Tesco rivals Blue Parrot Café range
Tesco is to take on Sainsbury’s by launching Tesco Kids, a branded range of food for children.
The range, which is made up of 50 products, has been under development for more than 18 months and follows the launch of Sainsbury’s Blue Parrot Café.
Tesco Kids is targeted at children aged five to 11 – the age group that causes most problems for parents trying to encourage healthy eating. Younger children tend to eat what they are given, and over-11s are aware of the health aspects of food.
Tesco claims to have kept artificial sweeteners, colourings and additives to a minimum and has drawn up a list of 70 such ingredients that have been banned from the range.
Tesco marketers and dieticians held focus groups with mothers and children in an effort to determine their health requirements, needs and tastes. The brand is being overseen by senior brand manager Cath O’Sullivan.
A Tesco spokesman says: “Evening ready meals are included in the range, as research showed that a lot of children do not eat with their parents on weekday evenings.”
The range, which includes organic fruit, will appear throughout the store alongside products in the same categories. There will be marketing activity at a later date, after the range has been rolled out to all Tesco stores.