Founded in 2014 by David and Cristina Peters, Farmwise recently struck a nationwide distribution deal with Target that has boosted its overall store count to almost 10,000 doors, and expects many of the same retailers to take on the new meat/veggie combo products, which it will be showcasing at Expo East this week.
The nuggets and tenders – made with cage-free 100% white meat chicken meat blended with finely chopped broccoli, carrots, white beans and potatoes – have just launched at Kroger and will be available at Jewel and Hannaford supermarkets in early October.
Each serving contains 10g protein, and a good source of vitamins A, C & K, and is free from the top eight allergens, said Peters, who said the Farmwise brand could potentially stretch to many different categories across the store.
“We’re going after the same target audience as Veggie Fries,” he told FoodNavigator-USA.
“We’ve got 50% chicken, 30% veggies/beans and 20% breading, so there’s a meaningful amount of veggies in there, and because the beans contain protein, they contain the same amount of protein as a traditional nugget – but when you close your eyes and bite into them, it’s exactly like a traditional chicken nugget, crisp and crunchy on the outside and tender and moist on the inside."
He added: "Time, taste and health are the three things that every busy family needs more of. Our new chicken veggie nuggets and tenders solve all three of these challenges by providing the same taste and texture of traditional chicken nuggets and tenders together with important veggie nutrition.
“We did some concept testing and it was off the charts in terms of purchase intent.”
Want your kids to eat more veggies? Register for the FoodNavigator-USA FOOD FOR KIDS summit in Chicago this November, (12-14) where we'll be quizzing Kidfresh founder Matt Cohen on how to incorporate more veggies into foods kids want to eat...
