Source: Nurture Life
Nurture Life packaged and plated meals.
The World Health Organization defines health and wellness as the state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Later in their definition children are specifically mentioned, citing that ‘healthy development of the child is of basic importance’ and ‘the ability to live harmoniously in a changing total environment is essential to such development.’
The global healthy eating, nutrition and weight loss economy has reached $648 billion, and indeed millennial parents contributed to the increase. Millennials are committed to eating right and exercising more than other generations, and appropriately, are spending big dollars ensuring their children- generation Z and Alpha- are living lives grounded in health and wellness as well. There are about 65 million members of generation Z today and over 21 million members of generation Alpha… and counting.
In the Nielsen Global Health Wellness Survey nearly 40% of millennials and generation Z say ingredients sourced sustainably are very important in their purchase decisions, more so than other generations. They are also more willing to pay a premium for healthy products, such as all natural, GMO-free, sustainable or vitamin-fortified foods. Interestingly enough, Mintel cites that though parents are willing to pay a premium for organic and natural products, they are still recession-hardened consumers. They will turn to large consumer products manufacturers to understand what claims should be on a products, but purchase with less-expensive alternatives and private label offerings.
The $648 billion figure also rose from previous years due to the rising cost of health care expenditures: health care spending on conditions such as ADHD, asthma and autism have increased and to reduce costs, parents are looking for healthy, natural alternatives to supplement treatment for medical problems whenever possible.
Younger generations are more active in discussions with millennial parents regarding what they eat; one-third of generation Z children say they help with meal preparation three times a week. Simultaneously, though one in three parents make their own baby food most time-pressed millennial parents wish they had more time to make homemade, healthy meals for their children. Two startups and one growing company capitalizing off these insights and disrupting the nearly $12 billion food and beverage e-commerce industry are Nurture Life, Raised Real and Yummy Spoonfuls.
Source: Nurture Life
Nurture Life baby meals.
Nurture Life
Founded in 2015 by Steven Minisini and Jennifer Chow, Nurture Life’s goal is to be the premier consumer brand and market leader for fresh, healthy, pre-prepared meals for babies, toddlers and kids, delivered direct to consumer. One year after the company was founded their first customer orders were shipped, and in 15 months Nurture Life grew their revenue ninefold.
Minisini and Chow reveal they were inspired by their generation Alpha son James to start the company:
‘When James was six months old and just started eating solids, we wanted to feed him fresh, high quality meals without compromises and couldn’t find this option available in the market. As a result, we planned, shopped for, prepped and cooked all of his meals ourselves. As he got older and we wanted to continually increase the variety of flavors he was eating, we found we were spending many late nights cooking for him. This experience inspired us to found Nurture Life. Our passion is to impact the healthy development of children.’
Nurture Life continuously innovates via their product offering, customer experience, internal operations, technology systems, even their distribution- though their primary channel remains direct to consumer, they have partnered with large companies like JPMorgan Chase Co. and Morgan Stanley Wealth Management to offer Nurture Life products through their human resources and wellness programs.
Article source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecarter/2017/10/29/the-business-of-feeding-health-conscious-gen-z-and-alpha-children/