Providing nutritious, delicious food for her family was always important to Branchfood member Jenn Bingham, but with a busy work schedule, it wasn’t always easy — she is a working mom, Physician Assistant, and certified natural foods chef after all! When Jenn couldn’t find a healthy frozen food option that her young daughter would eat, she decided to take matters into her own hands. After meeting Co-Founder Kelly Wannier, the two launched Little Pickins, which offers nutritious, gummable, frozen finger food for ages 10 months plus. 

Keep reading this week’s Member Monday highlight to learn where the organic baby food market is heading, how kid’s taste buds are often underestimated, and why frozen food fulfillment keeps Jenn and Kelly up at night.

Little Pickins was created after you noticed a lack of convenient, healthy food for kids on the market. As consumer attitudes increasingly focus on healthy eating, are you seeing any growth in this area?

The baby food market is rapidly growing with estimates of it being valued around $4.6B in the U.S. by 2025. As a subsector of this, the organic baby market’s growth is exploding year over year. More and more parents are prioritizing a high-quality diet for their children. In fact, when parents are asked what the most important attributes are in making a food selection, nutrition lands itself in the top three amongst most food polls. While the market has frozen options, we see a complete white space in the nutrient dense, low sodium, organic products. 

Creating food products for young children requires careful consideration of nutrition, texture, and shape, in a way that’s a little different from creating food for adults. How did you approach the product development process to optimize Little Pickins for young taste buds?

When approaching the development of a kids’ food product you have two audiences you are trying to win over:  the parents and the little people enjoying the Pickins! The first year was spent researching best practices of palate development and food exploration in young children. After prototyping the product, we tested with families, iterated on the formulas, and, in turn, focused deeper on the nutritionals. We worked with thoughtful nutritionists, a pediatrician and sprinkled in personal experience from our own children.       

With flavors like chicken and goat cheese, Indian-spiced lentils, and tofu with kale and edamame, Little Pickins goes beyond what is normally considered “kid food.” Why was it important to incorporate a broad range of flavors into your products? 

Studies have shown that early taste experiences during the formative food years heavily influence food choices later in life. Major food companies have underestimated what kids want to eat. Yes, kids love mac and cheese (we do too!), but a child’s palate can be open to a diverse set of flavors. We’ve connected with many parents around their desires to expand beyond the classic staples they feed their kids and broaden their little ones’ exposure to new ingredients, textures, and flavors. An added side effect after early exposure to healthy foods is, in our later years, we have lower risks of dietary health conditions such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure. 

Due to temperature sensitivity and its capital-intensive nature, managing frozen food distribution is notoriously difficult. Since launching Little Pickins, have you learned any key tips about this process to share with other entrepreneurs working in frozen foods?

Of all the things that keeps us up at night, this is high on the list. A frozen supply chain is by nature tricky. Prior to our shipping launch, we tested numerous rounds to pin down the exact amount of dry ice, optimal product weight, preferred insulation type, maximum length of time in transit, etc. At the end of the day, the integrity of our product is paramount to our company. We would rather invest more in additional insulation/dry ice and faster shipping to ensure our customers receive the product in its best form. We’ve built our pricing structure based upon these insurances and think it will lead to higher customer satisfaction and lower return rates: a win-win.

How has being a Branchfood member helped you navigate the process of launching a CPG food business?

The best way to describe Branchfood is a one-stop resource for food entrepreneurs. Community Table is a great introduction to Branchfood and one we rely on to gather pearls of knowledge as well as connect with individuals we hadn’t thought to approach. Through Branchfood, we have been fortunate to meet with experts who have also worked in the children's food space. Their willingness to share their own stories, connect us to additional resources, and provide feedback on our plans has been instrumental in building our business.

How can our audience support Little Pickins? 

We are so grateful to be featured with Branchfood. You can currently receive our products in and around the Boston area via our subscription service (we will soon be rolling this out to neighboring states!). We are also proud to say we are close to launching with a major retailer in the Northeast. To find out more details, go to Little Pickins and sign up for our newsletter. You will receive info on our company’s expansion plans, promotional codes, and maybe some fun recipes to boot! 

Any final thoughts that can help deliver insight to early stage entrepreneurs launching their businesses?

Tenacity and passion have been key to launching our business. We’ve encountered many closed doors along our journey, but we always go back to our fundamentals. That we believe in our product, strive to support families, and want to fill little bellies with nutritious food. This mission drives us day to day and our belief in it has been crucial to pushing through the “No’s” until we hear the “Yes”!

Thank you to Jenn and Kelly at Little Pickins for being this week’s Member Monday spotlight. Are you interested in how a Branchfood membership can help you succeed? Learn more about our membership benefits, and stay informed with our newsletter. Be sure to follow us on Instagram for our next Member Monday takeover!