweden’s second largest supermarket, as well as in four trendy restaurants, a smart move for reaching parents who enjoy taking their babies out for dinner. In the United States, several entrepreneurs have developed similar concepts. Californian Homemade Baby’s certified organic and kosher food for infants and toddlers is freshly made each day. Stressing an important selling point of gourmet baby foods, Homemade Baby claims that “when babies learn what real food tastes like and how good it makes their little tummies feel, they are on their way to making good food choices for life.” Californian tots can also dine on fresh organic baby foods from Bohemian Baby, available for those aged 6–15 months. Bohemian Baby offers home delivery within LA. A USD 45 start kit contains a special cooler and four jars of food. On the East Coast, Evie’s Organic Edibles delivers freshly made foods within Manhattan. Parents can select dishes from menus that vary weekly and are designed to help stimulate developing taste buds. Websites: www.gapa.se – www.homemadebaby.com – www.bohemian-baby.com – www.eviesorganicedibles.com Frozen Gourmet, ready-made baby food also extends to the frozen food aisle, where inspiration can be found from Mom Made, Plum Organics, Happy Baby and NummyNums, all offering food that’s organic and flash-frozen, locking in flavour and nutrients. Most of these brands are relatively small and regional start-ups, founded by parents who couldn’t find foods they wanted to feed their babies and toddlers. We haven’t spotted any of the major manufacturers venturing into fresh or frozen baby food, so now’s the time to start your own line of delectable and healthy dinners for wee ones (by the time you’re up and running, they’ll be ready to buy you! ;-). As Happy Baby puts it, “think outside the jar.” How to make your brand stand out? Beautiful and informative packaging will obviously help win shelf space at upmarket supermarkets, and Gapa’s idea of selling to restaurants is clever. As are Happy Baby’s combined packs, containing two flavours each, and all of the convenient frozen portion concepts that can go straight from freezer to microwave. Last but not least, home delivery is a good way to get this type of business up and running. So get cooking! 😉 Websites: www.mommadefoods.com – www.plumorganics.com – www.happybabyfood.com – www.nummynums.com Spotted by: Okee Williams Related: Halal baby food