DTC children’s food brand Little Spoon expands with breakfast SKUs, Oatly collaboration
“We have a wonderful feedback loop with our consumers because we are a direct-to-consumer brand. It is very easy for us to communicate with them, gather feedback, run surveys [and] really understand what they are looking for, and breakfast was a big gap for parents. It was a resounding point of feedback we were getting. Parents wanted their mornings to be easier [and] less hectic, and they wanted healthy options with protein that they can give their kids when they were running out the door. So, we are really answering that call,” Vranich said.
Little Spoon adds breakfast options following parents' demands
Founded in 2017 by Lisa Barnett, Michelle Muller, Ben Lewis and Vranich, Little Spoon offers organic baby and toddler foods, including Babyblends purees, finger foods for children transitioning to solid food (Biteables), ready-to-eat dinners for children, smoothies and snacks.
Last year, Little Spoon raised funding from existing investors, against a $300 million valuation, for a total of $90 million across five rounds. Little Spoon is profitable today, and it does not "really have a need to raise any money anytime soon," Vranich said.
After hearing from customers and parents who were seeking quick breakfast options, Vranich and her team of six food scientists developed a line of breakfast products that could be prepared in 90 seconds or less. The new products will be exclusively on the brand’s website, starting at $6.49, and include:
- Pesto Eggs Biteable is a nut-free tray of cage-free scrambled eggs topped with parmesan, kale, diced apples and butternut squash cubes, providing 5 grams of protein per tray.
- Mini Classic Eggs + Sausage Biteable contains scrambled eggs, no-sugar-added pork sausage and cheese, providing 7 grams of protein per tray.
- The Classic Breakfast Plate features scrambled eggs, pork sausage, millet, sweet potato and carrot to provide 14 grams of protein per packaging.
Additionally, Little Spoon will launch an overnight oat smoothie — available in Apple Cinnamon Swirl and Peach Berry Bliss flavors — on June 25 in collaboration with Oatly.
"Overnight oats are a wonderful breakfast option that many adults enjoy, [but] there are not a ton of overnight oats options marketed towards children. When we were thinking about how to bring this product to market, Oatley was an immediate idea for a lot of us in the office here. We are huge fans of Oatly at Little Spoon,” she said.
Going beyond DTC: ‘Never say never’
Despite many DTC-started brands pivoting to retail, Little Spoon is committed to growing its DTC business, Vranich said. However, Little Spoon has done several small-scale retail partnerships, including Pop Up Grocer in New York.
“The direct-to-consumer business model and the consumer that we are catering to really makes sense. So, our customers are coming to us when they are having babies or just children. They are staying with us all the way into school age. ... When we look at how we are selling our products, having that one-to-one relationship — that direct relationship with our customer — to be able to really market products to them as their children are growing makes a lot of sense for us. In retail, never say never. I think there could be some interesting opportunities for us out there in the future,” Vranich said.
