“We see back-to-school as a huge opportunity for produce,” said Amanda Keefer, senior director of marketing and communications for Healthy Family Project. “Families are looking to kick the year off right with a good routine and healthy habits. It’s truly right up there with the ‘new year new you’ craze when Jan. 1 hits.”

Every year, Healthy Family Project hosts a Back to School campaign featuring better-for-you brands.

The brands are promoted in all the organization’s content beginning in early August and running through mid-September, Keefer said.

This year, participating brands will also make a donation of $12,000 to the Foundation for Fresh Produce, whose goal is to increase accessibility to fruits and vegetables in schools.

Healthy Family Project’s approach to back-to-school has changed over the years, Keefer said.

At the beginning of its efforts, the focus was on lunchboxes alone. Now, the organization has a wider scope.

“Now we’re recognizing the whole event of back-to-school and where families need support,” Keefer said. “We learned that the pain points for parents are more than just lunches, which many students obtain in the lunch line. The pain points were breakfast, snacks and easy healthy dinners.”

Healthy Family Project’s back-to-school content has also shifted to recognize the power of foods that can boost kids’ moods and foods that give them more energy.

Over the past four years, the organization has raised $66,000 for the Foundation for Fresh Produce’s initiatives to increase consumption of fruits and vegetables in schools.

“That’s very exciting,” Keefer said. “We’ve also heard great feedback from families who turn to Healthy Family Project year over year to help them navigate this busy time of year.”

When it comes to trends in back-to-school, convenience snacks and pre-packaged on-the-go items continue to rank high for families, Keefer said. In addition, “edutainment” — educating shoppers about the role produce can play in brain health, e.g. — remains big with parents.

This article is an excerpt from the July 2024 issue of Supermarket Perimeter. You can read the entire Back-to-school feature and more in the digital edition here.