Beech-Nut Nutrition Company and its parent company Hero Group are moving beyond baby and toddler food, targeting the overlooked snack market for kids four and older with the US launch of its new Goodies line.
Amsterdam, NY-based Beech-Nut launched Goodies at Walmart and Kroger stores, and online via Amazon, across the US in May, seeing a white space in the market for young kids (4 years and up) snacks, according to Meghan Earnest, vice president marketing at Beech-Nut Nutrition Company.
Hero Group, the Swiss parent company of Beech-Nut, already sells Goodies in nine other non-US markets, including the UK, Czechia, Denmark and Egypt.
“While nearly 30% of parents shop the baby and toddler aisle in search of better-for-you alternatives, only 38% report high satisfaction with current options, according to National Grocery Retailer Shopper Loyalty Data,” Beech-Nut said in May. “Goodies is stepping in to change that, closing the gap with snacks made for growing tastes, active days and on-the-go adventures.”
The six-SKU lineup of clean-label snacks includes bars, poppable snack bites, potato sticks, cheese bites and cinnamon squares.
“At Goodies, we believe snack time should be simple – kids should love it, and parents should trust it,” said Earnest.
With a North American baby food market valued at $7.04 billion in 2024 and projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 6.7% to 2030, according to Grand View Research, Hero Group and Goodies still have a long runway for growth.
Post-toddler snacks, please
Snacks for kids past their toddler years are buried in various sections throughout the grocery store, and can be challenging for parents to find, according to Earnest.
That’s where Beech-Nut saw an opportunity. “We believe that preschool snacking and young kids snacking could definitely have a place of its own and live somewhere else in the store,” Earnest said.
For the meantime, Goodies will be located in the baby food aisles of grocery stores, but it was the insight that parents’ needs weren’t being met in other parts of the store for young kids snacks that inspired the portfolio.
“Parents are still looking for the halo of nutrition and quality and safety credentials that you find in baby toddler food, but those go away and are missing” in other sections of the store, she said.
Hero Group’s growth
The Goodies rollout is Hero Group’s latest move to expand its foothold in the North American baby food market.
The food and beverage manufacturer made a significant move into North America in 2021 with the purchase of Canadian organic baby food company Baby Gourmet for an undisclosed amount.
Its M&A activity is not limited to North America: Hero Group bought Brazilian snack company Super Saude Nutricional in September 2025 and UK snacking company The Gut Stuff in April 2026.
A year prior to The Gut Stuff purchase, Hero Group purchased UK snack brand Deliciously Ella as part of a multi-year strategy to acquire brands that fit within its core categories of baby food, spreads and health snacks.
“The Hero Group has strengthened its presence in the snack market with the recent acquisition of Deliciously Ella in the UK. At the same time, the flagship snack brand Corny has been successfully expanded into various markets in Europe and beyond,” the company said in September.
The US rollout of Goodies expands their reach with the following lineup of products:
- PB&J Poppers come available in strawberry and grape varieties and contain six grams of whole grains, two grams of protein and two grams of fiber. They are free of high-fructose corn syrup.
- Banana Bread Mini Oat Bites are chewy, poppable snacks that contain no added sweeteners or artificial preservatives, colors or flavors.
- The Mac & Cheese Noodles, made with real cheese.
- Sea Salt Sweet Potato Sticks, made with four ingredients.
- Cinna-Toast Squares, which contain no artificial sweeteners.
Better-for-you kids
The Goodies brand focuses on developing products with short, simple lists of ingredients that are familiar to consumers, Earnest explained.
“It’s not super complicated and it’s something that they can feel good about giving their kids,” she said.
Products in the Goodies portfolio are gluten free, non-GMO and contain no artificial sweeteners, food dyes or high fructose corn syrup, the company said.
The better-for-you claims might attract parents to try Goodies, but the taste will keep kids asking for more, according to Earnest.
“Nutrition credentials are non-negotiables for parents, but also they will not sacrifice convenience and taste,” she said.
