Spice, spice baby?
Can feeding time for our little tots be as exciting as dinner for grown-ups?
Can babies and infants develop a more sophisticated palate? Do they deserve something more exciting than fish fingers and chicken nuggets? And is there a market for more exciting tastes for tots?
Our UK users — or bees — with kids under 5 shared their thoughts with us (and The Grocer liked their insights so much that they helped fire its special report on the category).
I’ll have what mummy is having
Parents really want their kids to enjoy their food as much as they do. An almost unanimous 98% said that they would like their child to have a varied palate from a young age. In addition, 9 in 10 believe that young children should have just as many food options as adults.
Surely these tots are not old enough to enjoy lots of different tastes? Parents disagree — less than 1 in 5 (18%) believe their child is too young to appreciate a broad variety of food options. Even for parents of kids under 12 months, this figure only rises to 2 in 5.
And while health (74%) and value for money (64%) are the top two factors parents consider when buying food for their young children, more than 1 in 2 (54%) say taste is also key.
Parents need a guiding hand
However, many feel they aren’t able to give their children access to as wide range of dishes as they would like.
More than 7 in 10 (71%) believe there should be more recipes available for meals to feed their young children, while almost 1 in 2 (47%) say there isn’t enough info out there on the best and most nutritious foods for them.
So why are parents finding it so hard? Well, thanks to convenience and variety, the supermarket is by far and away parents’ top choice for picking up baby and infant food — 97% said that this was their preferred place, while just 3% go to a specialist store (like Mothercare).
“I choose the supermarket because it’s where I do my weekly shop,” says one mother, aged 35. “They often have offers on branded items and own brand are also good.”
“I prefer the layout and location of the store and I’m loyal to the brand,” says a 37-year-old father.
Give the kids what they want
The most popular dish for kids aged 1 to 5 is spaghetti (47%), followed by vegetables (16%) and chips (12%). For babies under 12 months, spaghetti is again fairly popular, just outside of a top three of milk, veg and fruit.
But what unusual, yet baby-friendly, dishes do parents want their little ones to eat? Shepherd’s pie leads the way, followed by curry — presumably not too spicy — and sweet and sour chicken, with pizza and fish and chips.
So although they would like more choice, parents don’t want to push the boat out too far. Among the top dishes they would never buy for their kids are sushi, Vietnamese pho, pad thai, and jerk chicken — parents want dishes that are to them reasonably familiar.
Time for baby food to grow up
What can brands learn from this? Well, there is clearly a demand for more choice when it comes to baby and infant food. Parents really believe that their kids not only have the capacity to enjoy a wide range of taste, but that they deserve to do so.
But while convenience and variety mean that supermarkets are the preferred outlet for almost all parents, they don’t feel there is enough on offer, nor do they feel there is enough information to guide their choices.
So could supermarkets approach their baby and infant food aisles differently — perhaps by providing more information or new varieties?
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A quick word on our methodology: The figures in the article are taken from Streetbees community members in the UK, carried out in Jan 2018. All of the data was collected by mobile and web surveys, and is accurate to within 3 percentage points 19 times out of 20.
