02/ 11/ 2008
by Sandy Siegel
Free-range chicken nuggets with strawberry "kidchup" and "O spaghettis" with organic turkey meatballs aren't typically found at your neighborhood market. Unless the neighborhood is the Upper East Side of Manhattan and the establishment is Kidfresh, a natural-products food store that caters to the 10-and-under crowd.
Cooked up by Matt Cohen, a concerned dad frustrated by the lack of nutritious options for his son's lunchbox, Kidfresh has been serving up a healthy lifestyle for children since 2006—while giving parents food for thought.
"Children's products are loaded with preservatives, additives, artificial colors, added sugar and pesticides," says Cohen. "We need to stop feeding our kids this stuff."
Kidfresh is doing its part. Cohen and company, including co-founder and food-industry veteran Gilles Deloux, offer freshly prepared, nutrient-rich meals and snacks in age-appropriate portions made with natural and organic ingredients—and a healthy dose of fun. For munchkins who turn up their noses at broccoli and fish, there are smiley-face pizzas, teddy bear "shapewiches" and star pancakes.
But it's not just the food that's geared to small fries. Kids enter through a mini-door, chow down at petite tables and push child-size shopping carts through the store's 1,400 square feet stocked with dry, refrigerated and frozen goods from manufacturers that complement the Kidfresh philosophy, which Cohen is working hard to spread.
"We're planning to expand nationwide very quickly, with 50 to 60 points of distribution in five to six years," he says. "First, we'll focus on solidifying the New York market."
That shouldn't be a problem: The business is off to a healthy start. Convenience-minded New York parents, who can call Kidfresh to deliver their children's lunches to school, are eating it up. And with the current spotlight on child obesity, wholesome food and a fun atmosphere tailored for the play-date set seem to be natural ingredients for creating a thriving new niche.
