After 35 years of dominating grade school cafeteria lunchtime, that yellow box filled with hyper-palatable foods is getting “remixed” by the creator packaged goods movement. For those that are living under a rock and didn’t see the product announcement from a few weeks ago, Lunchly is a kid-friendly meal kit that’s positioned as a better-for-you competitor to Lunchables. Now…there’s already several other better-for-you Lunchables competitors in market, but what makes this one noteworthy is that it’s a joint venture between two creator packaged goods brands. Lunchly was a collaboration between PRIME (the beverage brand backed by Logan Paul and KSI) and Feastables (the chocolate brand created by MrBeast). To be completely honest, this is a wild move. So, each box of Lunchly will include a miniature Feastables bar and bottle of PRIME Hydration. Lunchables created line extensions with Snickers, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Kool-Aid, and Capri Sun…but we’re talking about two creator packaged goods brands that are co-creating a new “more perishable” product that also sees them both entering a new grocery retail section. So, then the question likely turns to why? Similar to when Lunchables was being developed in the 1980s, there’s maybe the obvious and not so obvious answer. Based on the marketing angle taken thus far, the obvious answer is that Lunchly saw a market opportunity that paired all the previous (and still strong) Lunchables value propositions for parents (like convenience/value) and kids (like wanting to be cool in the school cafeteria), with these better-for-you product attributes. Regardless, Lunchables was actually created to solve a bologna oversupply (and popularity) problem for Oscar Meyer. And though I don’t think anyone involved with Lunchly intentionally created this historical “remix,” PRIME is facing similar oversupply (and popularity) problems right now. According to recent NielsenIQ data reports, PRIME volume has been falling by somewhere around 30% YoY for much of this calendar year. But more interesting to the Lunchables connection is that PRIME has been the target of recent litigation from its supply chain partners…with lawsuits alleging dedicated contract manufacturing capacity investments left unutilized and coconut ingredients contracts cancelled. Additionally, my latest first principles thinking content will explore the historical connections between U.S. food companies by tobacco giants, how Phillip Morris (now Altria) were masters at engineering products to make consumers return for more, and how those hyper-palatable foods are now approved by the U.S. government (USDA) to be included within the National School Lunch Program.

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