Lunchables… A trend no one should follow.

I hate Lunchables.
…I believe Lunchables are one of the top contributors to the childhood obesity epidemic in America.
…But parents need a convenient and tasty “grab & go” food for their kids’ school lunches, road trip snacks, camp backpacks & more.

I also hate the ambiguity in food marketing.
…I believe ambiguous food marketing has created a society that is incredibly confused about nutrition.  America is nutritionally illiterate.
…But undefined terms like “all-natural” increase sales.

I was overwhelmed with disappointment when I recently discovered the Simple Truth Lunchkit – a product that competes with the Oscar Mayer Lunchable.

Simple Truth is a brand I trust & purchase despite their abundant use of ambiguous terminology such as “honest,” “natural” and “free.”

The Simple Truth products appear in every department at Kroger grocery stores.  The corresponding displays & signage often promote the brand tagline “Free of 101+ foods & ingredients.”  The tagline also appears on most of the brand packaging.

1. Look at the ingredient list pictured above on the Simple Truth Lunchkit.
2. Read the brand tagline again – “Free of 101+ foods & ingredients.”

This is EXACTLY what I mean when I say “ambiguous food marketing has created a society that is incredibly confused about nutrition.”

I understand that Simple Truth wants to have a branded equivalent to compete with all the leading SKUs in each grocery category.  Look at the shelf space a mainstream grocery store dedicates to Lunchables: they’re an obvious sales leader.  However, I think Simple Truth is missing an opportunity to be true to their perception of a healthy brand and capture incremental lunch kit sales from people like me who never purchase Lunchables.

Welcome to my altMBA finale.

There’s legitimacy to my cohort’s discussion suggesting that no industry could benefit greater from an ABN analysis than the food industry.

For this exercise I’m going to focus specifically on the Simple Truth Lunchkit.

SIMPLE TRUTH ASSETS

• Owned & sold exclusively by the Kroger Co.
• Reputation of being a “Healthy Brand”
• Unparalleled cross-merchandising presence – Simple Truth brand can be found in all perimeter & center store departments at Kroger stores.
• Nearly 80,000 followers on Social Media.
• Modern logo and catchy brand name.  Even at first sight, it’s easy to identify that Simple Truth is a brand that values goodness & honesty – traits consumers want in their food brands.  It’s also very hard to identify that this is a house brand of the Kroger Co.

SIMPLE TRUTH BOUNDARIES

• This is a reactive brand, not an innovative brand.  Simple Truth is the Kroger house brand that creates “healthier SKUs” of their store’s sales leaders.
• My instinct & familiarity with the food industry allows me to say with confidence, but not certainty, that Simple Truth is a private label product manufactured by the existing sales leaders.  It is highly unlikely that Kroger actually manages the manufacturing operation of their Simple Truth products.

SIMPLE TRUTH NARRATIVE

• The Simple Truth brand narrative is rooted in healthy food choices.  The lunchkit contradicts this narrative.

Lunchables & all similar products are perceived as negative nutrition or an unhealthy choice among the Simple Truth brand’s target consumer.  Kroger, why are you doing this?  You are one of the most powerful entities in the food supply chain.  It’s time to use your respected Simple Truth brand to create competing products that ARE healthy choices.  Healthier choice isn’t enough, especially when the item of comparison is a Lunchable.

My idea of a healthy lunch kit is one that follows USDA MyPlate.  Not only would a lunch kit with 50% fruits and vegetables encourage shoppers like me to purchase the product, but it could also qualify the product as a quick serve meal solution for schools without cafeterias.

There is no need to add more junk to the mainstream grocery store’s offering.
There is no need to add more confusion about healthy choices.

There is great opportunity to compete with a product by offering a better product, not a similar product.

Thank you for reading my work!
With gratitude, Lori

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