After six weeks of holiday, children are returning to school, which means parents are choosing lunch-boxes and lunch-box snacks to cater to kids' nutritional needs throughout the school day. With many schools promoting sustainability, this has come to include zero waste, putting an emphasis on suppliers to package food with either recyclable or reusable materials or creatively minimise and remove excess packaging in share-pack options.
The rise of incidence in allergies has also resulted in many schools limiting or wholly banning certain foods and snacks to protect the welfare and safety of their allergen-prone students and children. Again, this puts pressure on families, food suppliers, and manufacturers to ensure products they market for children and school lunch boxes adhere to these rules and restrictions. However, according to the Office for Early Childhood Education, for suppliers and manufacturers willing to adhere and adapt to these requirements and rules, there is untapped market potential, particularly for early childhood education, which, unlike schools, operates year-round, providing a unique opportunity for suppliers and manufacturers to deliver food products to meet consumers needs, where previously ECE services had provided warm school lunches, which many no longer offer due to the changing restrictions and regulations around MPI approved foods and preparation methods.
Also swaying the school lunch categories is consumers' increased desire for healthy school options, reinforced by schools' recommendations and rules for healthy snack items. This includes various free-from products to adhere to allergen cautions, lower sugar content and portion sizes, and plant-based alternatives.
In adhering to these needs, marketing products and what they are packaged in to create fun and dynamic sensory experiences for children, with illustrations and designs specifically tailored to appeal to them, is also essential. Packaging and design can be key indicators for parents and children to establish and stand out on the shelf as school-lunch-friendly.
While there are challenges in meeting the growing list of needs and requirements of schools and consumers, significant untapped market potential can be taken advantage of.
Read more from the Back To School feature below, starting on page 12:
