KIND Brings All-Fruit Snacks to Market

KIND Healthy Snacks (KIND) enters the fruit snacks category with the release of KIND Fruit Bites. The product line contains only fruit and no added sugar. KIND aims to disrupt a category that has over-indexed on snacks with added sugar rather than fruit.

The entrance comes as added sugar consumption among U.S. children remains alarmingly high. Kids on average eat 80 grams, or 19 teaspoons, of added sugar per day – more than three times the recommended limit of 25 grams (according to the American Heart Association).

These numbers indicate that, in one year, the average 9-year-old is eating his or her body weight in added sugar. Nine out of the 10 leading fruit snacks contain added sugar as the first ingredient.

“Since day one, KIND has been committed to balancing health and taste, and our KIND Promise has centered on crafting snacks with a nutritionally-dense first ingredient,” says Daniel Lubetzky, Founder & CEO of KIND. “KIND Fruit Bites honors this promise, and is consistent with how we’ve always entered categories – with an eye toward disruption and a goal of elevating people’s overall experience.”

For years, the fruit snacks category has enjoyed a perceived health halo. But a recent Morning Consult study reveals that that perception is unfounded. Results show that, when shown the ingredient list of the leading fruit snack, nearly two-thirds (61 percent ) of parents believed the ingredient list to be associated with sweetened cereal, soda, candy or a toaster pastry.

“While the general public’s understanding of nutrition has become increasingly sophisticated, an opportunity still exists to educate on added sugars. This is especially true in categories like fruit snacks,” says Stephanie Perruzza, Registered Dietitian and Health & Wellness Specialist at KIND.

To kick-start that educational journey, KIND unveiled an installation depicting 45,485 pounds of sugar. In Times Square for one day, it represented the added sugar children in the U.S. eat every five minutes.

“We saw our entrance into the children’s snack space as an appropriate time to use our voice for good – to help people understand how much added sugar kids are eating every day, and how that can be detrimental to their overall health,” says Perruzza. 

KIND Fruit Bites do not contain juices, purees, concentrates, preservatives or genetically engineered ingredients. Each snack has three ingredients or less, and is made with real fruit, like cherries, apples and mangos. Each pouch provides one full serving of fruit.

Fruit Bites are available at www.kindsnacks.com and retailers nationwide, with a suggested retail price of $4.99 per five-pack box.