Tiny Tuna: Tonnino Hooks Premium Position With Kids Cans

With its glass jar packaging and culinary inspired varieties, Tonnino has staked a claim on the premium tuna space during its 13 years on the market. But can that approach reel in some smaller tykes?

The Costa Rica-based brand launched a new kid-focused canned Yellowfin tuna line earlier this month that aims to help answer that question by tapping growing demand among millennial parents for easy, convenient and healthy meals, explained Gabriela Jimenez, the brand’s West Coast sales and marketing director.

She said the idea was informed by conversations with the brand’s existing buyer at Walmart, where it has sold its jarred and canned tuna products for nearly four years. The two new 3.7 oz. canned SKUs launched exclusively with the retailer and come in Chunks with Sweet Corn in Water as well as Carrots & Peas in Vegetable Oil.

“When [the Walmart buyer] opened the opportunity for the category review, she sent the information of what she wanted,” Jimenez explained. “She wanted innovation. She wanted something different. She wants her set to be premiumized and to provide something different to the consumers.”

“We are not the cheapest factory in the world – we know that – but we are a small factory that can do innovation and that can customize products.”

Tonnino carved out space for itself by offering an MSC Certified, premium alternative to canned tuna products like Bumble Bee and StarKist and now sells its jarred products at over 13,000 stores across the U.S.. In addition to its certifications, Tonnino’s products are processed and packed immediately upon reaching the shores meaning the fish isn’t frozen and refrozen numerous times as it moves through the supply chain.

As it works to maintain that premium position with new innovations, Jimenez emphasized that offering products at an accessible price point remains at its core. The cans start at $3.39 each while the brand’s jars are priced at $6.99.

Eventually, Tonnino will also look to create future iterations of the kids line for other retail partners, she said. The initial foray into kids food is part of a larger innovation push by the company aimed at catering to the whole family and opening new use occasions.

“If we can do that for kids, we need to do something for the rest of the family and provide something that is already fixed with a little bit more elevated palate,” Jimenez explained. “And finally we decided that we need to get into the entertaining part too and provide people with something [with less carbohydrates and oils].”

Alongside the kids products comes a larger 4.94 oz. version of its Yellowfin Tuna cans in a tomato broth-based Carrots & Peas as well as Chunks with Tomatoes and Olives. The new Party Dip line comes in two varieties as well – Chunks with Chipotle Sauce and Spicy Bell Pepper – and is packed in a large, 10 oz. format.

“We did a lot of focus groups and try outs with consumers so they could give us the feedback we needed to provide differentiation and innovation to a category that is pretty settled,” Jimenez explained. “We have been very fortunate to have buyers that [support] this innovation and want to work with us in changing the tuna category.”

Jimenez said that Tonnino’s use of real, whole, flavorful ingredients, rather than condiments, sauces and additives used to mimic a specific taste profile, has given it an edge with store buyers, including its first at Whole Foods. While retail relationships have been a key source for Tonnino’s continued innovation, the brand’s parent company, Alimentos Prosalud, brings manufacturing muscle and an ability to scale.

Alimentos Prosalud has churned out tuna products for nearly 60 years and sells a wide range of ready-to-eat, fresh and frozen tuna products in jars, cans and pouches. It serves as a co-packer for brands including Scout Canning and American Tuna in the U.S. and supplies major U.K. retailers including Woolworths, Marks & Spencer (M&S) and Sainsbury’s.

Those existing operations and supplier relationships allow the brand to innovate and experiment right within its Costa Rica-based manufacturing facility, which employs about 1,200 people. As the brand scales up, so does its impact on the local community. Jimenez highlighted that the facility is located in the rural coastal community of Puntarenas where high-paying jobs are scarce.

“We treat our people with respect. We pay what they need… [and] we have a lot of benefits for our employees,” Jimenez said while highlighting the company’s daycare service for the children of production workers. “It’s something that the retailers in the United States are really committed to right now whereas in other regions they can easily get cheaper tuna.”

She also explained that the variability between fish sizes makes it near impossible to fully-automate any piece of the production process, meaning that those high-quality jobs are secure as the company grows.

With a range of offerings in the U.S., including the launch of Albacore tuna in jars earlier this year, and a growing pipeline for new innovations, that factory’s operations will continue to grow. Jimenez said Tonnino already has plans to launch three new jarred items of a new species at the Winter Fancy Food Show next month in Las Vegas that she describes as “disruptive.”

“It’s going to be completely new.”