Yumi Moves into Brick & Mortar to ‘Build a Healthier Generation’

E-commerce focused baby food brand Yumi is taking its first step into brick-and-mortar retail through a national partnership with Target, the company announced today.

The company had always planned to expand beyond digital sales into physical retail, according to Yumi co-founder, CMO and president Evelyn Rusli, but wanted to wait until it had more fully saturated the online market before making the jump. The wait also allowed the brand to test and iterate its core line of products, she added, as well as its value proposition.

Target is taking two lines: Superfood Veggie Organic Toddler Bars (MSRP $4.99) and Organic Meltable Puffs (MSRP $3.99). The former is available in Strawberry & Rhubarb, Blueberry & Purple Carrot, and Apple Cinnamon & Squash, while the latter comes in Apple & Broccoli, Strawberry Basil and Sweet Pea. Yumi will have dedicated 4-foot, in-aisle sets along with endcap displays in select Target stores.

“There’s so many different pathways to discover amazing products… so we always wanted to be where consumers are and where they can discover us,” Yumi co-founder, CMO and president Evelyn Rusli said. “Our mission is really to build a healthier generation and you don’t just build a healthier generation with a subset of the population [that’s online].”

To prepare for the expansion, Yumi raised $67 million last December, bringing its total funding close to $90 million since its inception in 2017. That capital helped finance new brokers as well as new sales and marketing team members.

Yumi’s packaging was also revised to better perform in a retail environment: Online, the products are displayed as single serve bars or cardboard tubes of puffs decorated with whimsical illustrations, Rusli said, but for Target, the brand is selling five-count boxes of bars and plastic tubes of puffs with callouts regarding functional benefits and superfood ingredients.

“When you’re looking at brick and mortar and you have an end cap or you have just a piece of packaging, you have to make that design work really hard for your brand,” Rusli said of the changes.

Yumi plans to add more accounts over the next year. Still, the growth will be deliberate, Rusli said, because the company understands launching with Target is a large undertaking itself.

Though the company is best known for its line of globally-inspired, refrigerated baby food cups, partnering with Target meant shifting its focus to on-the-go snacking, Rusli said, because it felt like a more approachable introduction to the brand for a mass audience. There also was a clearer point of differentiation, she added, because the toddler and kids snack category is so heavily saturated with sugar-ladened options. Baby food isn’t off the table completely, but will not be an immediate focus.

The pickup of Yumi comes as retailers are responding to consumer interest in baby and toddler food options with simpler and more nutrient-dense ingredient decks. While this demand mirrors larger health and wellness trends, recent investigations into the toxins and heavy metals found in other baby food brands has also ramped up awareness.

Last week Target also picked up clean-label baby formula brand Bobbie. Meanwhile, organic chilled baby and children’s food brand Once Upon a Farm just recently released its own line of frozen baby food meal starters to age up the brand and offer parents more complete meal solutions.

While Yumi may command a higher price point, like Bobbie, it also stresses transparency and community, making parents feel comfortable during an unsettling time.

“We are not just solving mealtime, we are helping parents feel confident in the food products that they feed their kids,” Rusli said. “But also helping parents feel like they got this and that they don’t have to worry. There’s actually a lot that you’re solving for psychologically and emotionally, for that parent and for that family.”