Happy Family joined Danone in 2013 when it controlled 4% of the organic baby food market with roughly $63m in annual sales. In 2017, Happy Family grew to roughly $200m in annual revenue and expects to hit $250m by the end of 2018 representing most of DanoneWave’s early life nutrition division.
Priority placed on organic baby food
The yogurt line marks the first time DanoneWave and Happy Family have jointly launched a new product and is aimed at expanding its organic early life nutrition segment, a category that has seen significant growth in recent years especially among millennial parents.
According to Nielsen’s 2017 Category Shopping Fundamentals Study, 40% of consumers said organic is more important when shopping for baby food compared to other categories like milk and ice cream.
“The sensitivity to having the right nutrition for babies and toddlers has amplified, specifically this idea of organic, non-GMO, probiotics, and specifically no added sugar,” Greg Milton, brand director of premium yogurt at DanoneWave, told DairyReporter.
“The move to organic and the move to cleaner label isn’t a trend; it just is.”
Happy Family organic whole milk yogurt products contain no added sugar and one million CFUs of the Bifidobacterium (BB-12) probiotic strain per serving.
Happy Baby organic whole milk yogurt is available in packs of six 1.76-ounce cups for babies six to 12 months for a suggested retail price of $3.29 in flavors including plain, blueberry, banana & sweet potato, and peach & mango.
The Happy Tot ranges come in packs of six cups in three flavors (apple, mango, & carrot; strawberry, banana, oats, & chia; and apple & pear) and packs of four 3.5-ounce pouches also available in three different flavors (apple & blackberry; banana, mango & spinach, and strawberry, banana, oats & chia).
Creating incremental growth
With the launch of Happy Baby and Happy Tot organic yogurt product lines, DanoneWave hopes to achieve incremental growth by “cultivating a palate” towards premium, organic yogurt at an early age that can easily transition into the company’s other yogurt brands, according to Milton.
“The yogurt category does have various need states and we have this range and portfolio that crosses over to those different need states,” Milton added.
For example, under DanoneWave’s organic yogurt brand umbrella are Horizon single-serve and four-count pouches for kids three years and older made with low-fat milk, probiotics, and eight grams of sugar.