The Arnott’s Group’s new cereals and snacks division Good Food Partners has released its first product, a reformulation of Messy Monkeys Wholegrain Bites.
It is almost a year since the group bought Freedom Foods’ cereals and snacks business for $20 million. That was followed by the acquisition of 75 per cent of Diver Foods, and New Zealand cracker company 180degrees.
Since then, with Diver Foods owner and managing director Chris Diver becoming the managing director for the new division, Arnott’s and Good Food Partners have had a short to medium focus on expanding within existing, and into new categories, the Messy Monkeys reformulation a case in point.
In July, Diver told Food & Drink Business the creation of the division was “a significant undertaking”.
“In the past six weeks, Good Food Partners has grown from one premises in Victoria, to now managing a total of four sites, including three Freedom Foods facilities.
“Good Food Partners has the potential to become a high growth vehicle, for the Group, delivering extraordinary value and driving it to become a cross category leader in cereal and snacking,” Diver said.
Messy Monkeys is a leading better-for-you snacking range. It was a huge success for Freedom Foods when it introduced the product in 2017. Within two years it was worth $12 million, In FY19 it had increased sales value by 115 per cent on FY18. In 2019, it was the sixth largest brand in the health food aisle and its share of kids’ lunch box snacking was also on the rise.
The new Bites have re-formulated flavours and a softer texture. They are gluten free and free from other allergens like nuts, soy and egg. They also have less than one gram of sugar per serve and account for more than 10 per cent of a child’s daily fibre intake.
Diver said the business has always focused on making nutritious food taste great.
“Our kitchen set about creating a new recipe for our Messy Monkeys Gluten Free Wholegrain Bites that kids will love, while retaining the same great 36 per cent wholegrain content and gluten free status,” Diver said.
“Great tasting, healthy kids’ snacks should be accessible to every parent and the handy serves are an easy snack on-the-go or ideal for lunchboxes.”
The new and improved range include Burger, Cheese, Chicken and Sour Cream & Chives flavour.
The relaunch also includes Gluten Free, Air-Popped Popcorn in Lightly Salted and Lightly Sweet & Salty flavours, as well as a range of Rice Puff Bars in four flavours including a new Honeycomb Rice Puff Bar and two legume-based Cereals, featuring a new Pancake Stack flavour.
“The Wholegrain bites will now be available in a box offering a more environmentally conscious solution for those wanting to minimise plastic packaging,” Diver said.
Messy Monkeys Gluten Free Wholegrain Bites and other new products are available in Coles and Independent retailers from today and Woolworths from 18 October. The new Wholegrain Bites Pantry Packs are available for $4.80 each, or $0.80 per individual serve and the new Air Popped Popcorn Pantry Packs are $3.80 each or $0.63 per serve.
Kids can #playwithmarty, the loveable grinning Messy Monkey whose hiding in different places across the packaging. To learn more about Marty and Messy Monkeys visit messkymonkeys.com.au
